Make a Note On’t

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 10, 1868

“Make a Note On’t.”

It is a bad plan, if you have been powerfully impressed by a thought, or scene, or event, and wish to preserve your impressions in their original vividness, not to make a record of them at once. Impressions are terribly evanescent things; you fancy, while subjected to their powerful influence, that nothing can be easier than to recall them at will; but in after-years, when you try to do so, you find that it requires a greater effort than your memory is capable of. Even in a few days much of the vigor, much of the raciness of an impression disappears; much of its lustre is rubbed off. Depend upon it; it's the only way if you want to preserve them from corruption and decay; embalm them at once in ink and paper.

DECENCY.—One of the most important points of life is decency, which is to do what is proper where it is proper; for many things are proper at one time and in place, that are extremely improper at another. This decency, which shines in life, insures the approbation of those with whom we live, by the regularity, point, and modesty of our opinions and actions.