The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-01-09
STORIES OF FoRGETFULNEss.
Some Lapses of Memory That Had Odd
 Results.

Some Lapses of Memory That Had Odd Results
 To old soldiers 1t will seem incredible that veteran could forget the compa- ny and regiment he served in during the civil war, but that such thing can happen and has happened can be am- ply verified in the Bureau of Pensions. Congressman Victor Murdock has two notable cases of that kind.One of them is Nicholas Hammond-known to near | ly everybody in Wichita. That he served in the army during the war there is very good reason to believe but he cannot remember a single incl dent or feature of his service, not moving where he was enlisted or dis charged or what company or regiment he served it. Some thirty odd years ago he was struck by lightning and
 does not remember a thing behind that event.
 Former Commissioner of Pensions Eugene Ware knew that such forget fulness was possible for he once rela- ted this story: He and James Whit comb Riley, the Hoosier poet, were giv-
 ing readings in Colorado. Riley was to 1 recite one of his own pieces, one he had 9composed and written himself, and one he had already recited over one hun- derd times that season. When he went
 upon the stage he forgot it utterly, One of the most peculiar cases of amnesia in history is recorded in remi-
 niscences of Bishop Munster. He went out for walk one day, and for the in- ! formation of some visitors he expected
 he had this written on his door: "The ] master of the house is not at home. '" l When he returned from his walk he noticed the sign on his door, and for getting that he was the master of the house he sat down on the steps and waited for himself
 I met prominent citizen opposite where the National Bank of Commerce now stands who was actually waiting \ for himself. He said that the man Whc
 was his actual self had promised to
 meet him there, and was very much surprised why he did not keep his en- Engagement. He has laughed many times at the queer incident.
 I do not propose to show that every time man forgets to pay back bor- rowed money his cells are on & strike, but I know of one very notable case in which that was true. A prominent cit izen got four hundred dollars from an- other man and actually forgot it. Until l this day he cannot remember getting
 the money, but fortunately his bank | account proved that he did get it, and | he paid it back promptly.
 A preacher who had congregation in a well to do central Kansas town one Saturday afternoon bought a COW and tied her in front of the church un- ] til he was ready to go home. When he Icame to the church to hold services the | following morning he saw the COW suf- i fering for food and water. He discard ! ed his well prepared sermon and preached powerfully on the text "The merciful man is merciful to his beast" He gave a very severe roasting to the I "brutish" person who had allowed the COW to suffer. and 1t never dawned upon his mind that he himself was the owner of the COW until after he had dismissed his congregation.
 Since l am talking of this pastor am reminded of the fact that the word
 minister" as applied to pastors was associated with a very peculiar case of 1 forgetfulness. Calvin first applied the word to the pastors of his following in l consequence of the fact that one of his 1 disciples was educated in a hall of the
 School of Equity of Poitiers, which was | known as La Ministerie. One of the l graduates of that hall had to deliver an essay, and, as graduates are wont to | do even now, he selected a fine garden of big cabbages to practice in. When l the day came and he stood before his ! audience he entirely forgot that he was not, talking ito cabbages until he ar ! rived nearly at the end of his address, when he completely broke down. say 1 ing: "Gentlemen, now clearly see ! that you are not caibbages, as I sup posed" La Fontaine does not say what the students did to him.-Wichita
 Eagle.
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