ly. I threw
the pictures away as soon as they were made, for I was sure I could shut
my eyes and see them any time. That was a quarter of a century ago; the
lecture vanished out of my head more than twenty years ago, but I would
rewrite it from the pictures--for they remain. Here are three of them:
(Fig. 1).

The first one is a haystack--below it a rattlesnake--and it told me
where to begin to talk ranch-life in Carson Valley. The second one told
me where to begin the talk about a strange and violent wind that used
to burst upon Carson City from the Sierra Nevadas every afternoon at two
o'clock and try to blow the town away. The third picture, as you easily
perceive, is lightning; its duty was to remind me when it was time
to begin to talk about San Francisco weather, where there IS no
lightning--nor thunder, either--and it never failed me.

I will give you a valuable hint. When a man is making a speech and you
are to follow him don't jot down notes to speak from, jot down PICTURES.
It is awkward and embarrassing to have to keep referring to notes; and
besides it breaks up your speech and makes it ragged and non-coherent;
but you can tear up your pictures as soon as you have made them--they
will stay fresh and strong in your memory in the order and sequence in
which you scratched them down. And many will admire to see what a good
memory you are furnished with, when perhaps your memory is not any
better than mine.

Sixteen years ago when my children were little creatures the governess
was trying to hammer some primer histories into their heads. Part of
this fun--if you like to call it that--consisted in the memorizing of
the accession dates of the thirty-seven personages who had ruled England
from the Conqueror down. These little people found it a bitter, hard
contract. It was all dates, and all looked alike, and they wouldn't
stick. Day after day of the summer vacation dribbled by, and still the
kings held the fort; the children couldn't conquer any six of them.

With my lecture experience in mind I was aware that I could invent some
way out of the trouble with pictures, but I hoped a way could be found
which would let them romp in the open air while they learned the kings.
I found it, and they mastered all the monarchs in a day or two.

The idea was to make them SEE the reigns with their eyes; that would be
a large help. We were at the farm then. From the house-porch the grounds
sloped gradually down to the lower