The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-08
FOR FEMININE READERS
ART OF CONVERSATION SHOULD BE
LEARNED WITHIN THE FAMILY.
Club women Are C~uItivatfng Orator.
zeal T~alent-Easter Clothes and
Easter Gifts-yarious Hints.

L believe that the ordinary family con-
versation around the dinner table has much
10 do with the dizziness and WEAKNESS Of
society talk" says a writer in the New
York Post. There is no reason why any
reasonably intelligent party of near rela-
tives should not nave great enjoyment in
the exchange OF their ideas and opinions
and sharpen each others wits to a very
keen edge.
Perhaps a negative course might help
and finally take fruitful issue In a very
agreeable affirmative. II all discussion of
neighborhood gossip could be forbidden, it
might be a good beginning. That In family
c~oncIave it should be resolved that at din
ner time no one hould discuss whether
Mrs. - had lost her cook again. or
why she could never keep a servant. might
prove helpful. That the children should be
peremptorily stopped when ready to dis
close the discoveries Of their keen eyes;
that the cut of the new garment, or the
extravaganza Of the equipage, or the rumor
of impending failure. should be entirely
eliminated from table talk. would force
conversation into new channels.
The encouragement to older children,
@8ES1A8 A449 AA0A SCAA1oC-
days. &c be interested in and understand
public events. and be able TO talk sensibly
in regard to them. would seem a very easy
beginning from which to learn the deep in
terest that appertains TO the daily story of
the nations. Their fresh and unsophisticat-
ed, first hand" impressions of current
events. often puts the ~contending powers
into a new light, which reveals truth. The
interchange or thought between father
and sons, mother and daughters, on the
politics OF their own country, its best am
billions n its greatest dangers, would
quickly qualify them to go forth as mis-
~sionaries into the sad, waste places, where
In the price OF the groonn's gift to yester-
days bride, or the propriety or improperly
OF a neighbor's purchase OF a new home
serve as the staple of mental intercourse.
II should be made as clear to a child's
mind as the sin OF telling an untruth, that
speaking evil and surmising w~rong-doing
was a terrible wrong. Very definite in
structions should be a part of every child's
education on this matter, and gossip con-
corning the lives of their playmates' fami-
lies and the repetition of unpleasant suspi-
cions. be sharply stopped That Tommy
Traddle's father has lost all his money,
and that they ave TO go away" may be
a very interesting fact-alas, it clearly is
10 every one of us-but our little lad should
be made to understand that he must not
announce il at the breakfast table, even If
Tommy's cousin did tell him yesterday at
school.
To avoid personalities of every sort ex-
cept those pleasant happenings which make
men n women care more for each other
and rouse kind feeling is but an introduce
ton to what ought to be a dogma of civil
ICED society.
One does not want to talk on stills and
reduce familiar loving chat to the ~pedantic
studied sentences of a bore, but, like all
formative habits in a child's young nature,
principle must take root to make character.
and the easiest way to insure that any
young person never makes wounds with
her tongue is to make the adherence of
gossip a fundamental groundwork in edu-
cation.
Spontaneous, modest, Intelligent small
talk. such as relieves dullness and re-
freshes strangers who are temporarily in
contact, must have a fountain from which
to flow, and il can only come from IA
miliarity with subjects Of general interest
and ease OF expression gained by talking
about them in the natural interchange of
thought in ones own home.
To ~studi0uSly avoid making ourselves,
our ailments, diet, household trials a
groundwork of chat when there are so
many delightful topics on which to ex-
change ideas is a more needed subject for
self-discipline than we are at all aware.
There are always the few in whom we can
trust for sympathy, and for these we
should reserve our condolences on these alb
sorbing topics. l really believe hat Amer
fcan women promote the increase of the
national disorder of indigestion by con-
tiEual interchange OF symptoms and by the
demonstration of how very indigestible''
everything edible is TO one or another.
And as to the never-dying servant ques-
tion. / am positive that its perennial foun-
tain of Encouragement creates a vapor of
discomfort and quenches humor and cheer
fulneSS In our daily lives.