CONVERSATION

CONVERSATION

example A LIBERAL EDUCATION

As in real life a man often shows himself to be a fool when he begins to talk, so in fiction a character frequently proves to be but a poor puppet of straw when he opens his mouth.

The how-do-you-do-it ’ s-a-very-warm-day type of con¬versation is of no worth because it leads nowhere. Good conversation always has an objective point toward which it is continually progressing. As soon as this point is reached the mental eye chooses another goal, and the con¬versation is at once turned toward it. The power thus to talk toward something definite is possessed by comparatively few. Anyone having a reputation as a good conversa¬tionalist, however, will be found to have it and to make continual use of it.

Much conversation will not bear printing because of its lack of such a goal. Without definite aim it cannot hold the reader ’ s attention. The person careless of developing his conversational powers will speak of the weather, of the health of the family, of the beautiful sunset, of the latest bit of news, and of other disconnected facts, and all at once will find himself mentally a blank; not another thing has he to say. The man desirous of talking well, on the other hand, will continue the subject he has begun until he has completed the theme under discussion, or has explained his views, or has presented his theories, and then, having reached the point he has been looking forward to, he will make the subject lead naturally to some allied subject.