JAMES WINNE. 277 



In one's effort to improve his memory, the first ques- 

 tion to be answered is : What phase of my memory is 

 weak — for the cases are rare in which a person has a 

 weak memory in all directions; and secondly: Is an 

 increased power of this phase of memory desirable ? 



Adults who desire the vivid memory of their child- 

 hood can possess that luxury — if they will pay the price, 

 viz : "attention to the accidental features of an event, to 

 the details of trivial gossip, and neglect the main issues 

 and the casual processes." We offer this assurance : 

 they will find themselves able to do a far greater amount 

 of superficial observation and recollection than children 

 can do. 



Every observant person has discovered that the es- 

 tablishing of new habits in the place of the opposite old 

 ones requires the displacement of the old habits before 

 the new ones can be established. The physical habita- 

 tion of the soul is so impressionable and so faithful a re- 

 corder of impressions that, doubtless, each one of us 

 recognizes this moment one or more habits which mean 

 to us bondage. A man upon the tempest-tossed sea in a 

 boat which he cannot control is fully as much in bond- 

 age, I consider, as is the prisoner behind iron bars. 

 Many a soul who suffers from a poor memory is in the 

 bondage of bad habits — so far as are concerned those 

 habits which tend to weaken the power of memory. 



I am persuaded that the most serious cause of weak 

 memory is the lack of intelligent and confiding exercise 

 of the memory. This intelligent exercise requires the 

 exclusion of all thought, save the thought concentrated 

 on that which we desire to remember. The prayer of 

 the little child : " Father, make me so full of goodness 

 that there shall be no room for evil in me," is philo- 

 sophical and illustrative of my argument. If memory is 

 to be strengthened, there must be coincident with intent 

 and concentrated attention at the time of learning, 



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