Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-05-24

hard days work in the store to greet a
dear wife or II little child may we say:
THE Lord gave and the Lord gives to
us our dear ones. We thank thee. Fa-
Their, that thou hast not taken them
away" IL YOU would remember the
benefits which God has placed on every
side of US, then you must find God ev.
erywhere. by the law Of the associa-
ton OF ideas YOU must see him in the
smile of Il baby cooling in the crib. in
the coat that you wear upon your back.
in the refreshing. slumbcr of the past
night. You must see him and feel him
everywhere about you. What God
takes away we miss. But when God
blesses the present we often take /
FOR granted that God is not IN the
blessing ana that God is nowhere
around.
But gospel mnemonlcs" imply more
than mere mental absorption and the
law OF the association OF ideas. In or
der TO remember well fact you must
be able mentally to take that fact in.
Oh, yes. But, more than that, you
must be able to give out that fact II
the waters within n reservoir have no
outlet and only inlets those waters be.
come murzy and brackish and muddy.
But IL the streams OF knowledge
which flow Into the mind are allowed
10 flow out then those streams, instead
OF becoming stagnant pools, as noun
tain brooks Will gurgle and splash, will
leap and sparkle in glorious life.
All a tumble.
1t Is by broadening knowledge that
the grip of the memory becomes stron-
ger. You can illustrate this fact by
your travels. When young man with
your parents you took a trip to Eu-
rope. You went from city to city and
from capital TO capital. You visited
cathedral and palace and art gallery
and ruined castle and famous homes
without number. Every step seemed
TO you an enchantment. But when YOU
returned home after a three months
tour what was the result? Your whole
journey was a big tumble. You could
not remember what you had seen or
where and how you saw the sights YOU
did remember. few years later, how
ever, you made second trip to Eu-
rope. Then you went as a correspond
ent OF newspaper. You used TO write
weekly articles for your county paper.
What was the result? You saw the
same stones and spires and groves as
you did before, but you saw these in n
new light. In describing them for 9th
ers you fixed those facts indelibly in
your own mind. The reason BENJAMIN
Franklin had such n marvellous MEM
DRY and such wonderful clearness of
thought and expression was due to one
custom. From the time he was young
man he never read an important book.
he never heard an important speech,
he never listened to an important con-
versation but he always went home.
look MS pen and paper and made q
clear and succinct abstract of the
thoughts he wished to remember. Now.
my friends, how can you and | by
gospel mnemonics" ever be able to
hold clearly and distinctly in our
minds and hearts the benefits which
God has placed about us unless we are
able to write them down and also are
able by long practice to tell them to
some one else?
But, though this fact Is true, some
people never think Of telling their
friends what God has done for them.
They do not care whether any one else
knows their divine blessings or not.
If these same people have received an
honorary degree from some college they
have their diplomas framed and hung
up in their studies, where every visitor
can see them If they belong to some
secret order and are high up In the
councils they always have the lodges
pictures or their badges in conspicuous
places to let you know their positions
They seem to care but little whether
you know the benefits they have receiv-
ed from God. The result is that as
they do not talk about their divine
blessings they are very apt to forget
them. The weakest memory ever
knew belonged to bookworm. He
read about everything. He did nothing
but read. But no sooner would he
read than he would forget. III YOU
would not forget the benefits with