Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-25
SMALL TALK.
What Conversation In Social Circles
Consists of According to a Man.

What Conversation In Social Circles
Consists of According to n Man.
Il do not make calls" gentleman said
recently, because have grown SO stupid
that am no longer able to talk. go and
sit in stupid silence gazing at the hostess,
rs if | had come merely to pass some min.
utes in silent admiration of her charms,
and the situation is far too awkward to be
pleasant for either of us, so that have
about given it up"
The editor of course discussed wisely
upon the subject, as is his won't.
1T is not in the least a question of stu
pidity," he said. at is partly matter of
habit and partly the lack of continuity.
To talk small talk one must keep in prac-
tice, just as one must keep in practice
in playing the piano. You cannot take it
up and lay it down at will. You must
keep the mind and the tongue Timber, and
if you really wish 20 be an expert | am
not sure that 1t Is not necessary to keep up
| the pra ,tice alone at home"
He smiled a little at the conceit and
! went on celebrating the idea.
1T might be a good idea," he said. ''to
have a dummy-a sort of lay figure of the
kind that artists have standing lopsidedIy
about their studios-and to take so much
/
about rs near giving an Ineligible an
swer as many of the persons to whom one
is expected to talk in what is called So
ciety,' and it would accustom one to get
ting on without help. At any rate.
whether this seems to be the best method
or not, one must keep his hand in"
But have nothing to say" the other
protested. Il do not feel shy, and do not
know that age or diSuse has greatly stiff
fened my tongue, but | find that there is
nothing in the world that am inclined To
talk about"
That, too is partly the result of lack
of practice" the editor went on in his
oracular manner, "since it is the result of
being out of the current of small talk.
Small talk is very largely made up of the
little nothings of the day, and stiH more it
Is composed of the little nothings of so
ciety' aforesaid. There is about it some
thing of the nature Of the dust collected
from the rugs and the carpets by the broom
of the housemaid; it is made up of threads
of different hues brushed from each figure
in the pattern.
Small talk is the fuzz brushed from
each figure in the social fabric. 1t is
largely made up of scraps of trivial infor-
nation, comment or speculation in regard
to the persons who make up given set.
To keep up with this S essential to being
well up in small talk
In other words" the first speaker said,
lit is largely gossip"
That is not at all what | mean" the
editor responded. 90 course gossip comes
oft, but for the most part it is of a nature
too trivial to be called gossip. 1t is the
most airy and triiling mention of this, that
and the other. What one has said about
nothing, where another has been, how
still third looked On a given occasion,
the health of a fourth and the plans OF a
fifth. IL is not in the least III natured, as
a rule; it is not even IN the smallest degree
or overcurious. 1t is only to
the outsider hopelessly futile and impossi-
BILE of imitation. Boston Courier.