The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-10
MESSAGES TO ONES SELF.

ory-Other Uses That Are Perilous,
A couple of gentlemen were walking
up Canal street q few evenings age
when one of them suddenly stopped and
Imade a gesture of annoyance. Con
found It'll" he exclaimed, II have book
at the office that 1 wanted to carry
home But it's too late to so back, he
Iadded, consulting his watch, 'and
guess I'll just drop myself a postal
lcard.'
Drop yourself a postal card!' echoed
his companion in surprise; what the
duce do you mean"
Exactly what ! say" replied the
other, extracting a card from his peck
ct and scribbling few words by the
light of drugstore window. It's the
best and cheapest and most effective
memory logger in the world. You see,
Il am rather absent-minded," he went
on, land / have tried all the sterao-
typed schemes without much success.
Tying string around my finger Is alb
Isolutely useless. i can bear In mind
that l did it to make me remember,
but / can't recall what I was intended
to recollect-see? So l hit this scheme
Ol SelluliS ky Scil q pcStIAi NSAiN' NtiN' -
works 60 a charm. The one 7 have just
written is the third this evening Here
they are. The first one you observe, IS
addressed to me at my house, and con-
tains only one Umbrella 1t
will be delivered while / am at break
fast, and / will then be certain to bring
down my umbrella to have the handle
mended. The second card says Duck
and trimmings and if it WASN'T for its
arrival at the office tomorrow morning
the chances are l would never order
the stuff my wife is counting on for the
dinner. The third as you know, relates
to that book. BY this simple system,
costing only a cent for each service, I
have my memory prodded by a special
government official, under bonds to per-
form his duty.
"Why, not so long ago, I had a bad
cold" said the speaker, enthusiast
cally, land the doctor gave me mix
ture to take every two hours. Under
ordinary circumstances that would
have been simple impossibility, but 1
managed it beautifully ] took pack
of postal cards and wrote on each:
| Take your medicine and mail yourself
postal card. Then ] started the ball
rolling by dropping one in the box and
swallowing a dose of it. The daily de-
liverles at the office are exactly two
hours apart. and whenever the carrier
appeared he handed me a reminder and
handed him back fresh card for
mailing, Result, a prompt cure
BY this time the two friends had
boarded a trolley car and We're on their
way home. It's certainly an admira-
BILE idea" said the gentleman who had
done the listening, but, by the way,
what do you intend to do with the three
cards you showed me?"
''Thunderation,n exclaimed the other,
looking chagrined. II declare ! forgot
to mail 'eml"
II have had only one experience in
addressing a communication to myself"
said the second gentleman, after
painful pause, "and that was so dis
asterous I never tried it again 1t hap
pened in this way: Shortly after I had
hung out my shingle, and While I was
having a desperate struggle to make
both ends meet a rich, eccentric old
aunt of mine invited me to spend the
summer at her country home in Yer
mont. / knew the old lady had a very
peppery temper but she had always
promised to do something for me-, and |
under the circumstances, concluded to
go Her home was several miles from
the nearest village and was really
beautiful place: but, just as / had |
feared, my aunt herself proved to be |
terribly trying company. She was iras-
chile and domineerng to the last de- |
gree, and having lived with a lot of |
servants, she was in the habit |
of saving things that made my blood |
boil in my veins, I managed to hold |
my tongue, however, and, when final
ly saw that I wasn't going to be able
to stand it much longer, / thought up
a neat little scheme for beating a grace
full retreat,
II had a special chum here in New
Orleans who knew all about my trip,
and, one evening l slipped over to the
village and sent him telegram, run
ming about like this: Impossible to re-
main longer with the old shrew. Wire
mo tomorrow that important business
demands my immediate presence Make
1t strong. Must skip. That was brut-
IL, huLlil, Dul l. WAS Dduly worked up. |
Early next morning I announced to
my aunt that I was going out fishing
FOR the day, T had a lawsuit coming
lp this week I remarked casually, and
It's barely possible I may get some !
message about it. RI any telegram ar
ives please open it. and if it needs an
answer one of the men can come over
after me at the bridge. I wanted her
% see the recall telegram with her own
yes, so as to avert any suspicion, and
vent off chuckling over my cleverness.
somewhat to my surprise, however. the
lay wore away without messenger.
ind | began to soften. The poor old
ady don't want me to CO. 1 said to
myself and is holding back. the news
But when I walked up to the house
hat evening / was thunderstruck 20
zee my trunks standing on the porch.
Ind before I could ask any question
ny aunt appeared OF the threshold.
lung me telegram with a tragic GEES
ure and slammed the door in my face.
opened the paper mechanically and
learly fell dead. 1t was my own mes
age. My chum was out of town when
4 Il