countless others.

 

Lastly, _cast out fear_. Tell yourself that you _can_ and _will_ and _do_

remember. By pure exercise of selfism assert your mastery. Be obsessed with the

fear of forgetting and you cannot remember. Practise the reverse. Throw aside

your manuscript crutches--you may tumble once or twice, but what matters that,

for you are going to learn to walk and leap and run.

 

_Memorizing a Speech_

 

Now let us try to put into practise the foregoing suggestions. First, reread

this chapter, noting the nine ways by which memorizing may be helped.

 

Then read over the following selection from Beecher, applying so many of the

suggestions as are practicable. Get the spirit of the selection firmly in your

mind. Make mental note of--write down, if you must--the _succession_ of ideas.

Now memorize the thought. Then memorize the outline, the order in which the

different ideas are expressed. Finally, memorize the exact wording.

 

No, when you have done all this, with the most faithful attention to directions,

you will not find memorizing easy, unless you have previously trained your

memory, or it is naturally retentive. Only by constant practise will memory

become strong and only by continually observing these same principles will it

remain strong. You will, however, have made a beginning, and that is no mean

matter.