Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-29
READ TO TALK WELL
BY H. Addington Bruce
COMMON complaint finds utterance in
letter that recently came to me. In

II a letter that recently came to me. In
effect, the writer of this letter said
Zone of my greatest handicaps is inability
to show to advantage in business or social
conversation. l cannot express myself clear
ly, forcefully, or elegantly.
1T is not .ashfuness that troubles me,
for | not at all timid. Nor is it lack OF
ideas, for rAy mind is active enough. 1t is
sheer awkwardness in the of words.
know what | want to say but not how to say
it."
When nan writes letter in this strain,
you may be pretty su O. one thing-that he
is not merely poor talker but poor read
er ALSO and in particular that he has neither
q wide nor familiar acquaintance with mas
| terpieces of literature.
And as good bit of evidence as can be
given him is to urge him to take time to read
good books-books written by masters of eX-
PRESTON from great authors of antiquity to
the best mOderr essayiSts and POETS
Responsiveness follows literacy," as John
Jay Chapman has tersey ut it. Or in the
more elaborate phrasng of Richard Grant
White:
''It is general culture-above all, it is the
constant submission of a teachable, appre-
hensiye mind to the influence of minds Of
the highest class, in daily life and in books
that brings out upon language its dalntiest
bloom and its richest fruitage"
Robert Louis Stevenson, delightful talker
as we'll as a writer of high distinction, once
credited his verbal ability in part to the de-
votion with which he read and studied GER
tain authors. Hazlitt, Lamb, Wordsworth,
Sir Thomas Browne, Defoe, Hawthorne, Mon
taigne, Baudelaire and Obermann were those
he named.
And as with Stevenson, so with all adopts
in expression, whether oral or written. To
quote Cha oman again:
1--WE think of Shakespeare a lightly let
tered person; but he ransacking books
all day to f1l4d plots and language for his
plays. He reeks with mythology, he sW1ms
in classical metaphor. Deprive Shakespeare
of his sources and he could not have been
Shakespeare"
OF course. the frequent reading of good
literature--of the best in literature-Will not
make every man Shakespeare or Steven
son. But it will most surely increase every
mans conversational ability, especially if the
reading be done slowly thoughtfully, and
with an earnest effort at approaching as we'll
as understanding what is said.
1t is in fact good plan, when reading for
growth in expression, to keep a notebook
handy, in which may be Jotted down words
whose meaning is in doubt by the reader.
After the reading is done these words should
be looked up i'll the dictionary, then the pas
sages containing them re-read
And the reading of good literature should
not be spasmodic. To read many hours a
day for few days, then not to look into
book for weeks or months, will never do.
Every day, if only for fifteen minutes
day, some worthwhile book should hold the
attention. o. frequent occasions, if circum-
stances permit it should be read aloud. Thus
sleeping ones self in good words, there will
gradually be an accretion in the depths of
the mind of material available for personal
use as the demands of conversation make
necessary.
Copyright. 1921, by The Associated News
papers.)