Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-01
DOROTHY DIX'S TALK ON
HOW. TO AVOID BEING A BORE
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer 49,
DOROTHY

compact, bomb, and having. hurled
it into the conversational midst. beat
it away from the spot. So shall you
gain the reputation of being enter
tanning, and be sought for for dinner
parties. And, at any rate, people will
forgive you, even if you do not 5eIz-
tiliate if you are not a slayer and
long-Winded.
The second precautionary measure
against becoming bore is to avoid
the monologue habit There are none
whom we hate and dread so much as
those who get the floor and keep 1t,
while they listen enraptured to the
sound of their own voices. while all
the balance Of us sit on pins and
needles waiting for chance to break
ganS.
Never forget that conversation is
never a one man, or one woman per
Torrance, be the talker ever so
thing to relate. The conversation that
every one enjoys is a game Of give
and take in which each has share,
for his opinion is as dear to the
views as we'll as the brilliant man
does his.
If you would not be a bore do not
be a conversation hog any more
than you would be road hog. Give
way to the other fellow. And don't
forget that in any popularity contest
the medal always goes to the silent.
The monologist hasn't look in.
Finally, if you, would avoid being
a bore refrain from , talking ABOUT bout
takes courage, and an amount of
heroic self-sacrifice that few peo-
pie are capable of, but it's the price
Of keeping out of the class of those
whose society makes US very very
Of course we are so thrillingly in
teresting to ourselves, and every
thing that happens to US is so much
more important than any other
earthly happening that we never
BILE for other people not to hang
with baited breath on the details OF
Johnny's Group, or the last bulletin
from the front in our perennial con-
flict with the cook.
Still many things exist in nature
that we never comprehend. and we
may accept it as a fact that no other
human being except our mother takes
terest in our personal affairs, and
that the surest way to become
champion bore is to discourse about
them to others.
All of US know people who never
see us If we see them first, because
we'll we know that if we meet they
will fix us with their glittering. eye
while they maunder on and on about
what wonders their children are, or
what paragon of a car they have got.
or what phenomenal sweet peas they
have grown, or inflict upon us every
detail of whatever business they. are
in, and what they said to the boss
and the boss said to them.
And while we writhe in the
clutches of such bores We marvel
that they do not know how much
anore wonderful and interesting are
our children, and our sweet peas, and
our business, and we just wait for
pause in the talk to chip In with
our story. and to qualify in the
bore race.
For it takes great wisdom for US
to realize that Smith is more inter
ested in telling about his forty mile
railroad trip to Squeedunk than he
is in hearing about our trip around
the world.
But when we, reach the point
where we put the lid on our own
personal experience, and invite 9TH
ers to tell us the stories of their
lives, we are past all need of wor-
pying over the danger Of being
bore. We have become a listener.
and no sympathetic listener was ever
a bore. He, or she, Is the one alb
sorbingly interesting companion of
| whose society we never get enough.