The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-04-06
How to Talk-Be Short.
BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

could be painted for Mary Mother,
her face is so passionless and pure
and good. I used TO want to make
her wrap blue cloth round her head,
as if she were in picture | have
print of. and then. if we could only
frd the painter who was as pure and
GOOD &c she. she should be painted aS
Mary Mother Well. this sweet SAINT
has done lovely things in life, and
will do more, till she dies. And the
neople she deals with do many more
tban she. For her truth and gentle
ness and loneliness pass into them,
and inspire them. and then, with the
LIGHT and life they gain from her, they
can do what. with her light and life,
she cannot do. For she herself, like
all Of us. has her limitations. And
suppose the one reason why, with
such serenity and energy and long
suffering and uDselfshness as hers, |
she does not succeed better In her |
own person is that she does not know |
how to "be short" We cannot all be
or do all things. First boy in Latin,
YOU may translate that sentence back
into Latin, and see how much better
it sounds there than IN English.
Then send your version to the letter
box.
For instance, it may be Agatha's
duty to come aud tell me that-what
shall we have it?-say that dinner is
ready. Now really the best way but
one to say that IS, Dinner is ready,
sir" The best way is. Dinner, sir;
for this age. observe, loves to omit the
verb. Let it. But really if St. Aga
tina, of whom I speak-the second Of
that name. and of the Protestant. not
the Roman Canon-had this to say,
she would say: II am so glad to see
you [ do not want to take your
time, | am sure. you have so many
things to do, and you are so good to
everybody, but / kaew you would let
me tell you this | was coming up
stairs and | saw your cook, Florence,
you know / always knew her; she
used to live at Mrs Cradock's before
she started on her journey; and
her sister lived with that friend
of mine that I visited the summer
Willie was so sick with the mumps,
and she was so kind to him
She was a beautiful woman; her
husband would be away all the
day, and when he came home she
would have piece of mince pie for
him, and his clippers warmed and In
front of the fire for him; and, when
he was in Cayenne, he died, and they
brought his body home in a ship
Frederic Marsters was the Captain of.
Ii was there that [ met Florence's
sister-not so pretty as Florence, but.
[ think. nice girl. She is married
now. and lives at Ashland, and has
two nice children, boy and a girl.
They are coming to see us at Than ks
Giving. I was so glad to see that
Florence was with you, and | did not
know it when / came in, and, when [
met her in the entry, was very much
surprised, and she saw | was coming
in here, and she said "Please, will
you tell him that dinner is ready?,,
Now it is not simply, you see, that,
while an announcement of that nature
goes on, the mutton grows cold, your
vile grows tired, the children grow
cross, and that the subiugatiOn of the
world in general is set back, so far as
you are all concerned. a perceptible
space of time on The Great Dial. But
the tale itself has a wearing and
wearying perplexity about it. At the
end you doubt if it is your dinner that
is ready, or Fred Marster's, or Flor
>. D
il any real dinner, you doubt. For
want of a vigorous nominative case.
firmly governing thee verb, whether
that verb is seen or not, or because
this firm nominative is masked and
disguised behind clouds of drapery
and other rubbish, the best of stories,
thus told, loses all life, interest and
power.
Leave out then, resolutely. First
omit Speaking of hides" or That
reminds me of. F" or What you say
suggests, or You may think Of" or
any such introductions. of course
YOU remember what you are saying.
You could not say it if you did. not
remember it. 1t is to be hoped, too,
that you are thinking what you are
saying. IF you are not, you will not
help the matter by saying you are, no
matter if the conversation do have
firm aud sharp edges. Conversation
IS not an essay. It has a right to
many large letters, any many new par
agraphs That is what makes it so
much more interesting than long,
close paragraphs like this, which the
printers hate as much as | do, and
which they call solid matter" as if
to indicate that, in proportion such
paragraphs are apt to lack the light,
ethereal spirit of all life
Second, In conversation, you need
not give authorities, if it be only
clear that you are not pretending
originality. DO not say, as dear Penn
berton used to, 4 have book at
home. which | bought at the sale of
Byles's books, in which there is an
account of Parry's first voyage, and
an explanation of the red snow. which
shows that the red snow Is" &C., &C.,
&c. Instead of this say, " Red snow
is" &C., &c. &c. Nobody will think
you are producing this as a discovery
of your own When the authority is
asked for. there will be fit time for
you to tell.
Third, never explain, unless from
extreme necessity, who people are
Let them come in as they do at the
play, when you have no play-bill. If
what you say is otherwise Ineligible,
the hearers will find it out, If 81 as
accessory, as, perhaps, 1t may not be.
Go back, if you please, to my account
Of Agatha, and see how much sooner
we should all have come TO dinner if
she had not tried to explain about
all these people. The truth is, you
cannot explain about them. You are
led in farther and farther. Frank
wants to say, George went to the
Stereopticon yesterday" Instead of
that he says, = A fellow at our school
named George, a brother of Tom
Illeston, who goes to the Dwight.
and is In Miss Somerby's room-not
the Miss Somerby that has the class
in the Sunday School-she's at the
Brimmer School-but her sister" and