nversation, will be voted a bore because he denies others the
enjoyment of self-expression, while a mediocre talker who listens
interestedly may be considered a good conversationalist because he
permits his companions to please themselves through self-expression.
They are praised who please: they please who listen well.

The first step in remedying habits of confusion in manner, awkward
bearing, vagueness in thought, and lack of precision in utterance, is to
recognize your faults. If you are serenely unconscious of them, no
one--least of all yourself--can help you. But once diagnose your own
weaknesses, and you can overcome them by doing four things:

1. _WILL_ to overcome them, and keep on willing.

2. Hold yourself in hand by assuring yourself that you know precisely
what you ought to say. If you cannot do that, be quiet until you are
clear on this vital point.

3. Having thus assured yourself, cast out the fear of those who listen
to you--they are only human and will respect your words if you really
have something to say and say it briefly, simply, and clearly.

4. Have the courage to study the English language until you are master
of at least its simpler forms.

_Conversational Hints_

Choose some subject that will prove of general interest to the whole
group. Do not explain the mechanism of a gas engine at an afternoon tea
or the culture of hollyhocks at a stag party.

It is not considered good taste for a man to bare his arm in public and
show scars or deformities. It is equally bad form for him to flaunt his
own woes, or the deformity of some one else's character. The public
demands plays and stories that end happily. All the world is seeking
happiness. They cannot long be interested in your ills and troubles.
George Cohan made himself a millionaire before he was thirty by writing
cheerful plays. One of his rules is generally applicable to
conversation: "Always leave them laughing when you say good bye."

Dynamite the "I" out of your conversation. Not one man in nine hundred
and seven can talk about himself without being a bore. The man who can
perform that feat can achieve marvels without talking about himself, so
the eternal "I" is not permissible even in his talk.

If you habitually build your conversation around your own interests it
may prove very tiresome to your listener. He may be thinking of bird
dogs or dry fly fishing while you are discussing the fourth dimension,
or the merits of a cucumb