Evening star., 1932-04-29
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The astute spectator of humanity will
come, in the course of time, to recoS-
nize these people. They missed their
vocation. which was that OF prosecuting
attorney evidently. Now, under the
semblance of friends and good acQuaint-
ance5, they attempt to lure others into
making statements which can be pulled
and hauled into meanings which they
by no means had.
The best way of handling such people,
OF course, is to fail to make the desired
statements. Only few OF them are so
bad that they will deliberately make
up replies when no replies are made.
Mostly they are nonplussed by the fall
ure OF the intended victim to make the
comeback" retort.
This is an art which 1t takes q good
many innocent people half or more OF
lifetime to learn. just as there are
many people who think that they must
answer every question put to them by
an unknown over a telephone.
Another case in which no reply Is the
only good reply occurs when some one
makes statement of fact about some
thng which they have done, or pur-
chased. or said.
( II one has different IDEAS, often 1t Is
better to let the remark pass than to
attempt to put ones own ideas into
words. What is the use of speaking
about something which has happened,
or which has been bought, after it has
happened or been purchased?
Even commendation is not called for.
in many instances Most human be-
ings are so intent ON their own thoughts
that. II short interval OF silence ar
rives, they will utilize the time think
ing about their own problems of the
moment.
Do not fear, therefore, that you will
be impolite. If you fail to make any
answering remark to many OF the re-
marks made to you in ordinary every
day conversation
1t is always possible to be so busy, in
appearance, at least, that reply is
impossible. One may adopt that slow
ness Of comprehension which is such a
blessing to those who possess it natu-
rally! BY the time such people get into
the back Of their heads what the other
one has said, he has given them up and
gone on to more talk.
=
All this preSupposes, Of course, that
one Is talking to some one who regards
| conversation as q good chance for
securing material to be used against
another human soul. or to be disputed,
or to be taken in the wrong light,
or to be viewed with alarm"
The number OF such persons will vary
according to ones own sensitivity to
such things and his fortune or mis-
fortune in running into them. For let
every one be assured that the world
Is full Of them. He who recognizes
them is not extraordinary, in any sense.
nor Is he the victim Of some psyche
logical disease. He is merely intellec-
tually honest. He is like the good tube
In radio set, which insists on picking
up what the poor tubes miss. Some
times, Of course. poor tubes are to be
congratulated on what they miss.
1t is q very easy matter. after all.
to fail to reply to the utterances Of
others, once one gets onto the hang
Of 1t, and stops feeling that he has
been grossly impolite. One shortly gets
accustomed to permitting the other fel-
low to do most of the talking. It is a
sort OF kindnessto-animals act, for
most human beings love nothing more
than the sound Of their own voice.
Fail to reply, and shortly they, in
their turn, become afraid of silence.
and strike in with a return remark.
about the subject or of it, ordinarily
1t makes little difference to them. Talk
Is what they want and talk is what
they get. They are satisfied with their
own speech. why deprive them of that
supreme satisfaction? Above all. never
forget that nine-tenths of the time they
expect no reply, even though they ask
questions. They speak. not for informa-
tion. but merely for the sake Of hear
ing their own voices