The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-11-17
To Aid the Memory.
Many Ways by Which the Brain Can Be Strengthened
and Impressions of Names and
Euenfs Retained
Euents Retained.

perience | have found useful a sort
ate certain names in certain order
and write them on a slate that hangs
upon the wall of memory and is as
plain to me as If seen with bodily
eyes. Sometimes / associate an incl
dent, with a color, as red, yellow, or
green. Sometimes a group of incl
dents are recalled by the name of a
place. Attention and association are
the twin factors in bolstering mem
DRY and making it effective. Deter
mine to remember a certain incident
or story. arrange it in your mind, la
bel it, set it away for future use, and
when you want it memory will deiiv-
er it to you intact.
OF course there are always calen-
dars, schedules, diaries and memoir
andum books. If you object to carry
ing much luggage on the road make
memoranda and consult them at your
discretion. The person of many en-
gagements may find it well to have
them arranged consecutively, where
they may be found at call. The wo-
man whose visiting list is long would
better furnish herself with a carefully
kept address book than try to remem-
Der every ones street and number.
Committee meetings, correspondence
and business engagements may be en-
trusted to the safeguarding of the
written page. Those who keep lit
10 in he OF nj
the bag may as well not try to re-
member that which they write down.
Discrimination is the part of common
sense. Why take the same trouble to
remember an unimportant trifie as
an affair of great moment. and why
undertake the double duty of writing
thing down and then remembering
it without consulting the record?
Illness, imperfect vision. impaired
hearing and physical feebieness may
each ravage memory. A sign of old
age Is the failure to recollect what is
happening in the present while mem
DRY is living in the past. No. one Is
old who lives wildly and eagerly in
the present tense. and who has no
difficulty in keeping hold of what is
going on in the active circle of the
day. When the loosened fingers drop
the thread of the present day and the
mind gropes in search of a missing
clue, then one has begun to grow old
A young girl who had unfortunate
ly been given quantities of a certain
powerful drug as remedy against
malaria, found herself at 20 unable
to remember anything. She said: u
have no memory for a book that ]
read or a conversation that l hear
Each new impression completely
blots out the one that came before it
What shall | do?" The advice given
her was to take a single fact or a
single incident each day and go over
and over that, not suffering 1t to
elude her, and fixing her whole at
tention upon it, grasp it tightly until
it became a real possession. 1t was
slow work. but resolution triumphed
and in the end her memory again
served her with faithfulness.
1t was, however, essential for her
to cut entirely loose from drugs and
to live in the open air. regaining by
healthful processes the physical vigor
she had lost.
Never be discouraged If the mem
DRY is weak. Make up your mind it
may be strengthened. Act as if it
were already strong Trust it and it
will not disappoint you.
Copyright. 1906. by Joseph B. Bowies)