will steal a furtive glance at your hearer perchance, and
another at the word itself, as you would when first labeling a man "my
friend Mr. Blank." But the embarrassment is momentary, and there is no
other way. Assume a friendship if you have it not, and presently the
friendship will be real. You must be steadfast in intention; for the words
that have held aloof from you are many, and to unloose all at once on a
single victim would well-nigh brand you criminal. But you will make sure
headway, and will be conscious besides that no other class of words in the
language will so well repay the mastering. For these are words you
_do_ use, and need to use more, and more freely--words your own
experience stamps as valuable, if not indeed vital, to you.

The third class of words is made up of those you do not speak at all, but
sometimes write. They are acquaintance one degree farther removed than
those of the second class. Your task is to bring them into class two and
thence into class one--that is, to introduce them into your more formal
speech, and from this gradually into your everyday speech.

The fourth class of words is made up of those you recognize when you hear
or read them, but yourself never employ. They are acquaintance of a very
distant kind. You nod to them, let us say, and they to you; but there the
intercourse ends. Obviously, they are not to be brought without
considerable effort into a position of tried and trusted friendship. And
shall we be absolutely honest?--some of them may not justify such
assiduous care as their complete subjugation would call for. But even
these you should make your feudal retainers. You should constrain them to
membership in class three, and at your discretion in class two.

Apart from the words in class four, you will not to this point have made
actual additions to your vocabulary. But you will have made your
vocabulary infinitely more serviceable. You will be like a man with a host
of friends where before, when his necessities were sorest, he found (along
with some friends) many distant and timid acquaintance.

Outside the bounds of your present vocabulary altogether are the words you
encounter but do not recognize, except (it may be) dimly and uncertainly.
Some counselors would have you look up all such words in a dictionary. But
the task would be irksome. Moreover those who prescribe it are loath to
perform it themselves. Your own candid judgment in the matter is the
safest guid