Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-03-13


reason Of the profuseness of all that IS
agreeable to the eye, we scarcely notice.
The history Of wood carving, the story of
medieval and modern art, the record of
the triumphs Of industry. might almost be
written out Of the materials around Us.
Emile Souvestre would have had no diff
Guilty IN writing thousand volumes on the
Journeys he took up and down, round and
about, such chamber as this. One of the
company has just made such Journey.
after the rest Of the party had for some
time apparently been resting from their
tatigues-sO dead a silence had fallen up
on them all. This adventurous traveller to
the table over there has been rewarded ::
ne has found something. He returns with
1t, and suddenly he is the center of live
ly group. The spell is brcken-they are
silent no more. What has he found ? A
Photographic album, and all the talking
animals assert their distinctive superiority.
Now the flood gates of conversation are
rolled back, and the stream of remark and
comment, Of quip and crank and criticism
rolls along merrIly enough. 1t is Just as
at the little Italian inn. The old faces.
the old names, the old people, have come
to relieve the dullness and the boredom in
tl'cted by the great unknown. People,
people. people-the people one knows, or
knew, or wants to know-behold the begin
ming and end Of the wise prattle of the
talking animal II is surely we'll to be
interested in ones species and in the indi-
vlduals VINO compose that species, but
pray, is their welfare the stirring motive
or the absorbing theme of all the hours
upon hours Of talk devoted to them We
trow not. Is it not their fathers and
mothers, their grandfathers and grand
mothers the legacies that came to them,
the legacies they have missed the egacjes
they intrigued to obtain so meanly: their
wives and the little love they have for
them, and the little love their wives bear
them in return; their temper, their debts.
their dinners, their inferior cellars. their
excessive staff OF servants their sOrdidness.
their extravaganza their thousand-and Que
qualities and accidents IN which they are
no better or worse than their neighbors,
but which are of absorbing interest, be-
cause the two, or three, or four taking
animals live in the same county. have
house in the same square, or once danced
in the same quadrlle? Look at the books
scattered about, for the first idle hand to
open They too are picture books, and
the pictures are an excuse for opening
without reading them. Never was there
a more dire invention Of the enemy than
illustrated books. 1t was once observed.
a, most correct induction from expert
snce, that music Is an excellent back
ground 70 conversation. 1t has been
discovered that poetry is an exec lent
background 10 pictures. Thus. ever furth-
er and further recedes the real, and ever
nearer and nearer and more obtrusive
comes the unreal the delusivc, the shallow
sham. Helps to conversation are obtained
By banishiug from sight or obscuring from
observation, all that makes converse worth
the trouble Of opening ones lips
Ii we reflect for "a moment. We shall
perceive that this poverty, this meauness,
this vuIglrity Of the topics of talk, springs
from the fact that there are certain matters
Of interest common to all, and that be
yond these we must not attempt to travel
since, if we DO. we shall find ourselves
making the journey alone. If we reflect
even q little more, we shall recognize that
one of the primary results of that material
which brings Us more constant
" together, provides no remedy for this
evil if indeed it does not aggra vate it.
Neither do the great triumphs OF material
science assist US. We all read the same
the same te eerams, the same
speeches, the same articles. the same es-
says No doubt this ought to increase the
number Of topics worth oral handling
but if we top by simply inquizing, i" DO
you see what Is said in this mornings
Thuuderer2 or by answering, " Yes-and
did you see what was said Ia yesterday
evenings CHirerSe2 " we are not much bet
ter for the plank thrown out to Us. Ac-
cordingy, it is only the garrulOus people
the people who wag their tongues when
they see u human pair Of ears, just as
some folks swing their arms when they
hear piece Of music-who take the trou-
ble to make such inquiries. The rest, be-
iug perfectly aware that every body reads
the Tkunderer and the UnirerSe, peruses
and is silent. These are the wiser, and
more properly deserve the designation OF
. talking animals" properly understood,
inasmuch as they do not use valuable gift
without due provocation. Indeed, we
should not be sorry to see introduced into
society law analogous to that old one by
virtue Of which a man proposed a new
piece Of legis' alton with a rope round his
neck. If every body had to pay a severe
penalty who started a conversation that led
to nothing, we should all be the better for
it. By leading to something, we do not
mean that the conversation so started must
end in demonstration or agreement. Con-
versation, like Art, is an end IN itself
only. like Art, it should be somewhat eievat-
ed and elevatlng. Indeed general con-
vcrsation-which is what we are consd-
ering-has this distinguished marx, as
against special conversation, that nobody
knows. or should know, where it will lead
US SPECIAL conversation Is work, serious
work general conversation should be the
diversion Of our leisure. Special conver-
sation is to end in a resolve, and is action.
General conversation ends, as far as any
visible effect Is concerned, with itself Thus,
what is Familiarity called &" shop should be
rigidly banished from the latter. There
are moments when women may fairly COM
pare notes about therr servants, their chill
dren, their dress when lawyers may fit
ingly discuss their suits, their clients, their
courts, their ref rms; when artists may
properly canvass the time expended over
certain pictures, their price. their technical
merits, and so forth. But, be 1t under
stood, all this is business it is nothing but
" shop" let the conversation be carried on
when it may. General conversation needs
81 -
scorns but it needs them as accessories,
not as principals. They should be used
as the side lights, the timely illustrations