The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-10

ty. had also q stupendous memory. He
said it. was not extraordinary to him,
but no doubt it was to nearly every
body else. Prof. Muller tells this
that while he himself was at Leipsic
University, in Germany, the whole
class was punished by being kept
back till they had learned two or three
off i'm about ten minutes. l could not
do that now for my very life"
knew personally well an English gem
tleman who was a fine scholar ana
most refined. He could quote the
Odes of Horace adj libitum. / asked
him how he learned them. He said
mainly at Winchester, one of the half
dozen great English preparatory
schools. Ii you made a false quantity
in your regular Latin exercise the
penalty was to commit to memory
sixty lines in Horace. He said he was
always making the false quantity and
memorizng Horace. l knew of one
Irish Baronet who lived and died in
Granville county, Sir Patrick Edgar,
who could easily repeat Virgil at Will
A good memory is q great help and
most convenient. Some men have UNI
common memories, but not uncommon
heads Others are brainy enough but
not blessed with extra memories.
knew a man who has read enough to
be wise and widely Informed. But he
had a poor memory, and other knew
more than he knew While in fact he
had read vastly more than they had
read and in fields too they had never
entered, much less had cultivated
Blessed is the man who is endowed
with a quick, retentive memory. 1t
will from many u blunder be free.
Memory is most important for it
brings back the past, and when not
sad gilds it with the charm of glad
ness. But what [ am particularly
considering is not the gloom or sor-
row, the sunshine and joy of the past
life but memory that treasures up
what you read or witness, and is
rich storehouse that never disappoints.
4
A good deal of pleasant verse is
written now and published that is not
what could be pronounced as original
because others had written in the same
strain and there was one who was
the first to strike the particular string
and evoke the delightful melody
English poetry from Chaucer until
Kitchener and Watson is full of eX-
amples of this kind. In The News and
Observer Of goth June there is
sweet, solemn prayer in the verse form
bv probably the best of living North
Carolina poets, Prof. Henry Jerome
StOckard, that he rightly calls Ihe
Prayer of Life" IT is a supplication
to Almighty Father to lead in the
early morning of life, at the noontide
glare, and when the deep shadows fall
and darken the pilgrims faith
Quite fifty or more years since |
read a book by a celebrated London
physician, name forgotten, on the use
of alcohol. He was at the head of a
great hospital in London and did not
allow alcohol or strong liquors to be
used. l am reminded of that by what |
j saw mentioned recently by a corre- !
spondent of the Charlotte "Presbyte- |
rian Standard, that alcohol is danger |
Gus to the human system so eminent |
men of science believe and state. The |
correspondent says that in "the Lon !
don Temperance Hospital of which |
the famous Or. Benjamin Ward Rich |
arlson has charge, no alcoholic stimu- |
liant whatever is used, and alcoholic |
medicines are now regarded as out of
date. In Germany a series of state |
ments have recently appeared Ito the |
effect that alcohol as Il medicine is |
more likely to do harm by its paralYz-
ing influence than good as a stimulant !!