Memory is valuable. It gives us the capacity to recall things we have read, experiences we have enjoyed or people we have known. We can apply past experiences to current problems. We can recall past events which made a major change in our lives. We carry images in our minds that go back to childhood and may well affect the way we live our lives as adults.

 

When Carl Sandburg wrote his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, he gave evidence of a remarkable memory. He remembered the families who lived near his home on Berrien Street, pastors of the Swedish churches, schoolmates, businessmen, the hard work done by both of his parents, the pain of losing two younger brothers to diphtheria. His recollections helped create a fascinating book that described life in a Midwestern town on the Illinois prairie in the late nineteenth century.

 

Sandburg was very sensitive about his memory. On one occasion at the Mission on South Seminary Street he participated in a declamation contest. Declamation contests were very popular in those days. The competition was a way for boys and girls to learn public speaking. This particular contest was for the Demorest Medal. All the speeches were in favor of the prohibition of alcoholic beverages. Each participant was to stand up on the stage and give the memorized speech.

 

Poor Carl. His memory failed him about halfway through his presentation. The prompter helped him get back on track and he finished his speech. He knew that he had been thinking more about how to say the words than those which were coming next. When he paused, some in the audience laughed. That made the experience even more embarrassing.

 

Years later, when he went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, to be examined as a possible cadet, he failed in grammar and mathematics. One the train ride home he judged himself very harshly when it came to the reliability of his mind.

 

After attending Lombard College, he set himself to exercising his mind and memory so he could be a writer. He supported himself by selling stereoscope views and lived a spartan existence for several years in order to have the time to study the writings of many kinds of authors. He hoped familiarity with the written creations of his many predecessors would show him the way to success. He practiced writing poems and prose. He made observations of places and people and tried to describe them in his writing.

 

The outlines of his youthful experience provided him with the memory of hard work, economic struggle, religious conviction, and the influence of chance in one's life. He used it to develop an inquiring mind and to constantly expand his knowledge.