The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-04-07

Toasts and Enliven Social Occasions
by Her GlintinR CHANGING Repartee-
Training Women to Make After-Dln-
ner Speeches and Extempore Ad-
dresses.
Copyright 1899
NEW YORK, April, ct is up in one Of
the cubbyholes of editorial rooms in the
top of the big Vesey street building occu-
pied by the American Press Association
The woman who is taking lifts TO her visi-
tor one of those striking faces whose unus-
ual beauty Is accumulated by prematurely
white hair.
Women are the born speakers Of the hui
man race. Once they overcome their igno-
rance and timidity they AMI the world will
find this out"
At the Sorois banquet two or three weeks
ago they called Eliza Archard Common the
feminine Chauncsy VI. D3pew. 70 liken one
person to another carries with it compare
lively little meaning but Mrs. Conner,
who won her spurs as literary editor of the
New York Wortd, and whose good things are
enjoyed in the pages sent out by the Ameri
can Press Association from Maine to Cali
fornia, is one of the best known woman
journalists Of the country, and is gaining a
wide repute IN these days of after-dinner
sallies for bright and graceful speeches
which are the delight of her auditors.
Mrs. Common cherishes a dearly beloved
theory. 1t is expressed in the sentence
above quoted She believes to the fullest
extent In the silvery tongue OF the sex fe.ni-
niue. She has even taken holidays from news
-.
in the art If thinking on their feet and
making extempore social addresses In the
millennium, she is convinced, half or more
than half the wise and witty speakers III
the great worlds parliament will wear
gowns. To the symposium Of opinions on
the true sphere OF woman she brings her
contribution. women are natural orators
and 1t is part Of their mission on earth TO
sway public opinion by their eloquence,
aided by the battery OF bright eyes aud
fair countenances.
She swings about in her revolving chair
and her eyes hight with interest Women
have the gift Of language and its power.
They are more often witty than men Their
repartee glints and sparkles. They are
| lowered with the emotional nature, the
| quick, generous feeling, the poetry and the
imagination which belong To the oratorlcal
| temperament.
There is nothing which stands in their
way but nervous tIlnidlty, and that, indeed,
| it is lifting a mountain to remove. But is
| il not time tlat this mountain was cast into
| the seai In their charitable and their edu-
cational and literary organizations women
need the power of ready speech more and
more every day. See q woman attempt to
INTRODUCES simple resolution IN public
meeting, a meeting called in furtherance Of
some pnilanthroplc scheme in which she is
intslligently interested. Tho feathers on her
bonnet quake, her voice is husky, her knees
visibly knock together and one cannot look
without plying. Sec group Of women
attempt TO organize and conduct a meeting
They know nothing Of parliamentary usage,
and in ten minutes they are in tAngle. 1t
is gall and worm wood to observe how the
reporter covertly laughs at them in the pa
per next day. But women have brains,
they can learn. Once set on the right
track the ease with which they walk in it
astonishes themselves
Gould you suggest any training which
would help woman to speak in publiop
"It takes no little AIDING to speak in
private, and society would be all the better
for revival Of the art Of conversation.
"A convenient list of 'don'ts ought 10
hang beside the toilet table for ready refer
ence while one is putting on ones best
gown
Don't talk about your hous .keeDing
trials.
sDon't talk about your servants.
Don't talk about your babies.
"Don'b-this ia very emphI Itc-don't talk
about your physical ailmeT is. Don't make
sewer Of peoples eaTs 10 pour diseases
into. l remember hsts ning one day to two
women who met III o railway station One
talked about her he'd, then the other about
her teeth, then thes one about her stomach
and so on. My mead reeled and was near
" Ill bstore trey got through. There are
saich occult influences at work as might
spread an Epidemic in that way
Don't manifest any curiosity about peo-
PIES personal affairs. l remember once at
the seoond meeting woman asked me If
nay Teeth were my own or false ones
f'Don't say anything unkind
These are the six prohibitions Guilt
vats a spirit of sympathy. is the first and
most important of the affirmative direc-
tions Try to feel genuine and warm
hearted interest in people and without
knowing it you will radiate an influence
such that they will naturally unfold to you.
In this way you may be sure OF pleasing,
and to please is great part OF a woman's
mission. You will gain, too, the best each
person can bring you of entertainments and
information. Your social success will be
assured
'For a more specific rule read a good
daSi1 newspaper Al Oih Doy 10
end every day and 80 keep yourself abreast
of current events. | recommended this
course to lady in one Of my last winters
classes who came co me afterward naively
delighted. Why said she, 1T gives me
something to talk about in The evening to
to the gentlemen She had been married
fifteen years, and it had mover occurred to
her to keep posted on topics in which the
men Of her household we're interested.
can count on my fingerb the women of my
acquaintance who regularly read the
papers.
Study the telegrgphic news especially.
Note what is said of public men and public
measures, and have an eye TO all discussions
of social. economic and reformatory ques-
tions, matters which are becoming womans
special field"
And for more pablo discussionsr
"Still, study the newspapers. One OF
the first requisites for after-tinner speak
ing or social addr esses or work on the plat
form is TO keep, n topics OF the day, CON-
pleteiy dt fditn
And for special preparatory
Nearly all women need to learn to
stand" The revolving chair was pushed
to one side, and figure of unusually fine