The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-04-14
SMALL TALK.
What Conversation in Social Circles
Consists of According to a Man.

| What Conversation in Social Circles
Consists of According to Man.
'I do not make calls" gentleman said
recently, because have grown so stupid
that l am no longer able to talk. go and
sit in stupid silence, gazing at the hostess,
as 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.
st is not in the least a question of stu.
pidity," he said. st 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 to be an expert am
not sure that it is not necessary to keep up
the practice alone at home"
He smiled little at the conceit, and
went on celebrating the idea.
ut might be a good idea," he said, ito
have dummy-a sort of lay figure of the
kind that artists have standing lopsidedly
time each day to talk to it. 1t could come
about as 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 othel
protested. 81 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 stiA 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 is essential to being
well up in small talk.
"In other words" the first speaker said
sit is largely gossip"
THAT is not at all what | mean" the
editor responded. "Of course gossip comes
intOit but for the most part it is of n nature
too trivial to be called gossip. 1t is the
most airy and trifling mention of this, that
and the other. What one has said about
where another has been, how
still third looked ON a given occasion,
the health of fourth and the plans of
fifth. 1t is not in the least i'll 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.