Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-01-29
SMALL TALK AS AN ART.

right or the left.
SMALL TALK AS AN ART.
1t is Worth Studying, Too, by Those Who
Move in Society.
Kate Fields Washington.
Almost ali social enterprises, at least OF
the dignified sort, are In the nature OF
scientific experiments. The conditions
are carefully arranged for the production
of a certain result-the evoIving of the
highest form of human intercourse, which
is conversation.
AS every one must have observed, this
experiment is only too rarely attended with
entire success. Still, people go on giving
and receiving invitations, encouraged, not
by the frequency of happy result, but by
the satisfaction it gives in the rare cases
In which it is attained. Society willing
ly endures the tedium and bears the ex-
pense of hundred failures, well content
if, on the hundred aud-6Ist effort, sue
cess is achieved
1t Is depressing state of affairs, but
not altogether hopeless, since. though it
may be impossible to increase the proper
ton of successes, there is much which can
Uc u)LS Ill UIlG tlltCtlDu III bldklug J1lS
failures less agonizing.
/ Conversation which has been ''got up
beforehand is the object of contempt
only partly deserved. We justly despise
the labored impromptus of the man who
shines only when he can lead conversation
around to the small brilliancies which he
has prepared with so much care, but there
is another sort of ready-made talk which
is useful, and by no means to be condemn
ed. | refer to that cleverly made artifci-
al product which few prudent souls carry
about with them for use when read, spon-
taneoJs conversation is persistently coy. 1t
is not made to shine with, but it helps to
pick ones way about in the depressing in
tellectual gloom, and enables the master to
avoid the fathomless pitfalls of awkward
silence.
The accomplishment of unobtrusive but
interesting small talk should certainly, in
view of its usefulness, be more general
than it Ii. The lack of it is the cause not
only of Unreasonable dizziness, but some
times of lasting enmities. Miss A, a
belle, is introduced to Mr.. B., youth
with a taste for sport. Mr.. B. has never
yet been able to say anything indoors; but,
as he warmly adnires Miss A., he is IN
the hope Of originating something paSsa-
BILE under the stimulus of her presence.
This is what actually takes place:
Good evening, Miss A."
Good evening, Mr.. B. y"
A long silence follows, IN which Mr. B.
looks fxedly at the shoulders of Miss A.,
whose arms are incased in long Suede
gloves. Miss A. thinks the occupation
not intellectual, but forgives it in consider
alton of the homage implied.
Miss A."
"Well2"
"What capital gun-cases those gloves of
yours would make,
Mr.. B. sees at once that his remark has
been Ill advised, and is covered With con-
fusion. Miss A., unable to see that his
speech is avery characteristic compliment
to the effectiveness o. her costume, asks to
be taken to mamma; and so ends an ac-
quaintance which would have been very
satisfactory had there been little reody-
made con 7ersation as q working capital
upon which to begin.
The philosophy which governs the hap
by use of small talk is not difficult to get
at. Why has the weather always been a
favorite subject of conversation. In the
first place, it belongs to everybody alike,
so the interest in it is sure to be univers-
al. 1t is fresh every hour, nay, every
minute, so it is sure to be timel y. Then
it has wonderful adaptability to every
mood. You can rave over 1T from d
mountain-top when it is fine and not
offend the most exalted, and | have MOTTO
ed that one can swear at it vyhen it is bad
without offending the most fastidious.
One person probably knows just as much
about it as another, so the conversational
autocrat is shut off from his favorite sin;
and, last and best, nobody is responsible
for it, so it is perfectly safe topic to In
troduce into any company.
am not advising more universal talk
about the weather, but simply using it as
an illustration of the qualities desirable
in subject for general conversation. The
good talker avoids the topic which few
understand. even though it is best suited
to display his cleverness. He steers be-
tween the scylla of what is too recent to
have become generally known and the
Charybodis of what has been too thorough
ly discussed to afford anything but weari-
ness: This latter danger, by the way, IS
always far less than the other. He shuns
like the pestilence every question which
develops personal opinion to the point OF
unreasonabeness, unless he has thorough
faith in the temper of every person in the
company. He cultivates his talent on the
line of the general, the we'll known, and
the indispntable, and, if this is at times
uninteresting to himself, he receives for
his unselfshness the exceedingly great re-
ward of the universal popularity which is
reserved for the successful apostle of the
commonplace.