Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-02-13

OuT Olu camp, lne WHOle cOlllInduu
acting as escort.
At three p. m. we start to retrace
our steps to our old camp, where we
arrive little the worse for wear, af-
ter an absence of fifty-six hours.
E. NJ. B.
GOOD TALKING AS A FINE
ART.
Some persons among our acquaint-
ances without any effort or even con-
sciousness on their part draw us out,
and others lock us up. You sit down
to talk with one gentleman or lady,
and in spite of all you can do you are
clumsy the sentences come out wrong
end first; you are under numb palsy
or nightmare. There is no explana-
ton of it. The person is one you
specially want to please, but a fatal
impotence pinches the interview, and
you are ashamed of yourself. Anoth-
er comes, and your powers are set
free; the ideas come out readily and
lucidly; you are kindled and Iiberat-
ed; the sky is luminous; the right
words are not wanting you find more
in you than you suspected. What
can this mean but that there is an
occult law of sympathy, of which l
have already spoken, and that we
succeed in all ways in whatever de-
gree we have in us that which is COM
mon to our kind? A bright woman
wrote to Walpole of the excellent
and learned statesman, Necker: ''He
has intellect and goodness, capacity
without presumption, generosity with
out ostentation, prudence without
dissimulation but he lacks one quail
ity which renders takers most agree
able, certain faculty which elicits
thoughts from those with whom one
converses he does not aid in the de-
velopment of ones ideas; and one is
more stupid with him than when
alone or with Others The lesson
comes back from every side-the
more we live in the larger life of hui
manity, and the less we live in the
contracted pen of our own interests
and schemes, the ampler harvest we
shall gather to hand in when the sun
goes down. One of the highest mer-
its of a talker is to know when not to
talk; not only when to stop altogeth-
er and withdraw, but when to pause
awhile and let the other party speak.
That is, good talker must always
be good listener. The tongue bor-
rows persuasiveness from the ear.
You remember Sydney Smiths comi-
cal commendation of a voluable gen.
tleman's occasional CLASHES of ST.
lence." Some one replied to tne
question, Isn't Mr.. d. tiresome by
forever running on about himself"
"Well he certainly does not leave
much chance for the Imagination !'
Few people like to be over-ridden
and trampled on in any social circle
or at dinner-table any more than in
the street. OF all the trivial foibles
of the polite classes, think that of
breaking in on the other side of the
dialogue and interrupting a friend
before he has done is as common and
as rude as any. | know two or three
very fine characters, not egotisical or
vain, who lose dignity and respect by
not letting you finish half your SEN
tences. Make long speeches if you
will-that is bad enough; turn col
loquy into harangue or sermon if you
dare, or think you can afford it; but
at least allow your guest your equal,
yes, and even your inferior, to have
an equal chance. NOblesse obtige.
When the other begins, stop short
and listen. So we were brought
finally to the great all-embracing and
all-pervading law of social life, where
we stand together-women, men.
Good talking is talking by principle,
and the central principle Of all, in
society, in speech, in unselfshness.
l have not the least doubt or fear
about the happiness is store for every
one of you if you speak and work,
nay, even if you suffer by that law.
1t binds, but it binds tenderly. Day
by day in all houses, everywhere, she
is the fine woman, the gifted, accom-
plished, gentle woman, who thinks
considerably of all who hear her, of
the marks her words leave behind;
who keeps back under her tongue the
| lazy. CCClCSIdSlISS1 dHCCuOGC vi lHC
stinging sneer at the dinner-party be-
cause the Romish waiter-girl behind
her chair overhears her. She is the
fine lady who ordains her tongue, as
the church of God ordains her chief
messenger in one of the weighty
phrases of her ordinal, mot to hurt,
but to help" to hold up the weak,
to bind again the outcasts, to seek
the lost" l am not preaching to-
night; but into that exalted and
priestly and prophetic office, into so
high a dignity, l say, that each tongue
among you is called to be reconcil-
er, healer, comforter. ] have
not quoted to you from the third
chapter of ST. James, but neverthe-
less you would find it true, if there
were not Bible on earth, that she
who offends not in word has wom-
anhood so imperial that she can bride
her whole self, body and SOUL
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