possibilities in the art of conversation! In the majority of homes,
children are allowed to mangle the English language in a most painful
way.

Nothing else will develop the brain and character more than the
constant effort to talk well, intelligently, interestingly, upon all
sorts of topics. There is a splendid discipline in the constant effort
to express one's thoughts in clear language and in an interesting
manner. We know people who are such superb conversers that no one
would ever dream that they have not had the advantages of the higher
schools. Many a college graduate has been silenced and put to shame by
people who have never even been to a high school, but who have
cultivated the art of self-expression.

The school and the college employ the student comparatively a few hours
a day for a few years; conversation is a training in a perpetual
school. Many get the best part of their education in this school.

Conversation is a great ability discoverer, a great revealer of
possibilities and resources. It stimulates thought wonderfully. We
think more of ourselves if we can talk well, if we can interest and
hold others. The power to do so increases our self-respect, our
self-confidence.

No man knows what he really possesses until he makes his best effort to
express to others what is in him. Then the avenues of the mind fly
open, the faculties are on the alert. Every good converser has felt a
power come to him from the listener which he never felt before, and
which often stimulates and inspires to fresh endeavor. The mingling of
thought with thought, the contact of mind with mind, develops new
powers, as the mixing of two chemicals often produces a new third
substance.

To converse well one must listen well also--hold oneself in a receptive
attitude.

We are not only poor conversationalists, but we are poor listeners as
well. We are too impatient to listen. Instead of being attentive and
eager to drink in the story or the information, we have not enough
respect for the talker to keep quiet. We look about impatiently,
perhaps snap our watch, play a tattoo with our fingers on a chair or a
table, hitch about as if we were bored and were anxious to get away,
and interrupt the speaker before he reaches his conclusion. In fact,
we are such an impatient people that we have no time for anything
excepting to push ahead, to elbow our way through the crowd to get the
position or the money we desire. Our l