The Portland daily press., 1876-01-04
MECHANICS, COURSE.
Lecture by e. III. EIwelI, Esq, on Con.
versatiOu.


versatiOu,
The regular lecture in the Mechanics course
was delivered last evening by E. II. Elwell,
Esq, OF the Transcript The lecture was care
fully prepared and proved very interesting to
the large audience present. The subject of
the lecture was Conversation" 1t grew out
| of paper read before the Fraternity Club and
comprised the substance of the discussion
which followed is reading, with some COM
ments on the views then advanced.
At the outset the question was asked, what
is that exercise of our powers which co nfers
the purest and most lasting pleasure? Log-
cally it would arise from the employment, not
of one only, but of all our highest faculties.
Wien eye and ear. and intellect and speech,
are all engaged in receiving and imparting that
which interests and delights the whole being
is pleasurably excited. Does not conversation
| meet these conditions, and is it not the most
refined species of recreation, the most sparkling
source of merriment, the most natural method
of acquiring knowledge. You love the pleasure
of good fellowship, tine delight of hearing some
good thing, of listening to brilliant repartee
or apt anecdote, and the enjoyment of exer-
cising your own wit 10 defending your own
views.
Why then is conversation so little cultivated?
Three causes were mentioned as among those
occasioning the dearth of conversational pow
ers among us-the spirit of repression and
ascetisism which prevailed among our Puritan
ancestors, which found expression in the
household axiom, "Let your victuals stop your
mouth" the universal revolution of books and
newspapers; and the neglect of the cultivation
of leisure.
Yet two institutions, which may perhaps be
said to be spontaneous. have preserved for us
in New England the faculty of speech. These
are the country store and the sewing circle.
The first was described not only as the Gen.
tire of trade, but of amusement of local news.
OF gossip and of high debate. Away back in
the country where there are no amusements
at all, save an occasional funeral, life would
utterly stagnate, and the powers of speech be
lost, were it not for occasional visits to the
country store. A picture was drawn of the
circle around the stove of winter evening,
ard of the political discussions which 90 on.
when figures are brought to prove that molas-
ses is ten cents more per gallon under Repub.
lican rule than it was when the Democrats
were in power, and it was shown that even
this rude farm conversation is a power in
breaking the dull monotony of country life,
in affordi1g amusement and relaxation to over
tasked men, in diHusng intelligence and keep
ing up an interest in public affairs.
Of the rival institution, the sewing circle, it
became the lecturer to speak with delicacy
and mOdesty, lest he encounter 'pull-back,'
in the use of which the sex of late have shown
themselves SO great profcients If the lives
of men in the country are bald and dry, what
shall be said OF those of the women? Com
PEELED to a round of ceaseless toll, in cherries
back rooms with neighbors few and far be-
tween, their opportunities for social intercourse
are rare and are priced accordingly. But wo-
men must talk though they may not be idle
1t would be considered a marvellous waste of
time for them to come together with no other
purpose than to indulge IN the amusement of
conversation. Hence comes the sewing circle
as disguise for the talking match. Fortunate
ly for the convenient fiction the meeting house
is always in want OF new carpet or coat
of paint, and woman's helpful hands are as
ready as her tongue. As the butcher said in
regard to SarSengers-"Idees have got afloat in
the public mind concerning sewing circles.''
There is a suspicion Of gossip attached to
regard them with feelings of contempt.
But what would you have? Shall
the country store indulge in its coarse
joke, and the sewing circle be denied its little
spice of gossip? Besides 1 have been led to
suspect that the sewing circle has been SLAM
dered in this regard, and that the feminine
mind when it unbepds itself is not insensible
to the charms of genial humor or racy anec-
dote. This was illustrated by an amusing an
ecdote in the speakers own experience. which
he took as proof that the sewing circle, how
ever amenable it may be to the charge of Cos
sip, is not without capabilities of higher cul-
ture. This led to the discussion of the CONVEX
sational powers of women, the lecturer holding
that women talk in society, on the whole
quite as well as men, and expressing the opin-
ion that no circle of conversers can be COM
plete without the presence of both sexes. To
the objection that men and women cannot
meet on an equality in conversation, because
the talk will inevitably degenerate into COM
pllments on the part OF the gentlemen, and the
best talk comes only when men get beyond the
region of compliments, the lecturer replied that
this is a matter of education, that men have
got to learn to respect the female intellect, and
that when they do this, and raise themselves
to the level of fair play in this matter, they
will find that women can give and take with
the best OF them. Men do not always deal in
compliments in their intercourse with women,
and when they lay them aside they find them
selves at disadvantage: They do we'll to
stick to compments;i it is their best hold. They
have women on the weak side there, and are
not themselves exposed to any trial of strength.
When they come out of their covert of flowers
they do not always fare so well. Men, for in
stance, do not usually compliment their wives
in their private intercourse with them, and
such thing has been heard of as their coming
out second best in the marital discussions
which go on at times in the best regulated
families. Ii husbands would get together and
honestly exchange experiences, the conclusion
arrived at, on the whole, think, would be
that women can can hold their 0oon pretty aoeU
in nip-and-tuck conversational bout.
The influence of wine as mental stimulus
was discussed; the theme was illustrated by the
witty sayings of brilliant conversers in our own
and other lands, and the Importance of Guilt
waiting our colloquial powers was urged as a
means of giving expression and weight to our
opinions