HOW TO SEE AND REMEMBER 



one event for each year of your life will come prom- 

 inently into the field. 



What are these events? Those that made a strong 

 impression at the time because of their novelty or their 

 importance, or both. Graduation from school; the 

 entrance upon practical life; changes of business or 

 residence; marriage; the death of a relative or friend, 

 and so on. 



These events are the milestones by which we measure 

 our span of life as we look back. They are permanent, 

 ineffaceable records of memory. As we dwell on the 

 picture in retrospect, other minor events come to view. 

 Numerous details of transactions, little incidents ap- 

 parently forgotten, are recalled. But after memory 

 has exhausted its possibilities, we must feel that where 

 one event is recalled a thousand are forgotten. 



Of our myriad experiences, why have these few been 

 singled out for permanent record, while the rest are con- 

 signed to oblivion ? 



The answer is but a reiteration. It is because these 

 were vividly or persistently experienced. But why 

 were they vividly or repeatedly experienced ? Because 

 they possessed an interest for us. It may have been 

 the interest of novelty, or the interest of importance; 

 it may have been interest developed of fear or apprehen- 

 sion ; but it was surely interest, for interest is the mother 

 of attention, and from attention comes vividness of 

 mental presentation which lies at the foundation of 

 memory. 



Why then does the waiter remember your order? 

 Primarily because he listened to it attentively, it being 



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