Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1891-12-12
NATIONS AS TAKERS.
LEADING CONVERSATIONAL cfsARAc-
TERIsTlcs or DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

The English Peasants Gin for Empty
Meditation - Irish and scotch ~ The
Chattering Nations of Europe--Biiinw-
uai Raees-The Jew-Teutonic Peoples.
The Scot, even II he will not converse,
will usually argue, and the Londoner win
tell anecdotes; but the English peasant is,
as a rule, person with a gift for empty
meditation. The Irish peasant, on the
other hand, talks readily and pleasantly,
In short sentences usually full of express
sion; So does the Italian, who knows less
than the Engiishman; and 30 does the
Bengalee, who knows hardly more than
the animals around him. The latter, in
deed, talks frequently and with anima-
tion, though almost always ON single
subject--money. IL has been said by one
who wrote after years OF observation,
that IL two Bengalees talk for five minutes
the word paisa pencel will always be
heard; but talk they do, with remark,
answer, rejoinder and repartee. What is
the cause OF that dIfferences
Professor Mahaffy suggests an answer
which seems to us to SAVIOR of artificial
profnndity, aud therefore 70 be very un-
like Professor Mahaffy, who usually says
his true thought, even II Il Is a little out
of place: 81 fancy the causes of these so
cial differences are rather recent than
primeval they do not depend directly
upon climate or atmosphere, and II may
| quote the opinion of wise friend on this
large question, | should say that one chief
cause of the talking or social ability Of
some pcasantries over others, is the fact
that their proximate ancestors were q
bilingual people. Thus the great major
ity OF west Irish and north Scotch peas
ants are descended from grandfathers
whose talk oscillated between Celtic and
English, and who were, therefore, con-
stantly educated in intelligence by the
problem OF translating ideas from one
language into another, not 20 mention the
distinct inheritance Of the special ideas
peculiar To each and every language.
This is AN education in expression, In
thinking, and therefore in conversation,
wholly foreign 10 the English midland
boor, who has never heard more than 200
, or 300 words of very rude provincial
dialect Of English, and therefore COM
mands neither the words nor the ideas Of
the outlying provinces. "
! \ theory of that kind should explain the
facts. and this does not explain them. II
IL were true, the women would be as ST.
lent as the men, having even less OF cul-
ture, but they are not. On the contrary,
. the wives Of those silent rural folk can
often chat agreeably, and give and take In
conversation. They do not only narrate;
they discuss and are capable even OF
rough badinage, which helps the argument
directly on Moreover, the chattering
peoples-the Neapolitans, for instance
are not bilingual; and the best takers In
the world, the born Parisians, spring of
ancestors who knew no language but their
own. The border peoples, too, are not
exceptionally talkative, as we see in
! Wales; and the Swiss peasantry, for all
their linguistic requirements, are ex-
ceptionally taciturn. Nobody would say
that an Alsatian. accustomed from child
hood to two lanlW.ges, and those among
the richest in the world, was more con-
versatile than "a Lyonnais, who hardly
Z knows Of the existence Of two, while O
Partisan seems nimble In talk by the side
5 of Bruxellois, who is never for an in
: stant out of the hearing OF two tongues.
Q The man who Is bilingual, either in fact
q or by tradition, has no doubt a larger
y command OF words; but Is the command
i of words the key TO the secret Ifs why
|, 40 the women, as we said before, talk bet
r ter than the men, aud why are not ell the
e cultivated equally capable OF conversa-
a tloni How often can a professors COM
: paratively ignorant wife talk well, while
Z the learned husband Is incapable OF con-
n yersationi And, finally, II the difference
d Is question of knowledge of any sort,
}, why does wine 50 often. and up TO point,
n brighten talk and takers, IL cannot add
. thoughts, or increase a limited repertoire
i of words At most, alcohol, In any
Q form, can but impart courage, and per-
a haps little speed to the movements OF
e the brain. We should say that the power
!, of talk, in the sense Of conversing, came
y first of all from the wish To talk, the de
a sire to manifest ones self to others, and
Ie that this was In the first instance exactly
Is what the professor says IL Is not-a race
a. peeuliarity Nothing runs more com
~ pletely in families than the habit of con,
q versing much and a race is nothing but q
a. big family. Did Mr.. Mahaffy, in his
s. whole life, ever meet jew who could moi
n talk, or who did not wish 10 talk, or who Il
circumstances favored him, did not talk {
little too readily Persians and Arabs
who know nothing, chat twice as readily
N, as Scotch farmers, who know much; ant
a, the populace of Naples, men as ignorant
\. as the fishes of their bay, talk, and tall
I. well all day. The Greeks have been chat
=, !, terboxes for 5000 years, and have livet
10 for 800 Of them side by side with Turks
10 who in the lower classes scarcely convers
y at all IL Is not even true, so far as on
~ observation goes, that, outside the Teu
80 tonic race, class makes any perceptibl
y difference, an Italian or Greek or Frencl
ha workman talking quite as readily as hi
m saperiors, and enjoying talk quite q
10 much.
y We fear that the truth il one which
- Professor Mahaffy's courtesy induces hin
4, only To hint, viz, that the Teuton OF al
80 three branches--tierman. Englishman ant
:, Ameriean-though he is filing the world
,s and may possibly master ii, Is SLOW
4. witted being, who does not by natur'
! enjoy talk, but rather feels IL q worry q
~ be called ON to understand words ant
. make response 10 them so quickly. HI
;. does not take in readily, and therefor'
~ has little pleasure in hearing talk; and b
- cannot give out quickly, and therefor
N suffers In uttering II. As 10 the cause O
= ! such popularity OF race 1t Is tiresome
II or at all events useless, even to speculate
In Spectator.