The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1899-12-19
TALKING AND LISTENING.
The Tyranny Of the Monolosist Passing
Away.

Away.
It was one Of DR.. Johnson's many
good points that, although he could
be overbearing and rude, he could also
listen. Naturally, the lions share of
the talk often fell to his lot, and just
as naturally, whether he talked much
or little, he inevitably dominated the
conversation--all this was in the ma
ture Of things--but johnson was not
monologist. BE led, he often domi-
mated, and sometimes domineered,
but he also listened and thoroughly
understood that the good talk which
his soul loved involved give and take,
exchange Of ideas, the power to listen
as well as to speak. The exchange
may not always be on quite equal
terms. Was it not Heine who, when
friend found him unusually dull one
day, explained, with sarcastic intent,
that he had been exchanging thoughts
With Prof. So and So? The Herr Pro-
fessor, one may be sure, had the best
of that exchange. But when takers
meet on fairly equal terms exchange
is Of the essence Of the art Of both talk
ing and listening.
On the whole, one is inclined to
think that the supposed disappear
ance Of the art Of conversation is de-
fusion. What has really disappeared
is the tyranny Of the monologist; and
"for this relief" we may say with the
Danish soldier, much thanks" tits
difficult to believe that were any lat
ter-day Macaulsy, for example, to
rise, crammed with information on
every conceivable subject with re-
lentless memory stored with all kinds
of useful and useless knowledge, and
endowed with fatally fluent and
cruelty copious gift Of speech-it is
difficult, we say, to believe that such
q one would be able to command or re-
tain an audience or to dominate and
monopolize talk in the way that the
great whig essayist was accustomed to
do. Or, to take another example
Mrs. Justin wrote to n. Barthelemy
st. Hilsire in January, 1859, that
lady correspondent Of hers at Cannes
had writtento say that Victor Cousin,
the well-kHown philosopher, talked
the other day without stopping fer
four hours." Would tbs ps7pstrStisn
Of such . Aarangus nsvsdsys And an
sudisnce - patient % thst II 20 ysess
asoP
The victims Of the monols6ists
were patient istsnsrA but they
Kicked occasionally; moreover, their
sense Of humor was pleasantly it'll
lated when they beheld two great talk
ers thrown together by chance or so
cial circumstance, and saw how one
dominated, and how the other, sccus-
toned himself to dominate, writhed
under the novel discomfort of being
himself listener by compulsion. A
Spanish proverb says: 1.-TWO great
takers will not travel far together"
Grevills records with humorous ap-
probation Of the position how, when |
he was at Bowood, in Decembsr, 1S41,
hacsulay and Samuel Rogers we're
among hh fellow Euasts. The for
nsTs hov was iasxhausdhlA always |
amusing and instructive sbsxt every |
body and everything" Hs~R. sar-
sainly, ays 0rs.iils. ss sayshIze |
had hks ktA 1at 1sesD Sns |
lsyA b ksk ts0sA, Cd sA%& sAhss. |
nailz sysa tie Sss.i slks$ vAAsk |
Msosahy'a aaaAAaasa hss sgsA aks |
hank~ pss< ~vAs ID asssay ssssaa-
guishsl, and can a3tAG maks him |
sslf hoard asr hnd IN iassrsl b sst |
In a vsCa." 1t wa a trying poaiiksa |
for luminsry, accustomed 10 shtAs
brightly In 4 circle Of his o~n, 70 find
his Light nearly srtiAguishs< by
the greater brilhanss Of q rival.
GrsVills prOphSSisd tha$ RsgaEa
would revive when Aaoaulsy vent
and later-when that event happened
recorded not only that Rogers was
"all alive again." but that the other
guests under Lord Lansdowne's hos
pitable roof had found their voices,
and on the whole he concludes they
were as we'll without Macaulay.
A somewhat similar state Of things
on one occasion-though in this case
a matter of hours only, noting it was
chronicled by Darwin in his "Auto-
biography" He relates that at din
ner party where, besides himself,
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