246 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



had not the smallest remembrance of having gone through 

 precisely the same service on the previous Sunday ; and 

 when he was assured of it, he felt considerable uneasiness 

 lest his lapse of memory should indicate some impending 

 attack of illness. None such, however, supervened ; and no 

 rationale can be given of this curious occurrence, the subject 

 of it not being liable to fits of " absence of mind " and not 

 having had his thoughts engrossed at the time by any other 

 special pre-occupation.' It is possible that the explanation 

 here is the simple one of mere coincidence. Whether this 

 explanation is available or not would depend entirely on the 

 question whether the preacher's memory was ordinarily 

 trustworthy or not, whether in fact he would remember the 

 arrangements, prayers, sermon, &c., he had given on any 

 occasion. These matters becoming, after long habit, almost 

 automatic, it might very well happen that the person going 

 through such duties would remember them no longer and 

 no better than one who had been present when they were 

 performed, and who had not paid special attention to them. 

 That if he had thus unconsciously carried out his duties on 

 one Sunday he should (being to this degree forgetful) con- 

 duct them in precisely the same way on the next Sunday, 

 would rather tend to show that his mental faculties were in 

 excellent working order than the reverse. Wendell Holmes 

 tells a story which effectively illustrates my meaning ; and 

 he tells it so pleasantly (as usual) that I shall quote it 

 unaltered. ' Sometimes, but rarely,' he says, ' one may be 

 caught making the same speech twice over, and yet be held 

 blameless. Thus a certain lecturer' (Holmes himself, doubt- 

 less), ' after performing in an inland city, where dwells a 

 litteratrice of note, was invited to meet her and others over 

 the social tea-cup. She pleasantly referred to his many 

 wanderings in his new occupation. "Yes," he replied, " I am 

 like the huma, the bird that never lights, being always in the 

 cars, as he is always on the wing." Years elapsed. The 

 lecturer visited the same place once more for the same 

 purpose. Another social cup after the lecture, and a second 



