Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1933-07-20
LEARN MUCH BY
WORD OF MOUTH
Education in Commingling
of Conversationalists.

In the school of life conversation
Is ~headmaster. Reading may widen
the ambit OF experience, but VINO
ever cares to know how large a part
of his knowledge ONE by word OF
mouth can find out by trying to write
down verbatim two or three hours OF
lively talk.
The $4,000 granted from the
Carnegie foundation to cultivate pub
lie conversation Is money well spent
Not that the project goes by any
such name. IT Is called a system OF
forums for men and women held In
"a public schools Of Des Moines, an
informal lecturer speaking for the
first half-hour to present fact mate
rial requisite for an informal dis
cussion, after which the audiencf
takes part. The aim Is educational
No attempt Is made to convert. Top
les range from agricultural debts to
the Japanese In Manchurla. Attend
ance was large and discussions cour-
teous. 1t Is expected this practice
will spread-a school In which de-
mocracy i~nstructs itself by the art OF
conversation.
Good conversation Is, like an hon
est God. the noblest work Of man :
a fine art and a rarity. That difil
cult art-forml, the drama, Is CONVEX
satfon observation-disclosures because
1t must tell Il story within time linn
its, which presupposes a unity In
events which actual life seldom II
ever has. This unity the artist must
invent. Then should conversation
likewise be steered? Too evident
steering spells the sport. No, II
should be allowed to follow the ball
This requires a taclt connivance
amongst the players to take what
comes, a kind of improvised orches
tration In which each instrumental
list Is content to play or be silent as
desired. There Is OF course, a spet
cies of ''noninterventionist" guidance
which consists In keeping onf
thought ahead OF the topic. as =
player or singer reading music at
first sight keeps eyes a Measure or
several measures ahead OF his hands
or voice; but eve so he must rec
oncile himself to letting good topics
60 W. the dam for the sake of
maintaining the stream In flow. al
though by keeping mental notes he
can, II the talk thins, thicken 1t by
fishing up a phrase or an idea from
the back eddies.
How seldom 1t Is that, at d large
table or firesIde, conversation does
not split into threes or twos. The
r0omful, or even the hearthsidt
group, which converses as q unit, II
this does not argue formal pre-ar.
rangement to discuss a given theme
or else, the presence OF some power
fully shared intellectual interest
does argue a high degree Of general
information and Is so unusual as tc
be something like a social triumph
The conversational artist can be
identified by his willingness to sink
his ego, like an actor, a musician or
a dancer. The personality Is still
there, but only as a vehicle for ideas
Group conversation best thriyes
when l%mpersonai. Dispute Is peril
u and heated dispute fatal. When
argument stalks In, truth stalks out
Instead OF being q collaborative pro
duction of ideas, the talk becomes d
mere wrangle between opposing
counsel. We might as we'll adjourn
to q court of law and be done with
1t. For argument attempts to hound
the universe by a single intellect
but discussion Is an effort to free
the intellect for ranging the uni
verse.-Boston Globe.