in the drawing-room or at the table, do not
furnish the needed conditions. To shine as a talker, one must
override others by sheer vociferation and monopoly, treading his way
amidst insincere applause and general dislike, over the injured self-
love of every one present, to the throne of monologue. Such a
condition is equally incompatible with what is best in character, in
manners, and in personal communion.

For the revival of conversation, an improvement of character is
necessary--a purification and deepening of the interior life. It grows
out of friendship and the fervor of noble interests. And to these the
fickleness and thinness of soul attendant on ignorance and
selfishness, as well as on miscellaneous dissipation, are fatal.

For sparks electric only strike
On souls electrical alike;
The flash of intellect expires
Unless it meet congenial fires.

There can be no deep and enduring union of human beings without
truthfullness, earnestness, aspiration. It is glorious for people to
meet who ascend to meet. For social conquests, as well as for private
content, the aggrandizement of individual character and experience is
the mightiest talisman. As with the increase of esteem and confidence
the spiritual veils are lifted, one by one, the person itself charms
because the soul is seen, and seen to be divine. Even in those
examples where beauty is the hook, grace is the bait, and virtue the
line, with which hearts are caught. When we see wisdom and goodness
the guests of another's eyes, love becomes the guest of our own. The
great evil of an excessive devotion to society and fashion is the
mechanical hollowness and insincerity it breeds--an evil as fatal to
happiness as it is to virtue. Economy of force is the governing
standard with those who are too constantly in contact with the world,
too much given to the spirit of crowded company and fashion.
Conscientious truthfullness, earnest discrimination, and a behavior
honestly adapted to the facts of feeling and duty, are too expensive,
would quickly drain to death the fop, the self-seeker, and the
coquette. Accordingly, indifference is the shield of polite society,
and affectation is the valve of artificial characters; but sincerity
of soul is the first charm of manners, and extent of sympathy is the
proper measure of happiness. The soul, dried and hardened by the heat
and wear of crowds, or exhausted by dissipation, measures its success
by how much it can exclude, how