The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-06-08
SMALL TALK.
One Gentleman Who Has Decided Opin-
lions on the Subject of Making Calls.

q do not make calls" gentleman
said to the editor recently, abecause I
have grown so stupid that / am no
longer able to talk. 1 go and sit in
stupid silence, gazing at the hostess,
as if had come merely to pass some
minutes 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. discoursed
wisely upon the subject, as is his won't.
says the Boston Courier.
at is not in the least a question of
stupidity" he said; "it is purely mat
ter of habit and partly the lack of con-
tinuity. To talk small talk one must
keep in practice, 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.
"It might be a good idea," he said,
"to have dummy-a sort of lay fig
ure of the kind that artists have stand
ing lop-sidedly about their studios
and to take so much time each day to
talk to it. 1t could come about as
] near giving an Ineligible answer as
many of the persons to whom one Is
expected to talk in what is called So
ciety,' and it would accustom one to
getting on without help. At any rate,
whether this seems to be the best
method or not, one must keep his hand
| in."
"But I have nothing to say" the
other protested. 81 do not feel shy,
and do not know that age and disuse
has greatly stiffened my tongue. but I
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 still more it is composed OF
| the little nothings of society afore-
said. There is about it something of
the nature of the dust collected from
| fhe rugs and carpets by the broom of
the housemaid;i it is made up of threads
of different hues brushed from each
L
the fuzz brushed from each figure in
the social fabric. It is largely made
up of scraps of trivial information.
comment or speculation in regard to
the persons who make up a given set
To keep up with this is essential to be-
ing well up in small talk"
"In other words" the first speaker
said, at is largely gossip"
THAT is not at all what / mean,"
the editor responded. "Of course gos-
sip comes into it, but for the most
part it is of 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
nothing, where another has been, how
still third looked on given occasion,
the health of fourth and the plans of
fifth 1t is not in the least ill-natur-
ed, as rule; it is not even in the
smallest degree impertinent or over
curious. 1t is only to the outsider
hopelessly futile and impossible Of i'm
itation."