mind's screen. Before Loisette was thought of this was known.
In the old times in England, in order to impress upon the mind of the
rising generation the parish boundaries in the rural districts, the boys
were taken to each of the landmarks in succession, the position and
bearing of each pointed out carefully, and, in order to deepen the
impression, the young people were then and there vigorously thrashed--a
mechanical method of attracting the attention which was said never to
have failed. This system has had its supporters in many of the
old-fashioned schools, and there are men who will read these lines who
can recall, with an itching sense of vivid impression, the 144 lickings
which were said to go with the multiplication table.

In default of a thrashing, however, the student must cultivate as best
he can an intense fixity of perception upon every fact or word or date
that he wishes to make permanently his own. It is easy. It is a matter
of habit. If you will, you can photograph an idea upon your cerebral
gelatine so that neither years nor events will blot it out or overlay
it. You must be clearly and distinctly aware of the thing you are
putting into your mental treasure-house, and drastically certain of the
cord by which you have tied it to some other thing of which you are
sure. Unless it is worth your while to do this, you might as well
abandon any hope of mnemonic improvement, which will not come without
the hardest kind of hard work, although it is work that will grow
constantly easier with practice and reiteration. You need, then:

1. Methodic suggestion.

2. Methodic attention.

3. Methodic reiteration.

And this is all there is to Loisette, and a great deal it is. Two of
them will not do without the third. You do not know how many steps there
are from your hall door to your bedroom, though you have attended to and
often reiterated the journey. But if there are twenty of them, and you
have once bound the word "nice," or "nose," or "news" or "hyenas," to
the fact of the stairway, you can never forget it.

The Professor makes a point, and very wisely, of the importance of
working through some established chain, so that the whole may be carried
away in the mind--not alone for the value of the facts so bound
together, but for the mental discipline so afforded.

Here, then, is the "President Series," which contains the name and date
of inauguration of each President from Washington to Cleveland. The
manner