The Republican., 1897-07-01
WOMAN AND HER TALK.
LinEual Ability of the Fair Sex PhiIO-
sOphicaIIy Discussed.

Ling udI abIlltN O1 the u falF sex l-hllO-
sOphicaIly Discussed.
Conversation is one thing; talk is
another. Cultivated women in general
converse better than cultivated men.
Women as sex talk vastly more than
any kind of men do or possibly can.
There is no question about that. Their
organization, their gregariousness,
1n2ir disposition to be always doing
something, inspires their garrulity.
A man often finds it hard to express
himself; has really nothing to say; pre-
fers silence, as rule. Not SO the or
dinary woman. Whether she has any
thing to say or not makes no difference.
Having nothing in her mind, she has
abundance on her tongue, and the
abundance will never run off. The pos
session of ideas not irfrequently inter
feres with his speech, never with hers.
The fewer she has the more yoluble she
is. Unburdened with n single idea, To-
quacity never tires her, be its effect
what it may on others.
Many of the emptiest women are the
noisiest. Indeed, their noise is com
monty proportioned to their emptiness,
Every man has observed this so many
| tinhes that it has ceased to impress him.
ia woman is seldom struck by wom-
ans chatter unless il curtails her own.
| Then it becomes a strife of tongues,
the victory being to the nimblest the
least capable of fatigue. Has anyone
| ever heard of a tOngue-tired woman?
She is apt to work very hard, often
harder than man, but limitless exercise
of tongue must give her rest If so,
who would wish to restrain her inter-
minable utterance?
The average wOman's excessive oral
huency is something that must be ac'
cepted. 1t is a phenomenon of her sex,
her Inheritance and her privilege. To
reduce it TO the normal requires train
ing-much self-discipline. She talks,
talks, talks. Having nothing to say in
| the beginning, she ends with saying
nothing. Strictly speaking, she dOesnot
end-she is never ending. She is inter-
rupted merely by circumstances-she
| is forced TO stop. When one of her own
sex and kind or of the other sex visits
her she diGatcs on vacuity for half an
hour, for an hour. for two hours. Her
speech is but words, words. words. The
richness, the verbal superfuity of the
English language contributes to her
weakness. Not few of our so-called
orators have taught us that man may
make long speech without conveying
any definite meaning. The average
woman is. in her talk, still more eff
cient in her ineflioiency. But she
seems to be satisfactory to the mass OF
her auditors. She may adapt herself tc
them, may gauge their understanding
anticipate their taste. Woman's intui
ton, whatever her grade, ranks high.
Hardly any woman will deny that she
talks a great deal. and that she is very
fond of talking. As to talking well OF
i'll. she will say that this is a matter 81
opinion, and that she is, of course, OF
99Y6dyF' d1s. SGs; e viii probably main ia n
tam, II she be nettled by criticism. that
many men are stupid, very stupid; that
they cannot talk; that she has therefore
~ '''AiN iOA tiltlll' SldJ JIltk must be
helped out in some way. and that it is
base ingratitude for them to make com.
ments on her generous efforts 20 as.
sIst them. There may be more than a
: spice of truth in this.
| Most men, she viii contend. furnish
only crude outline of ANYTHING
whether important or unimportant
Their statements ana stories lack color
interest, dramatic point. Above all.
they are defective in details. She dotes
she declares on details, and her dotinp
Is evident, no less than her repetitiops.
Her power of expansion of the smallest
circumstance is extraordinary. What
might be said in ten or fifteen words
she will distend iRto 200 or 300 and re-
iterate her dilutions again and ag;,in
What she has uttered with ininitesimal
particularizaticn in her drawing-room
she rehearses in the hallway. in the
vestibule, at the front door. always fol
lowing her caller or callers. under the
impression that it is impolite TO LET
them go after they have formally bid
den her good-afternoon or good-even-
1ng-Philadelphia North American.