ould also incite their faculties of perception, memory and close
observation, by requiring them to recount everything, even to its
minutest details, that they may have observed in walking to and from
school, or in taking a ride in a carriage or in the cars. By training a
child to a close observation of everything he meets or passes, his mind
becomes very active, and the habit having once been acquired, he becomes
interested in a great variety of objects; sees more and enjoys more than
one who has not been so trained.

CULTIVATING THE MEMORY.

A good memory is an invaluable aid in acquiring the art of conversation,
and the cultivation and training of this faculty is a matter of
importance. Early youth is the proper time to begin this training, and
parents and teachers should give special attention to the cultivation of
memory. When children are taken to church, or to hear a lecture, they
should be required to relate or to write down from memory, such a digest
of the sermon or lecture as they can remember. Adults may also adopt
this plan for cultivating the memory, and they will be surprised to find
how continued practice in this will improve this faculty. The practice
of taking notes impairs rather than aids the memory, for then a person
relies almost entirely in the notes taken, and does not tax the memory
sufficiently. A person should also train himself to remember the names
of persons whom he becomes acquainted with, so as to recall them
whenever or wherever he may subsequently meet them. It is related of a
large wholesale boot and shoe merchant of an eastern city, that he was
called upon one day by one of his best customers, residing in a distant
city, whom he had frequently met, but whose name, at the time, he could
not recall, and received his order for a large bill of goods. As he was
about to leave, the merchant asked his name, when the customer
indignantly replied that he supposed he was known by a man from whom he
had purchased goods for many years, and countermanding his order, he
left the store, deaf to all attempts at explanation. Though this may be
an extreme case, it illustrates the importance of remembering the names
of people when circumstances require it.

HENRY CLAY'S MEMORY OF NAMES.

One secret of Henry Clay's popularity as a politician was his faculty of
remembering the names of persons he had met. It is said of him that if
he was once introduced to a person, he was ever afterwards able to ca