of angels," and do not know "all mysteries and all
knowledge." It rather becomes us to make the best and highest use, day by
day, of the talents that are bestowed upon us, remembering that however
short of perfection they may be, we are yet far more gifted than myriads
of our fellow-creatures in this very imperfect world.

There is no question that the proper cultivation of the memory is, or
ought to be, the chief aim of education. All else is so dependent upon
this, that it may be truly affirmed that, without memory, knowledge
itself would be impossible. By giving up oneself with fixed attention to
what one seeks to remember, and trusting the memory, though it may often
fail, any person can increase his powers of memory and consequently of
learning, to an indefinite degree. To improve and strengthen the memory,
it must be constantly exercised. Let it be supplied with new knowledge
frequently, and called on daily to reproduce it. If remembered only
imperfectly or in part, refresh it by reference to the source whence the
knowledge came; and repeat this carefully and thoroughly, until memory
becomes actually the store-house of what you know on that subject. If
there are certain kinds of facts and ideas which you more easily forget
than others, it is a good way to practice upon them, taking up a few
daily, and adding to them by degrees. Dr. W. T. Harris, the United States
Commissioner of Education, gave his personal experience to the effect
that he always found it hard to remember dates. He resolved to improve a
feeble memory in this respect by learning the succession of English
Kings, from William the Conqueror, down to Victoria. With his
characteristic thoroughness, he began by learning three or four dates of
accession only, the first day; two new ones were added the second day;
then one new king added the third day; and thereafter even less frequency
was observed in learning the chronology. By this method he had the whole
table of thirty-six sovereigns learned, and made familiar by constant
review. It had to be learned anew one year after, and once again after
years of neglect. But his memory for dates steadily grew, and without
conscious effort, dates and numbers soon came to be seized with a firmer
grasp than before. This kind of memory, he adds, now improves or
increases with him from year to year. Here is an instance of cultivation
of memory by a notable scholar, who adds a monition to learners with weak
memories, n