The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-01-23
THE GREAT CONYERsERS.
BIZ PROFESSOR WILLIAM MATHEWS, OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

ten, one OF the most interesting and instrEc
tive is a volume upon thn great conversers OF
all ages, portrayilg their styles and peculiar
titles, anG giving "ell-selccted specimens,
kind of qulntessrnce, OF their sayings To
Gull out their wIsest and wIttIest, Ms we'll as
their most eloquent sayings, The very Gpices
ysrum, from all the "Ana" and books oI
tabIe.Ialk that have been published from the
days of X.nopnon aud his Memorandum" 10
those OF Eckrrm&nu's &c jnversatiOns vii
Goethe would be no easy task: yet It
would have been labor we'll spent, and Ne
can hardly think Of look more plquan or
charming. The materials Tor 1t are exhaas,-
less, and the difficulty woud be tp srapple
with such an embarrassment OF rches;"
To know, AFTER op. ming the hood-gutes Oh
anecd"te and "Reminiscences, when 10 close
them. One becomes, by familiar ~, more
and more enAtnUred vi such u heme aud lac
IS lott, just 40 he has begun TO lrrlgate he
arid wastes OF modern social life with The
sparkling waters of a younger age, 10 tie
slenced by some Palaemon ot a publisher
with his iuexOrable :. Claudtte jam rtvos, pu
ora; sat prdtG 6i6erUnt."
Before spec king OF sore OF the most Ia
nous speakers o: ancient and modern times,
which, VIC PROPOSE to do III u few ARTICLES
we desire TO Say WORD upon question
which has been moottd by Ger ain essayi,ts,
namely, whether authors or men at the
world are the best conversers. William
RazIitt. VINO was Keen observer, and min
gled much in The society of liters ~ men.
declares that authors and ac' ors are no
fitted ~ shine in the social circle. Authors,
he thought, ought TO Oe read, aud MOI
heard ;" and, as to actors, thy, he thinks,
who have intoxicated and maddentd multi
tuder by their public display Of talent, can
rarely be- supposed 10 feel much stimulus in
enI er aiming Que or two friends, or in being
the life Of dinner party. She WHO per-
iShed over night by the dagger or the bowl,
as Cassandra or Cleopatra, may be allowed
TO sip her tea in silence, AND not TO be her.
self again till Sue revIves IN Aspasa. Actors,
again, utter cut-and-dry repartees which are
put into their mouths, and must be a LiLlIc
embarrassed when their cue IS taken from
III m Rousseau, on the other hand, who
wrote 30 laboriousy, pr'nounces the con-
versatlon of authors superior 10 their books
! few, TO whom the 81 imuius OF society Is ne
cessary TO bring out their stores, the bIogra-
phIes OF celebrated 2uthors hardly confirm.
Many OF the most celebrated writers, who
have flied their bouks with All originality
and eloqutnce that DEFY Oblivion, have been
! dumb neto!e their ftIioW-uen Not seldom
it happens thai gems o, the pures1 ray serene
emit very dreamy lustrc At the dinner-r abe
OF patron,zing big-wiggery, or In the saloons
OF b!ur-stockista. How often haF it hspprn-
ed that your man o genius, when invi ed To
= packed assembly Tor the express purpose
of being pumped, hA. proved az dry and
wheezy aA n "ell.in August, giving ont not
evrn drop Of the anticipated living waller !
Many ane spirit that can present novel
ideas lU Kaleidoscope variety upon paper,
rot only awing you by their protundi'y, but
dazzling you by their tropical Spend0r, Ii
moi "rious for his inability TO put two ideas
together by word OF mouth, failing even 20
find door OF utterance IN that eternal refuge
tor the destitute of small tak,-thc weather!
Golden ingo's he has,-precious bars OF
thought, which, In the privacy Of home, he
can burnish into spendor, or convert into
he coin Of the realm; but, like many
wealthy capitalist, he cannot. on the spur OF
the moment, produce the iarthings CURE Mt
IN The market place.
Abundant reason is there why this should
be so. Those who expect all author that has
exhausted himself in books to be equally
brilliant in company, forget that 1t Is The
very fact that he has lavished his riches In
his writings that must dirqusIliy him from
dlspl ying them elsewhere. 1t Is simply be
cause he has been rou ed TO an intense pitch
Of excl ement whilesengaged in the task OF
composition that he is proportionateIy
ncrve'ess and relaxed in his social hours.
The electrical eel cannot be always giving
off shocks; the bow that has long been
slruog loses its elasticity; the bird that
scars to the stars must sometimes rest It's
wing upon the earth. While o her men In
society abandon their whole souls To the
topics OF the moment, and, concentrating
their energies, appear keen and animated,
the man OF genius, who has stirred the vast
sea OF human hearts by his writings, feels II
langu0r an prostr"tlon arising from the sr
cret toll Of thought; aud it is only when he
has recruited his energies by relaxation aud
rrposa, and is once more in hs study, sur-
rounded by those master-spirits with whom
he has so often held celestial coloquy
sublime" that his soul rekindles with enihu-
siasm and pours itself on paper In thouS hts
thai, brea he, aud words that burn
I L,nA nj La.r PnaAL.- nrudnr