impression, especially upon those who do not know us thoroughly, as the
ability to converse well.

To be a good conversationalist, able to interest people, to rivet their
attention, to draw them to you naturally, by the very superiority of
your conversational ability, is to be the possessor of a very great
accomplishment, one which is superior to all others. It not only helps
you to make a good impression upon strangers, it also helps you to make
and keep friends. It opens doors and softens hearts. It makes you
interesting in all sorts of company. It helps you to get on in the
world. It sends you clients, patients, customers. It helps you into
the best society, even though you are poor.

A man who can talk well, who has the art of putting things in an
attractive way, who can interest others immediately by his power of
speech, has a very great advantage over one who may know more than he,
but who cannot express himself with ease or eloquence.

No matter how expert you may be in any other art or accomplishment, you
cannot use your expertness always and everywhere as you can the power
to converse well. If you are a musician, no matter how talented you
may be, or how many years you may have spent in perfecting yourself in
your specialty, or how much it may have cost you, only comparatively
few people can ever hear or appreciate your music.

You may be a fine singer, and yet travel around the world without
having an opportunity of showing your accomplishment, or without anyone
guessing your specialty. But wherever you go and in whatever society
you are, no matter what your station in life may be, you talk.

You may be a painter, you may have spent years with great masters, and
yet, unless you have very marked ability so that your pictures are hung
in the salons or in the great art galleries, comparatively few people
will ever see them. But if you are an artist in conversation, everyone
who comes in contact with you will see your life-picture, which you
have been painting ever since you began to talk. Everyone knows
whether you are an artist or a bungler.

In fact, you may have a great many accomplishments which people
occasionally see or enjoy, and you may have a very beautiful home and a
lot of property which comparatively few people ever know about; but if
you are a good converser, everyone with whom you talk will feel the
influence of your skill and charm.

A noted society leader, who has been very succe