Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-03-07
S0CIETY'S BLESSINGS.
CoNvERSATtoNALlsT AND THE cLEv-
ER DINNER GlVER.

Three Opiuion%
Three young men stood upon the
street corner the other day. One was
an .old chappie," the other was an "old
man, and The third was ''deah boy"
They We're discus ing the question OF
what were the greatest blessings on
earth Old chappie" thought a woman
who conyersel well was the noblest
work Of the Almighty; but then be Is a
great talker himself, and was speaking
entirely from personal point Of view.
The "old man." being a great eater,
declared a man that gave good dinners
was the best man in the world. and the
"deah boy" who Is rich and lazy,
thought good family servant was the
most desirable thing on earth. They
were not FAR out the way, after all.
Now, the woman who listens well is
the one that conyerses well, for CONVEX
sation is not monolUgue. The person
that simply listens, although she APP
pears to listen well. VIII eventually be
found out. She is not so modest, if she
is bright that she is content to hear
simply what you have to say without
having her own say. You are boring
her, and QUIZ find it out, and then your
conversation viii not have been pleasant
to you. She is hatterer, this listener,
and nothing else. She starts YOU on your
hobby She is wrapt in attention as you
ride the poor brute to death
You pause for an instant and she says
a word showing the deepest interest in
subject that is in reality entirely unin-
teresting to her, and off you go again.
I But when you finally dislnount your
Rosinante and take your leave you are
painfully conscious that You did all the
talking; that your ideas were being ex-
hibited the whole evening, and if you
know that she has ideas of her own you
cannot help the reflection that she might
herself have wished to give them a little
airing, and you may come to the conclu-
sion that the lady has been practicing
mild amount Of hypocrisy.
old chappie" was right when he said
a woman that conversed well was so
cial blessing, and there are many more
blessings Of this kind among women
than there are among men. Women,
generally speaking, have more leisure
than men have; they read more light
literature, they see more company, and
they give more attention to the elegan-
cies Of life. Unfortunately the men who
do nothing in our country, who should
| be the ones 20 cultivate the ornamental
side of life are not usually capable Of
cultivating anything but their own per-
sonal adornment.
But if it is impossible to get good
! conversationalist out of fool that does
nothing it is equally impossible to ex-
pect man to cultivate this luxury of
social life when almost all Of his time is
! devoted TO his business or his profession.
The shop should not be lugged into the
parlors or the dining room. but how can
/ it be expected That it should be excluded
from those sacred precincts when men
spend so much of their time in the shop2
| There should be more leisure, and then
there would be more men VINO are able
to maintain agreeable conversations.
Where the conversationalist shines
| with most luster is at dinner and this
brings MS around 10 the remark at the
/ beginning OF tAi5 article of the 'old
man. who thought that the giyer Of
good dinners was the greatest social
blessing Of A. Perhaps he is, and he is
not only tlassing, but he is usually a
man of intelligence as We'll Cookery
is an art says Brillat Sayarin, but to
roast requires genius" That is re-
NIB RI lra 10
the employers Of cooks,
The latter require talent, not only in
the planning Of the menu but also in the
selection OF the people who are to dis
cuss it. \ man is generally dependent
! upon the servants IN the matter of the
/ food an ia cooking, and the good mas
cuhre li.alr giyer is thus nearly al
ways a man Of means; but the female
dinner Eiver, who is the greatest bless
/ ing of all. need not be rich Bad house
/ keepers, careless wives who do not love
1 good eating themselves and are indiffer-
eut to the feelings of others, always have
| poor cooks
/ But the woman who takes the trouble
to teach the cook and to superintend
. utI NAtA S4lt - SLAdsCQ III LGI III
hcult art-uay, the elegant, well bred
lady who does not disdain herself to
sometimes make q good dish, and who is
not ashamed to tell her guests that their
praises Of it are due to her rather than
to her cook this is the woman whom to
to dine with is pleasure.
] The subject of servants is perhaps the
most important household problem Of
the present day. Tie truth Of me mat
/ ter is that American life doesn't develop
I good servants The American would
rather do anything else than be a serv-
ant because the servant Is SO generally
/ degraded into a mere mental To black
ell another mans boots, 10 help another
man to dress, to run on another mans
I errauds, to he obliged TO submit without
a word to the humors and petty teIupers
Of another man--all this is something
that clashes with the independent feel
inCs of the Americans. Because of thi:
! Wallets and buffers are never Americans
but are usually foreigners, who swallow
their pride, pocketing 'perquisites' il
the mean time.
The co.ored man likewise, that used