Year: 1879

genuine social sympatny "A man may
not say, out of some selfish motive. or
some motive of personal policy, "Go tol
will become good talker.'' He must
enjoy society, and have genuine desire
to serve and please. We have all seen
the talker who talks for his own per-
poses, or talks to please himself. He
is the well-known characterize talk
ing bore. The talker who gets himself
up for show. who plans his conversations
for an evening, and Grams for them,
becomes intolerable. He lectures: he
does not converse; for there is no power
of talker so delightful as that of excit-
ing others talk. and listen to what his
own inspiring and suggestive utterances
nave calieu lorsn. e.s4s-.--~ .ss~.-ls-s---
pathy and hearty desire to please others
are necessary to produce such talker
as this, and no other is tolerable. Social
sympathy is natural gift, and there
is a combination of other gifts which
constitute what may be called esprit,
that are very essential to good talker.
This combination includes individuality,
tact and wit-the talents. aptitudes,
and peculiar characteristic charm which
enable man to use the materials of
conversation in an engaging way, entire
ly his own for every good talker has
mis- own way of saying good things. as
well as of managing conversation based
on his esprit. $50


Yet it is true that there are no good
takers who depend upon their natural
gifts and such material as they get in
the usual interchanges of society. For
the materials of conversation we must
draw upon knowledge. No nan can be
thoroughly good talker who does not
know a great deal. Social sympathy
and "the gift of gab'' go but short
way toward producing good CONVERSE
tion. though we hear great deal of
this kind of talk among the young.
Sound and exact knowledge is the very
basis Of good conversation. 10 know a
great many things well is to have in
hand the best and most reliable mate
rials of good conversation. There is
nothing like abundance and exactness of
knowledge with which to furnish a talk
er. Next to this, perhaps, is famil-
iarity with polite literature. The faculty
of quoting from the best authors is a
very desirable one. Facts are valuable,
and thoughts perhaps are quite as val
liable, especially as they are more stim-
ulating to the conversation of a group.
The talker who deals alone in facts is
quite likely to have the talk all to him
self, while the man who is familiar with
thoughts and ideas, as he has found
them embodied in literature, becomes a
stimulator of thought and conversation
in those around him. Familiarity with
knowledge and with the products of lit
erary art cannot be too much insisted on
as the furniture of good conversation.


Beyond this. the good talker must be
familiar with the current thought and
events of his time. There should be no
movement in politics. religion and soci-
ETY. that the good talker Is not familiar
with. Indeed. the man who undertakes
to talk at all must know what is
uppermost in mems minds. and be able
to add to the general fund of thought
and knowledge, and respond to the pop
uIar inquiry and the popular DISPOSE
ton for discussion. The man who
undertakes to be good talker should
never be caught mapping, concerning
any current topic of immediate public
interest.


How to carry and convey superiority
knowledge and culture without appear
ing to be pedantic, how to talk out of
abundant stores of information and
familiarity without seeming to preach,
as Coleridge was accused Of doing.
belongs, with the ability to talk well, to
..the art of conversation :" 1t has SEEM
ed to US that if young people could only
see how shallow and silly very much Of
their talk is. and must necessarily be,
so long as they lack the materials Of
conversation. they would take more
pains with their study, would devote
themselves more to the best books. and
that. at least. they would acquire and
maintain more familiarity with impor-
tant current events To know something
is the best cure for neighborhood gossip,
for talk about dress, and for ten tbous-
and frivolities and sillinesses of society.
Besides, good talker needs an audi.
ence to understand and respond to him,
and where is he to find one if there is
not abundant culture around him p
DR.. Holland, IN .Scrihaer.


Just after noon. last Saturday, one
White, imprisoned in Middlebury Jail
for stealing horse in Bristol, and
Davis, for stealing steer in Bridport,