The steps in memory culture are direct, certain, perfectly practical, and the goal itself is worthy of attainment. But the only way to reach this goal is through practice, practice, practice.

Conditions of Memorizing

EXERCISES

Some evening when you are "dead tired" memorize the following, or some other verse if you are familiar with this, noting the time required before, with the book closed, you can repeat it with confidence:

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

The next morning after such a good night's sleep that you feel thoroughly refreshed, memorize in a similar way this or some other verse, of about the same difficulty as the first:

Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Compare the amount of time required.

After two weeks have

elapsed, see which verse you can recall more completely.

What do you conclude as to fatigue versus freshness, ill-health versus vitality, in making things stick in the mind?

Methods of Memorizing

Here are three columns of words which you are to study in each case three minutes, exactly as directed:

Study Column I by sound. Listen carefully as someone spells the words aloud to you, trying to remember each sound; have him con

tinue the spelling, you meanwhile trying to impress the ear, until the three minutes have elapsed. How many words do you remember? How many do you spell correctly?

Study Column 2 visually. Look sharply at the letters, the number of them in each word, their appearance and order, trying hard for three minutes to impress the eye. How many can you remember? Write correctly?

Study Column 3 by a combined method. Spell them aloud to yourself, scrutinize the letters sharply, write them down. Appeal this time to ear, eye, and muscle. How many can you remember? Spell correctly?

Compare the results. In impressing your mind which approach seems the best? Should you wish to recall names more readily, what suggestions do you draw from this exercise?

As a further test we have here four columns of ten words each:

Study intently Columns I and II, then cover this second column with a sheet of paper. How long a time is required before, by looking at Column I meanwhile, you can repeat correctly in order each word in Column II?

Study now with equal care and for the same length of time Columns III and IV, then covering the latter with a paper and looking at Column III, how many words of Column IV can you repeat correctly in order?

Why is the second test so much more difficult than the first? What principles of memorizing are here illustrated?

Not Just Plodding, But Planning

When you deliberately sit down and consciously exercise your memory, "keep your eye on the ball." Do not think about indefinite or incongruous things. Take one definite starting point and group other details around it. Narrow your field of recognition and recol

lection, and multiply all the associations which bear upon the topic you wish to master.

When our government began making frames of airplanes for the Liberty Motor-Samuel Blythe tells us in the Saturday Evening Post-they needed spruce, and more spruce-and needed it "seasoned." The wet, sappy wood was no good for the purpose and the only known seasoning process was nature's own which took from twelve to eighteen months.

Some experts went to work on the problem and found a way to shorten the time to four months, but even that was too long. Then "the best brains in the country tackled the job and a process was devised by which spruce can be seasoned and made ready for use in fourteen days. It is a process of seasoning by saturation, too technical to be detailed here; but it works."

The efficient man can do something of the kind with his memory. Saturate your mind with impressions and associations connected with the sort of facts you wish to remember, and then concentrate your attention; you can make more speedy and more sure the process of getting command of your mental stores.

PART III

THE DISPATCH OF A DAY'S WORK

The leaders in action or thought are not magicians but steady, persistent workers.-THEODORE N. VAIL, President American Telephone and Telegraph Company.