The Saint Paul globe., 1896-11-30
SHORT TALK ABOUT TALKING.
Art of Conversation Not Decaying,
but Ne IS Cultivation.

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St. Louis Mirror
In several papers recently editorials have
appeared dealing with the decay of the
art of conversation, They were not written
by ironists or humorfsts. either. They are
serious productions, SO serious as to excite
the risibilities Of people rightly constituted.
Truth compels the statement here that the
curse Of this time is tco much conversation.
Everybody talks, and the worst Of it Is that
everybody will listen. People are actually
getting into the habit Of talking to themselves
on the street. If there ever time when
talking was more of an occupation man
remembers it. The talkster is on top every
where. We have a man running for presi-
dent upon no other plea in the world than
that he puts up good "con' talk, con
being an abreviation for confidence game.
An art that can elevate man to that high
honor is certainly not in decay. Look at
the newspapers. They are full of what Tom,
Dick and Harry, wise or foolish, learned or
unlearned, decent or indecent say upon
all sorts Of subjects There is no one too
puny and insignificant to be interviewed or
to have his talk printed.
No; it's all mistake to say that the art
OF talking has decayed. The art has been
refined to such point that it is all art and
no nature. Human conversation is becoming
almost meaningless as the patter of par
rots. Men talk Of everything-and Of nothing.
is discussed. Our talk grows as loose as
some Of our popular literature. People talk
to be interesting. Men say things they do
not believe, that are not true, in order to
sacrilegious in that they will talk of things
that ought not to be talked of. This fills
the papers with idle and malicious gossip.
There are too many people who talk for ef
feet, not for truth; who talk to crafty their
own vanity, not to instruct others. They
waste their own time and time of those who
have to listen to them. The art that has de-
cayed in this country is the art Of correct
thinking upon things worth thinking about
The people are enamored of words, not of
ideas There is a decline in the number of
people who have anything to say worth say
ing. That is why conversation is so gen.
orally bore. 1t has come to pass that ones
dearest friend is not the man upon whose
words one would hang breathless. The per-
son one likes to be with is the person to
whom he does not have to listen, and who
does not expect one to talk.
The man l can walk with or ride with for
an hour, without feeling the necessity of
| keeping up gabble, is the man who will
will make me think I'm saying something
when he listens. The trouble with the con-
verser is that he rarely has more than one
subject. That subject is generally himself;
sation, as we know it, Is the escape valve
for egotism. The converser deals in half
puts you to the trouble. if you're man Of
any moral sense. Of correcting him. You
don't have to do this with liar. A lie is a
clumsy thing that defeats itself. You can
| women about each other. The former may
discuss women, but always with that air of
D6lHS lnVlQclDl0 WIN tn6m. Inc women
talk of men as if they wearied of their wor-
ship.
When men and women should talk best
they talk worst-when they are in love.
The talk of lovers is absolute yacuity, in
anity. They develop what DR.. Allen Nc
Lane Hamilton says, in a recent issue of
Harper's Magazine. is sign of mental de-
generacy. They deal in diminutives and
what Is known as baby talk Men swear
in their talk. That is a sign of poverty of
words or IDEAS: Women gesticulate for the
m hIIf
satisfied with the result-themselves. Re-
suits are everything, we are, told. An art
that produces satisfactory results. cannot be
in decay. Conversation is not an interchange
OF ideas. 1t is elaborate device for the
concealment of their absence. Takers are
agreeable. The man Of ideas makes one un-
comfortable. woman ought not to have
ideas. Men will not give heed to them, any
how, and if they do they will forget she's
woman This is what a woman does not
want. The real art of conversation is in
brilliant. flashes of silence" in knowing
when and how to remain silent. In this
sense one may admit that the art of CONVEX
sation has decayed, but in this sense only.