The Opelousas courier., 1889-02-23
ABOUT CONVERSATION.
Truth. Good Sense, Humor and Wit Shoui@
Bn Its -Four Chief In gradients.

Truth, Good Sense, Humora nd WE snouh"
Be Its Four Chief Ingredients.
According to Sir William Temple:
the four ingredients OF conversation
should be truth, good sense, good
humor and wit. To this l would add
the knowledge of what not to say, n
the faculty of listening. There is a
story of a great talker who chatted in
c~essantly to a man he met at an even
ing party. The next day a common
friend asked him how he liked his new
acquaintance. ''The most intelligent
person I have met for a long time,"
cried the talker. II thought you
would like him." was the dry re-
joinder: she is deaf and dumb"
Conversation, in the in which
[ use the word, is not monologue. nor
is it even dialogue. it is the inter-
change of ideas among a number OF
people who are assembled together for
social intercourse and amusement.
The sparks do not fly until the flint
and steel have been struck together.
The attrition of one mind upon another
whets them both. The best
tionalist is he who, while contributing
his fair quota to the general entertain
ment, at the same time extracts the
| most from other peoples storeC'o wit
| and knowledge. The mar whose mind
is wholly dominated by his own ideas
| may be a ready speaker, but he will not
be a good talker, or an agreeable COM
p%anion, nor even q persuasive advo-
cate. A drawing-room full o. men
and women is not a debating forum
wherein each is forever seeking to
trip up an unwary antagonist. He is
but an underbred man who turns the
| dining-table or the fireside Or the
smoking-room into an arena for the
display of his controversial talents.
A se~lf-conceited and l~rrepressible
talker will be as Ineffective from a
! conversational point of view as a shy
maa or even a stupid one; people will
be bored bNhis tedious h~arangues, and
will breathe more freely when the in
cubus of his overpowering egotism is
removed.
All men, and especially young men,
should be modest in conversation. 1t
is very wholesome for a young fellow
to associate occasionally with persons
who are older than himself. 1t will
not fatter his vanity to learn-as learn
he will, sooner Or later-that the crude
notions which had seemed TO him quite
a glorious revelation, are by no means
inspired, or even original, but have
been all we'll sifted, and for the most
part decisively rejected, by men of an
experience a good deal wider than his
own; but it will lead him to form a
more lowly estimate of himself and
his abilities-and that will do him no
harm. LET us remember, gentle
men, said DR.. Whewell nee to the
members of his college," that we are
not infallible-not even the youngest
of u.s."
Be easy and Inconsistencies mer.
nv and cheerful as your nature will let
you be; but lever try to be either i'd
pressive or funny. Be what you arc
If the mantle of Sidney t5mith have
descended on you, the wittier and more
humorous you are the better; but dc
not joke on solemn or serious subjects
and do not hold up t ridicule Or sar
casm any member of the company il
which you find yourself. But if any
one else so far forgets himself as te
make personal or ill-bred remark
about you, keep a tight rein ON your
temper, and laugh it off as best yor
cam. Remember Cowper's couplet:
moral, sensible and well-bred man
Will not affront me, and no other can.
Notes for Boys.