Year: 1873

NSpb OGJ u 9OCECbys


The wise course is to mix as much
with the world as may be possible with
out Withdrawing too much time from


your serious studies, but not to expect


anything valuable from the general


talk, which is-nothing but 2 mental


medium in which inteligences float


and move as yachts DO in sea-Water,


and for which they ought not to be


held individually y responsible. The talk


of society answers its purpose if it


simply permits many different people to


come together without cIashing, and


the purpose of its conventions is the
avoidance of collision. In England the


smaIl-taIk is heavy like water; in


France it is light as air; in both coun-


tries it is a medium and no more


Society talks, by preference, about


amusement; it does so because when


people meet for recreation they wish to
relieve their minds from serious cares,


and also for the practical reason that
society must talk about what its mem
bers have in common, and their ainuse-
ments are more III common than their


zork. As NJ. Theirs recommended the
republican form of government IN France
on the ground that it was the form
which divided his countrymen least, so
a polite and highly-civilized society
chooses for the subject of general con-
versation the topic which IS least likely
to separate the different people who are
present. It almost always happens that
the best topic having this rec0mmen-
dation is some species Ct amusement;


since amusements are easily learnt out


side the business of life, and we are all


initiated into them in youth.


For these reasons I think that we


ought to be extremely tolerant of the


duIlness or friYolity which may seem to
prevail in any numerous company, and


not to conclude too hastily that the
members of it are in any degree more


dull or frivolous than ourselves. It is


unfortunate, certainly that the art of
general conversation is not so success
fully cultivated as it might be, and
there are reasons for beIieying that our
posterity will surpass us in this respect,
because as culture increases, the spirit
of toleration increases with it, so that
the great questions of politics and re
ligion, in which all are interested, may
be discussed more safely than they
could be at the present day, by persons
of different ways of thinking. But
even the sort of general conversation
we have now, poor as it may seem, still
sufficiently serves as a medium for hu-
man intercourse, and permits us to meet
on a common ground where we may Sc
lect at leisure the agreeable or instrUc-
tive friends that our higher intellect
needs, and without whom the intellect
uaI life is one of the ghastliest of soil
tudes.


And now permit me to add few OBJ
servations on another aspect of this sub
iect, which is not without it's impor-
tance. Let US suppose that every one
of rather more than ordinary capacity
and culture were to act as You yourself
are acting, and withdraw entirely from
general society. Let US leave ont of
consideration for the present the loss to
their private culture which would be the
consequence of missing every opPortu-
nity for forming new intellectual friend
ships. Let us consider, this time, what
would be the cons quence to osOcietyitsef.
If all the cultivated men were withdrawn
from it, the general tone of society
would inevitably descend much lower
even than it is at present; 1t would sink
so low that the whole national intellect
would undergo a sure and inevitable de-
terioration. It is plainly the duty Of
men situated as You are, who have been
endowed hY nature with superior facul- F.
ties, and who have enlarged them by
the acquisition of knowledge, to pre- /
serve society by their presence from an
evil so surely prolific of bad conse- /
quences. If society is less narrow, and
selfish, and intolerant, and apathetic
than it used to be, it is because they
who are the salt of the earth have not

disdained to mix with its grosser. and !
earthier elements. All the improve
ment in public sentiment, and the ad-
vancement in general knowledge which /
have marked the course of recent gen /
erations are to be attributed to the /
influence of men who could /
think and feel, and who steadily eIer- /
cised, often quite obscurely, yet not the /
less usefully in their time and place, i
the subtle but powerful attraction OF .
the greater mind over the less. Instead /
of complaining that people are ignor
ant and frivolous, we ought to go /
amongst them and lead them to the /
higher life. Il know not how 1t Is" /
said one in a dull circle to a more gifted I
friend who entered it occasionally /
50 when we are left ts ourselves we are
all lamentably stupid, but whenever /
you are kind enough to come amongst
us we all talk very much better, and Of
things that are we'll worth talking
about" The gifted man is always vel
come, if only he viii stoop to CONQUER. /
and forget himself, to give light and
heat to others. Tho low Philistinism
of many a provincial town is due main
ly to the shy reserve of the one or two
superior men, who fancy that thew can
not amalgamate with the common intel
leet Of the place,