Year: 1879

or some motive OF personal policy,
| "Go tol / will become q good talker. ,
He must enjoy society, and have gen
uine desire to serve and please. We
have all seen the ta,ker who talks for
his own purposes, or talks to please
himself. He is the well known chaTac-
ter-the talking bore. The talker who
gets himself up for show. who plans
his conversations for an evening, and
Grams for sthem, becomes intolerable.
He lectures: he does not oonyers; for
there is no power of taiker 50 delight>
ful as that of exciting other to talk,
and listening to what his own inspiring
aud suggestive utterances have called
forth. Genuine social sympathy and a
hearty desire to please others are ne
csssary to produce such talker as this
and no other is toierable. Social sym>
pathy is a natural gift and there is .
combination of other gifts which con
stitute what may be called esprit, that
are very essential to a good talker This
combination includes individuality,
tact and wit-the talents, aptitudes,
and peculiar characteristic charm
which enable man to use the materi-
ais of couveration in an engaging way,
entirely his own; for every good talker
has his own way of saying good things,
rs well of managing conversation based
on his esprit.


Yet it is true that there are no good
takers who depend upon thier natural
gifts and such material as they get i'll
the usual interchanges of society. For
the materials of conversation we must
draw upon knowledge. No man can
be thoroughly good talker who does
not know great deal. Social sympa>
thy and "the gift of gab" go but a
short way toward pro lncing good con
versation, though We hear a great deal
of this kind of talk among the young
Sound and exact knowledge in the very
basis OF good conversation. To know
a great many things we'll is to have in
hand the beat and most reliable mater
ials of good Conversation There is
nothing like abundance aud exacJnes5
of knowledge with which to furnish a
taker. Next to this, perhaps, is fam
iliarity with polite literature. The
faculty of quoting from the best auth
ors is a very desirable one. Facts are
valuable, and thoughts perhaps are
quite as valuable, especially rs they
are more stimulating to the converse
ton OF a group The talker who deals
alone in facts is quite likely to have
the talk all to himself, while the mai
who is familiar with thoughts and
ideas, rs he has found them embodied
in literature, becomes a stimulator of
thopght aud conversation in til ose
around him Familiarity with know
l.dge and aith the products of literary
art cannot be too much insisted on as
the furniture OF good conversation.


Beyond this the good taiker must be
familiar with the current thought and
events OF his time. There shouid be
no movements in politics, re!igion and
socity that the good talker is not faml-
lar with. Indeed, the man who unier


takes 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 po
pular enqairy and the popular disposi>
ti0n for discussion. The man who uu
dertakes to be good talker should
never be caught mapping concerning
current topic of Immediate public in ?
terest.


Now to carry and convey superiority
of knowledge and culture without APP
pearing to be pedantic, how 10 talk out
of abundant stores OF information and
I1miIarlEJ Will ODiuiDu "iIiNto nSNHA
ing to preach, as Coeria8e was accus =
ed of doing, belongs, with the ability
: to talk we'll, to 1.-The art of conversa~
ton" 1t has seemed to us that if
young people could only see how shal-
} low and silly very much of their talk
is, ana must necessarily be, so long as
. they lack the materials of conversation
they would take more pains with their
study. would devote themselves to the
best books, and that, at least, they
would acquire and maintain more FAM
= iliarity with important current events.
To know something is the best cure
for neighborhood gossip, for talk about
; dress, and for ten thousand frivoities
and Stiffness of society. Besides, q
good talker need an audience to under
stand and respond to him, aud where is
he to find one If there is not abundant
culture around him?


a Rich Find of Silver.