The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-07-19
lELoNa To oLpER covNTRlEs.N

sAtion
BELoNd to OLDER COUNTRIES"
This last remark is true, but her regret
could not now be 80 well founded, Tor
leisure Is abundantly enjoyed by large
%classcu Of people In every we'll grown city
In the Union, There are almost q million
young men and women who have reached
the age Of twenty without having to bend
q finger towards the family support. This
very fact, however, might now give anew
bitterness to Nine. BonRparGe's cyniciSm,
especially when she learns that among
these young folks II Is 0 positive rarity to
hear a well. sustained and elegant CONVEX.
sation; Of banter, Of chatter, OF slovsnly
Engltsh, oil cheap oplnions-adopted rather
than evolved, they give us plenty.
The young men oil foreign birth
and education, with q brief Amerl.
can experience, put our own TO
shame, Negligent IS Europe Is in this
matter, few young Americana who 20
there win favor merely by their converse.
Proud and Independent, politically, they
have q feeling Of being only second class.
Strange to say, instead OF ending this hu.
initiation they give way to 1t. They avoid
tbs lion which ought to be fought. Hence,
perhaps, their continued devotion 10 cards,
billiards, dancing, noisy parties and theAt
rlcals, which they love not for the art, but
for the diversion. Nor Ia this falling con.
fined 10 the young. Clubmsn who have
grown heartily tired ptlhe eternal triHtng
oil miscellaneous pRrlora, say that the Or.
uIRQ a IN Ia 10 In IN lfnIA Hn ~ ~ naa Nty., IL ..,.lt,
the time 1t costs, almost everywhere"
said one Of them 10 me, " dId that ii
people are not talking dollars and cents 1t
ia ten 10 one that they are talking gossip.
They do not cultivate that which lies be-
tween business and frivolity. How 70.
trsshtng it ia 10 escape from these fashion.
able houses, elegant MANSIONS, places oil
WEAKNESS or lnauity to the breezy com.
pahy VI s1ch fellows as SAm Wardn Now |
II these things are 50, let US not rise IL.
OUR YANKEE CoNcRIT ar.i
anti wave the Declaration OF %Independ.
enCe al the faces Of those who Tell us the
truth, for this is simply playing the pea.
cock instead OF the esgie-asunting the
feathers to hide the feet. Deny II as VIC
will, our political power exceeds our
social merit. II Ia common Henso to bring
the latter up to the rank and measure Of
the former. . I'd RI n .l
With the startling advantages already
named, cultivated Americans might be.
come the best CUnyefsers In the world,
Though feryid Ia our feelings, we are in
thought aud demeanor a cool PEOPLE, and
ifnn iR0f1 TIM haukIttI anlf. nal "a nna ~
other ~hationsi we travel more, our obser.
vations are wider than theirs, and eduCat.
cd into q great humanlty by u success.
tul struggle against slavery, we possess
truly cosmopolitan oympsthies. These
fayOriDg circumstances do not guarantee
good conversation, but they are excellent
preliminsrlea. -l
The chief reason why most OF IA con.
tlnue 10 talk 30 differently will provo to
be that we have never seriously consider.
ed what this
POWER OF coNvEmAsIoE REALLY is.
We indulge a vague idea that It Is the
result Of fine gifts and, Of course, unattain.
able. Or VI take The opposite view, which
IL far more prevalent, that II is merely q
knack Of expression. Both these opinions
are extreme and incorrect. II Ia neither a
cheap facility nor an L%tlatuSi but, Ia most
Cases, an artistic power, whose secrets
soon become Ineligible to patient obssrv.
erB. Those secrets will show that good
Conversers, whether conscious OF II or not,
obey the same general rules. For the
brilliant and the dull the starting point 10
the same.
To talk o. all we must know. To talk
we'll we must be able 10 evolve opinions
from what we know. To talk brilliantly
We must be able to make these opinions
attractive, not only by a pleasing expires.
sion and 4 sympathetic manner, but by
apt comments upon The opinions them.
selves and by felicitous illustrations. In
other woids, conversation originates, not
In the tongue, but IL The mind. II will
never be acquired by sitting down 10 cul.
tiyAte d rapid aud dextetous habit Of
throwing sentences together. Whatever
may be our verbal facility, we are not
]Convefeefs until We can make q subject
grow under our treatment. Common.
place yolubillty 10 10 conversation az q
naked post is 10 an expansive and fruitful
tres. The germ Of this tree 10 knowledge
always knowledge There ia no hope
for The idler aud the Ltifsr. Nor should
the inlustrious be despohdent, for no n
can tell to shat pFODOtlions bis knowledge.
may grow when once 1t begins TO ifuDlliy
and 10 acted Upon by many external In.
f~uences. Wa know that In urging this
We but state what is with many
the CHIEF OBJECTION
to conversation, viz: that becsuOe there is
an era Of neutrality-suspicious. paisfs,
Journals and books are universal, we know
beforehand the facts ott nsighbof CONES
10 relate, whilst we, also, a tell the end
Of our story The moment We begin that
the more We read The less We need 10
listen. This objection arises from Q total
misrepresentation Of the purpose Of cor.
vefsa.ion, which is less " instruct than to
stimulate OF to please. / l am told only
shat ! already know, am, Of course,
neither HunHlated nor pleased, / am bored.
II | am told what | do. not know, | may
be pletatd by heing Instructed III any
case the main object 10 pleasure. And
TnR TRUG MERir
oil q conversation iS not the Information
Us pige each other, but the use We make
81 information already possessed by uB
both. Hence Il Il plain that 10 pon9erss
we'll we must think we'll, and With our
own minds be able 10 strike sparks from 4