Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-30
AN EXCELLENT MEMORY
REQUIRES TRAINING FRO
EARLIEST YOUTH.
King Edward and the Kaiser Are
Rulers Who Never For
get Face.
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
To possess an excellent memory proves
sometimes as goodly an heritage as a for
tune. The may be lost In spite of care,
while the other If properly regarded, win
continue to aid and abet man throughout
his existence. The Residences OF cultivat-
ing good memory, If merely as an act of
policy, is we'll exemplihed by several no.
table men who have lived IN the public
gaze.
King Edward VII would, If approached on
the subject doubtless lay good portion of
his popularity with the masses at the door
of his wonderful memory Hardly is it be-
lieved that another could be found to match
1t in the present day. The king never for
gets face, nor name. and both he assoc
ciateS in his mind with some connecting
place or incident. Whoever Is presented to
him, no matter how great or how humble
q parsonage, under what crowded,
changing surroundings. he has it In his
power to recall years afterward and to re-
late the circumstances attending the presen-
tation. Many of his subjects have amusing
stories to tell of their surprise, amounting
almost to terror at times when, as Prince
of Wales. he would suddenly turn amid
some tumultuouS throng and call one of Il
number by name. Not to feel flattered at
such a mark of favor would be more than
human, and as surely as the deed was done
Once when passing incognita through
Rome under the name of Mr.. Smith, and
sitting in restaurant on the CorSo, the
king was heartily slapped on the back by a
waiter who at the same time gave vent to
the remark: BLESS me, man; you're the
only soul that's put foot In this place " 40
remembers me bein' at Ostend.'
A Hobby With His Mother.
But this is not altogether an incoherent
trait with the king. The implanting of
memory was hobby, if one may speak,
OF the late Queen Victoria. In his boyhood
the king made to repeat to his tutor
every night before going to bed the names
Of the people he had met during the day |
the circumstances under which he had met
them, and made also to repeat, nearly |
verbatim possible, the conversations in |
which he had taken part.
With his nephew the Emperor of Ger
many, the same training in this respect was |
pursued throughout childhood and youth |
The kaiser's memory in Germany Is held in |
reverential awe. To a few however it is |
known that he sometimes pulls through try
ing ordeals by leaning strongly on his repu-
tation.
Recently at large official dinner given |
IN Berlin by the medical staff it was favor |
ably remarked that the kaiser spoke with |
ali those present on the particular branches |
OF medicine in which they were respectively |
interested. With each man he discussed his |
writings and pet theories. dwelling always |
brothers. To do such a thing it was thought |
required not only an immense amount Of |
serious reading on the subject of medicine |
but a most extraordinary memory 1t was |
rather denouement, therefore, when a |
young physician, not willing to have his |
thunder stolen, gave the fact out rather |
broadly that twenty minutes before the |
Glnner he had been summoned to the kali |
sers presence, and had then given in synop- |
sis form every bit of the information that |
mad been used during the evening. Prob |
o. f tInl ya L.
any of the men present and most assuredly |
mad read none of their writings. Even So |
1t Is an achievement of merit to absorb |
enough in twenty minutes to make one au |
courrant or the labor and thought of years. |
An Unerring Help.
Lord Kitchener, another Englishman of |
trained and unerring memory, is, unhap- |
PLY. more feared than loved by his men, |
and partly this account Delinquents |
especially. when awaiting his Justice are |
painfully aware that the details of every |
other trfp-up in their career are as fresh in |
his memory the day they occurred 1t Is |
said of him that he knows not how to for
get.
James Ct Blaine had perhaps, as remark
apie memory as any one born und5r the |
stars and stripes. and it was which he |
was fond of saying came with him s." Py |
this he meant that it had no such rigorous |
training as that of King Edward VII But |
he, too. was always glad to acknowledge |
MS many utDtS OF gratitude TO this source.
Ihurlow Weed made 1t a practice TO re- |
peat to his wife at night In sequence every
Incident of the day. So alive to impress |
sions was his intelligence and so careful |
his description of them, that the task W ould |
customarily take him from half to three
quarters of an hour.
Another man who scorned above most
things a note book or memorandum was
Roscoe Conkling. To carry such a thing
ne regarded as an indignity. and loud were
MS analhemas against his countrymen that |
they allowed the custom to increase among
them. Teach children to remember" was
his favorite maxim.
or chief officials of the United States, |
President Tyler had undoubtedly the most |
exact and best-trained memory Besides |
being OF inestimable service to hi5 country |
through a trying time. II gave him much |
pleasure. AS he lay in his bed at night |
ana before sleep visited his eyes he would |
calm his mind by repeating to himsel. sucn |
ioVed poems as The Lady Of the Lake
or again, chapter after chapter of sacred |
WrIlnss. After once hearing a long poem |
read he could repeat it perfectly Nor vas |
this only transient ability
one New York woman of note there was
VINO deserves mention among this group of |
unusual memories. The reference is TO Mrs
Livingston, one of the founders and for a |
long time director Of the old orphan asv- |
ium' without the slightest .rrrt she con- |
call the 300 children there sheltered nv
name: ana remembered as Wei the .ndi-
Hiduai history of each one. Also she had |
PRESIDENT Tyler's gift Of being able to re- |
peat aIter once reading any list of names |
or long poem ~
The Coal Strike.