The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-18
A "PUT-AWAY CATALOGUE"
Mr.. Bnltops Suggests Q Listing Of tho
Things That We Pile UP at Home.

hihb he
Eff indexing scrapbooks is a good thing
10 do, as no doubt 1t is said Mr.. Billtops.
why wouldn't it be a grand thing to cata-
loguo things that you put away 50 that
you would know where to find them?
"Where could l have put that| l have
just heard Mrs. Billtops exclaim. She is
looking for something that she had put away
safely and securely. She thought she had
nut IL in a certain trunk, and she has get
that trunk open, and has got stuff from it
scattered all over the Hoor. But it isn't
there, and finally she puts the stuff back in
the trunk and searches elsewhere. AT last
she finds the thing she is looking for in the
right hand back corner Of the top drawer
Of a bureau in another room.
L find by experience that If I make notes
OF a conversation that 1 desire to remember,
I must, when l come 10 write that CONVEX
sation out, rely for my recollections OF it
on my notes almo It solely; while, il l rely
on my memory entirely, l can, il the subject
is one in which I am interested, recall the
talk much more completely and accurately.
In other words, our memory rewards trust
in it, and, IA with any other faculty, 1t is
improved by exercise.
But l do not find that this applies to in
animate objects, to things put away
Such things VIC can forget az completely as
though they had never existed, and so for
such things I 60 in for a catalogue.
Mrs. Billtops does one thing-among
many-that has always struck me as great.
Whenever we move she always insists that
all the keys OF every sort shall be carried
together in a handy bag in which are carried
also a screw driver and a 1 imlet and one or
two other indispensable household tools,
and In which are put also all the screws
taken out Of furniture in dismantling it for
removal. II anybody uses the screw driver
or any Of the keys they must always be
brought back and put in that bag.
Now this bag Is. as you might say, a
sort OF mechanical catalogue to which
we can always turn with confidence. And
now what propose is an actual catalogus
to be kept OF thirg s put away. I don't
mean things put away or packed at moving
time, but thir gs Of various sorts and OF one
sort and an other that we put away from
time to time after USE:
sYou wouldn't irdex this catalogue,
you wouldn't need TO: but l should think
you would wantto arrange it alphabetically,
say q page or two fer each letter.
AS we grow older. Il may again divereA.
or seem TO- diverge, for a minute, We ac-
cumulate things we como to have boxes
and barrels and trunks OF things that we
hate to throw away and when we come
to hunt for a thing put away in this manner
we may have to 60 through half a dozen
boxes before we find It. II we would
make a complete inventory OF the contents
OF each Of these boxes and trunks when we
put them away we would find that a most
convenient thing: but perhaps that Is too
much to expect most people to do. But
we could make and keep a catalogue of the
things We put away from time 10 tims.
For Instance:
AN occasion comes around on which
we want to YEA grandma's brooch, which
we haven't worn, cay, for s?vpnteen years,
and Mrs. BDltops goes to get 1t out and--it
isn't therei And then:
Where could l have put it2' says Mrs.
Billtops; I was sure I put 1t here
Then begins the search for It, with
the brooch, always dearly priced, growing
dearer every moment that it is missing,
and the search may take hours, costing
much time and trouble and worry. We do
find IL at last, and we have a sense Of great
relief at the Here it isl
aNow how much better 1t would nave
been II when we put it away we had SGT
down the place where we put it in the
catalogue.
sWhy Mrs. Billtope, who thinks Of every
thing, has never thought Of this, Pm surs
II don't know: but I'm SURE that when / suR-
gest It TO her she'll start at once a cata-
logue Of things put away