lous in masses contains individual
members who, if you knew them better, would be able and willing to
render you the most efficient intellectual help, and you miss this help
by restricting yourself exclusively to books. Nothing can replace the
conversation of living men and women; not even the richest literature
can replace it.

Many years ago I was thrown by accident amongst a certain society of
Englishmen who, when they were all together, never talked about anything
worth talking about. Their general conversations were absolutely empty
and null, and I concluded, as young men so easily conclude, that those
twenty or thirty gentlemen had not half a dozen ideas amongst them. A
little reflection might have reminded me that my own talk was no better
than theirs, and consequently that there might be others in the company
who also knew more and thought more than they expressed. I found out, by
accident, after awhile, that some of these men had more than common
culture in various directions; one or two had travelled far, and brought
home the results of much observation; one or two had read largely, and
with profit; more than one had studied a science; five or six had seen a
great deal of the world. It was a youthful mistake to conclude that,
because their general conversation was very dull, the men were dull
individually. The general conversations of English society _are_ dull;
it is a national characteristic. But the men themselves are individually
often very well informed, and quite capable of imparting their
information to a single interested listener. The art is to be that
listener. Englishmen have the greatest dread of producing themselves in
the semi-publicity of a general conversation, because they fear that
their special topics may not be cared for by some of the persons
present; but if you can get one of them into a quiet corner by himself,
and humor his shyness with sufficient delicacy and tact, he will
disburden his mind at last, and experience a relief in so doing.

By keeping out of society altogether you miss these precious
opportunities. The wise course is to mix as much with the world as may
be possible without withdrawing too much time from your serious studies,
but not to expect anything valuable from the general talk, which is
nothing but a neutral medium in which intelligences float and move as
yachts do in sea-water, and for which they ought not to be held
individually responsible. The talk of Society an