Page:Memory; how to develop, train, and use it - Atkinson - 1919.djvu/202

196 after they have heard it, without reviewing or rehearsing in the meantime. Consequently they omit many important points, because they have failed to impress the story as a whole upon the memory. In order to know an anecdote properly, one should be able to see its characters and incidents, just as he does when he sees an illustrated joke in a comic paper. If you can make a mental picture of an anecdote, you will be apt to remember it with ease. The noted story tellers review and rehearse their jokes, and have been known to try them on their unsuspecting friends in order to get the benefit of practice before relating them in public—this practice has been called by flippant people: “trying it on the dog.” But it has its good points, and advantages. It at least saves one the mortification of being compelled to finish up a long-drawn out tale by an: “Er—well, um—m—m—I’m afraid I’ve forgotten just how that story ended—but it was a good one!”