p. 7 | Cultivate Your Memory

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 8, 1910

Cultivate Your Memory

IN these days, when people read newspapers daily, making little effort to remember what they read, it is said that the art of remembering is going into a decline.

Now, a good memory is a wonderful help in life. The young person who tries to develop such a memory in his youth, will never regret it.

The most successful pastor is usually he who most quickly recognizes and calls by name the members of his flock.

The most successful politician is usually the one who remembers best the men whom he meets.

Writers, speakers, lawyers, doctors, merchants, and others, depend largely on a good memory for their advancement. There is no high place on earth for the forgetful man.

There have been many great characters who have declared that they owed their fame chiefly to their remarkable memories.

James G. Blaine was one of these. George Washington had a good memory. Napoleon was said to be able at one time to call every soldier in his army by name.

Milton could repeat the whole of Homer's works. Several men have committed the entire Bible to memory. Henry Clay could not learn poetry, but he never forgot a name, a face, or an argument. John Stuart Mill had a wonderful memory. Oliver Cromwell was another general who was said to know the names of all his men.

Probably Macaulay had as good a memory as any man who ever lived. He knew by heart the whole of “Paradise Lost” and the “Pilgrim’s Progress.”

Make a practise of learning both prose and poetry. Then repeat it often to yourself, in order to retain it. Train your memory in every way you can think of.

A very good memory will not take the place of original thinking, nor of industry; but it is still a valuable help in life. In these days of close competition a good memory is always likely to be the factor which turns the scale toward victory.—Selected.