WONDERFUL MEMORIES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 21 May 1915, Page 2

WONDERFUL MEMORIES

1 ~~ : A London journalist recalls some examples of marvellous memorising. , Thomas Holcroit, whose "Road to ' Ruin" has been revived at the Coronet,! is credited with oue of the most re- ; markable feats of memory on record. 1 When "Figaro" made a hit in .Paris, iti was decided, in accordance with the i lax notions of copyright current a cen- j 1 tury ago, tto pirate it for the -English ' stage. No copy of the .play being ! available, Holeroft went to" Paris, attended ten performances of the piece, ; and, stric^. watch being ke^t against re-j ■ porting, memorised the "whole, andj translated it for a London audience. ! Holcroft's feat could probably , have been> easily outdone by "Memory" I ! Woodfall, who, in the days when note- ■ taking was forbidden in the House of I Commons, acquired fame by his' exI traordinary power of reporting from memory the eneeches he heard in that august assembly. His usual attitude during a debate was to close his eyes I and lean forward with both hands upon.1 ! his stick, being so well acquainted with.l I the tone and manner of the several' I speakers that he seldom changed his attitude save to catch the name of a new member. The speeches thus memI orised he printed in his journal, and so wonderful* was his memory that he \ could retain full recollection of a debate a fortnight after, though having listened to many long nights of speaking in the interval. He used to say he could put any speech away on a corner shelf of his mind for future reference. 1 Another remai'kable memory was that ■, of Thomas Fuller, who could write ver-, batim another man's sermon after., hearing it only once, and could do, the same with as many as 500 words in an unknown tongue, after hearing them twice. Which reminds one also of "Memory" Thompson } who, among other remarkable feats, could repeat from memory the name of every shop in the Strand 5n proper order. Among wonderful feats of memory should be mentioned that of William Frederick, a New York salesman, who boars the distinction of being the only I man alive able to quote the words of I the Bible from memory. Without anydesire to nrake show of his powers, butj simply for his own benefit and for love of the Book, he spent eighteeil years committing the Bible to memory, and ran repeal any passage of it from Genesis to Revelation, and state exactly where it may be found. And if he has got the spirit as well as the 1 letter he should find, a good situation j 11') higher when he has (to quit New I York.