Evening star., 1925-03-08

rules in the gospel or ernclency
is to do nothing themselves tnat tnes
can get somebody to do for them III is
a variation of the pleasant labor-saving
device that we used to use in college.
We called it a pony" there. 1t translated
our Greek and Latin for us, and certain
ly saved time and trouble.
or course professors who never had
the advantage of a modern business
training warned us that though we
might pass our examinations by skill
full driving of the pony" we would come
out without knowing what II was all
about. Later, some of us found that
when we came in contact with those VINO
had given themselves the trouble to do
their own translating, we met certain
grip and clarity of mind which put US
decidedly at a disadvantage in the hard
contests of the world.
x +
The pony" has multiplied. There
were never SO many species and varieties
of him as today. He has been trained
for use in human activities where at
first glance 1t would seem very difficult
for him to travel. Take the business OF
accommodating facts and ideas for profess
sional purposes. Most ingenious sets OF
files and catalogues have been contrived
to save the student the trouble Of re-
membering. Information is put in a
drawer, and when you want 1t, you go
and get it. 1t hampers conversation, to
be sure. IL you happen to find yourself In
company with ono who carries his in
formation in his head. But, Of course,
the chief reason for the filing pony Is
that he saves you the trouble OF looking
for anything in your head.
The difficulty Is that every now and
then the file fails you. Here is trivial
experience in point:
had a call for an item Of Lincolniana
which I knew-a certain book OF mine
proving it-that had once handled had
when l went to my files, search as i
would, / could not put my hand upon it.
Again and again, for over a period OF
several weeks 1 dug up and down, fol-
lowing one trail after another in those
files, and the item still eluded me- Final
ly, as a last resort, it occurred to me
that 1t might be well to look into my
head. I had been taught that a thing
which has pass through the mind, even
hurriedly on It's way to the files, makes
an impression that Is never lost.
So I sat myself down by the fire,
though it took considerable resolution to
do 1t, and began slowly and painfully to
search through the labyrinth Of my
brain. remembered that William James
had said about such an undertaking
I'VE make search in our memory for a
forgotten idea, just as we rummage our
house for a lost object. In both cases
We visit what seems to US the probable
neighborhdod Of that which we miss.
We turn over the things under which,
or within which, or alongside Of which,
it may possibly be, and If it lies near
them it soon comes to view
1t was interesting work after I had
once made up my mind to it. / kept
picking up things that I did not know ]
had, as one does when he looks into a
long neglected case of books or chest of
clothes or cabinet of curiosities. AS a
matter of fact, 1 went straight to my
item of Lincolniana, although 1 kept
stopping on the way to look at long
| neglected notions. When at last had 1t,
suddenly remembered a. note which
] after Idncoln's death was found attached
70 bundle Of miscellaneous papers: