64
29th. Public speaking, Sermons, &c.—The heads and leading ideas of speeches, sermons, &c., may be learned on the same plan as prose, taking one subdivision for each leading idea. I find that the art of remembering discourses and prose writing requires more practice, and greater attention, on the part of the phrenotyper, than any other part of the system. I would say to you, persevere. The reward you will obtain by cultivating this part of the art will repay all the toil that can possibly be bestowed upon it.
The labour, so far as I am concerned, is now over. The principles of memory and the applications of those principles have all been laid open before you. The means whereby you may acquire knowledge rapidly is at your service. I have endeavoured, as plainly and as explicitly as I possibly could, to lay before you these principles. I can do no more. Yet this is not all that is required. It remains for you to put these principles into practice. Unless you fulfil your part of the labour, it will all be useless; it will be time and money thrown away. Do not be discouraged if in the onset you fail in your attempts. Perseverance must be your watchword. Be determined to overcome every obstacle, real or—what are by far more numerous of the two—imaginary. By these means you cannot help overcoming them. Bear in mind that the further you go in the phrenotypic art, the easier will be the transit onward. The more a person practices phrenotypics, the better phrenotyper he will become; and the more knowledge a man gets, the easier will it be for him to get that which he does not possess.
Before closing this course of lessons, I feel desirous of giving you a few practical hints, which may prove of some service to you in regulating your mind.
1st. Ever be on the watch for new facts, or new notions.
The extent of your information is at all times in proportion to your knowledge of facts. Facts on all occasions are valuable. One fact is worth a world of reasoning without facts. Not only would I have you to be desirous of getting a knowledge of all the facts relative to that particular profession or trade in which you are engaged, (although of course these are always the most essential,) but seize hold of every fact that may cross your path, either in the book
