The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-01
THE ART OF CONVERSATION.
Excessive Talking Is to Be Carefully
AInidad


Avoided.
American society is distinguished for
its takers. Intelligent men and women
OF this country show a tact, an express
siveness and facility in conversation
which have impressed the English and
the Germans and delighted the lively
Geul The famous wits of the last cen
fury were too studied and formal DR..
Johnson was the acknowledged king
in London's most brilliant circle. and
he said Goldsmith would have made
little fishes talk IKE great whales
Latterly. English drawing rooms are
given over to the state of the mar
kets" and the price of cattle" The
English woman has no mind outside
her husbands and he chooses TO be the
oracle
Such conditions are unknown here.
You will hear as many opinions adj
vanced and discussed by women as by
men. We treat our women with a
chivalrous Difference which they de-
mand and deserve. A German lady
does not dream of demanding it. The
American girls absolute freedom of
speech and movement, who has not
heard Of il? What foreign paper does
not comment Oh it? And how little the
average outsider knows about it! How
much he misunderstands il,
Nothing is so easy of abuse, however,
as liberty in politics, art, manners,
speech or aught else.
Words are winged messengers which,
once they leave our uimble tongues,
live, move, work for good or i'll and,
like chickens, come home to roost.
Excessive talking ruins many good
conversationalist. 1t paled Macaulay's
splendor. How one longed for a fash
of silence, But you never got it A
prominent Episcopal bishop was criti-
cised as the prince of preachers, if he
had not quite so much TO say. Many a
brilliant girl talks all her would-be
husbands out of court. This is not d
pun She may aver: Il do not care"
That does not alter the fact that her
gift is repellent when it should be at
tractive.
1t is advisa bic to stop. first of all. to
take breath, and also to possess your
own soul and listen to your compan-
ions. 1t takes more than one TO make
a conversation successful, nor must the
responding party do nothing but NUT
ter monosvllables-
The gift of vivacious speech should
ever be seasoned with charity. 1t is
tempting TO be witty at another's ex-
pense, TO strain after morbid supe-
riority by protesting a deal of cynic-
ism, to make smart epigrams Of crltl-
cisrn upon other people, but doing this
habitually never, never pays If sought
at all. such a converse tionalist is only
a passing amusement; people will go
somewhere else for higher stimulus.
Mark this ruling out of abuses does not
include Islander and malicious folly.
That is supposed to be beneath our no.
tice But is il? Dc we rever forget
ourselves here? We cand.5.v confess
we often reproach ourselves with TAX
ing dangerous liberties WI tn a very
dangerous member How strangely
sad that the gift of conversation, SO no
bic, so powerful, without which We
cannot Imagine life worth living. is
often turned, not only into foolish
chatter and light-winged carelessness,
but absolute sta bling of cruel wounds,
sometimes never healed on earth. Such
great gift demands great grace in the
using-N. Y. Ledger