, 1891-05-17

the average man, or those awful pauses
ensue which are so fatal to a social occa-
sion.
l appeal to my sister women to bear
me out in the statement that 80 per cent.
of the expense of conversation las the
French call it) in society, or for that mat
ter in private, except among the nearest
relatives, is borne by our sex, and I'm
sure l don't know what would become of
society or of man in his social relations
il the women, to refute the charge of
being great takers, should form "a
trust" and put up the price of speech
and hoard it in the treasury of their
own brains for a while.
1 tried it on once myself. 1t was at a
reception, and l was tired and tagged
and rather vexed at some jocose remarks
some of the men had made about the To-
quacity of women and the impossibility
of their keeping anything to themselves,
30 L suddenly TOOK a resolution of silence,
not SO entire as that of the woman whose
story l have told, but l resolved for once
to let somebody else be at the expense of
the conversation, and only to bear that
burden of response and complacent list
ening usually assumed by the masculine
party.
1t was really most amusing; the very
gentleman who a been so funny at the
expense of woman's loquacity was pre-
sented to me, and l smiled and bowed.
He made one of those brilliant remarks
about the weather usually opening a
conversation. 1 assented to his state
ment and remained silent, with my eyes
fixed upon his face in the expectant atti-
tude l have SO often noticed in my mas
culine friends; in fact this gentleman
himself wore it at that very moment.
He cleared his throat, and said there was
quite a crush in the rooms, and | smiled
most amiably and replied, Quite So"
Then he began to fidget, CHANGING help
lessly into my face, as much as to say,
"Why don't you give me a leady' But
remained blandly unconscious, and in
fused into my name an air of waiting
for him to speak hat must have been
simply maddening. At last he said:
you must meet a great many people
in the course of your travels"
"a great many" replied |, and closed
my lips.
"And-and-I suppose you like to,
don't your
Like to-whaty' asked l, with the
same sort of judicial air | have noticed
in men when they are replying to what
they consider an irrational remark. And
wasn't this irrational?
"Oh, see people you know, and-and
all that sort of thing. Don't you like to
see people?"
"Do your inquired l briefly, and the
poor man, who thought he had at last
started me off upon a topic congenial
to my experience, wiped his forehead
and stared aghast at finding it thus
tossed back to him.
How the conversation, if you can call
it so, went on l do not now remember,
but it certainly did not last very long.
and l afterward heard that Mr.. So-and-
SO considered Mrs. - the hardest per
son to talk to he had ever met. | only
hope he may see this letter, and decide
for himself whether the self sacrificing
exertions most women make to keep up
a conversation in society is matter of
derision or of admiration.
And not in society only. In the fam
lily circle, when the head of the house
comes home tired, rather cross and dis
posed to grumble at everything, does it
cheer and recuperate him to find a silent
wife and daughters, each occupied with
her own thoughts or her book, and al
though ready to respond to his remarks
with perfect amiability, originating
nothing and relapsing into silence the
moment his questions are answered?
l should like to see that experiment
tried, and recommend it to any woman
80 happy as to possess a home, and whose
husband is under the impression that
women are too loquacious. Don't let
him AVE any chance to call you glum
or sulky or ''in the dumps" Be perfect
ly bright and smiling, prettily dressed
and with a good dinner punctually
served, but don't talk any more thar is
absolutely necessary; don't, according to
your usual wifely fashion, bring out all
the little events of you day, dressed up
in a fancy garb of comic or pathetic or
marvellous hue; don't tell what Mrs.
Jones said about Mr.. Brown, nor how
queerly she was dressed; don't mention
what you had for lunch, nor how the
poulterer saved this pair of pheasants on
purpose for you because last time you
thanked him so prettily. In fact, cut
off all superfiuity of language and let
your yea be yea, and your nay nay, in
absolute strictness. l don't believe one
woman in ten is able to do this n whole
evening; not, mind you, because she
couldn't, but because she wouldn't-her
kind heart wouldn't let her; she would
watch out of the corner of her eve the
growing dependency, the gloom and
the dullness o~verspreading the face of
the man she loved, and all at once she
would throw off her r~eticence, laugh like
a brook just breaking through the ice,
perch upon her husbands knee, and be-
wilder him with such a sparkling freshet
of chatter as that same brook may ex-
hibit for the delight of the stately trees
whose roots h refreshes and reiuvig-'
crates.
And that man, and many, many more
of his kind, knows at his heart, what
ever his tongue may say, that woman's
facility of speech and willingness to use
it rightly is the true sunshine of his
home.
And in other relations of life. A man
has a woman friend whom he loves to
seek when he feels the need of a fresh
impulse to his mental life and new hope
fulness and cheer in his work, whatever
that may be. 1t is she who does the
most of the talking; sometimes he only
sits and gazes at her in that helpless sort
of fashion peculiar to tired men-a sort
of mute appeal for aid from a discomfort
too vague to put in words. Haven't We
all some such friends? Don't we all re-
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