r greatness on
their sleeves. Some have an utter distaste for anything like personal
display. It is said of the late Henry James that a stranger might talk
to him for an entire evening without discovering his identity.

There is an interesting account of an evening's conversation between
Emerson and Thoreau. When Thoreau returned home he wrote in his Journal:
"Talked, or tried to talk, with R.W.E. Lost my time, nay, almost my
identity. He, assuming a false opposition where there was no difference
of opinion, talked to the wind." Emerson's version of the conversation
was this: "It seemed as if Thoreau's first instinct on hearing a
proposition was to controvert it. That habit is chilling to the social
affections; it mars conversation."

Conversation offers daily opportunity for intellectual exercise of high
order. The reading of great books is desirable and indispensable to
education, but real culture comes through the additional training one
receives in conversation. The contact of mind with mind tends to
stimulate and develop thoughts which otherwise would probably remain
dormant.

The culture of conversation is to be recommended not only for its own
sake, but also as one of the best means of training in the art of public
speaking. Since the best form of platform address today is simply
conversation enlarged and elevated, it may almost be assumed that to
excel in one is to be proficient in the other.

Good conversation requires, among other things, mental alertness,
accuracy of statement, adequate vocabulary, facility of expression, and
an agreeable voice, and these qualities are most essential for effective
public speaking. Everyone, therefore, who aspires to speaking before an
audience of hundreds or thousands, will find his best opportunity for
preliminary training in everyday speech.

TYPES OF TALKERS

There is no greater affliction in modern life than the tiresome talker.
He talks incessantly. Presumably he talks in his sleep. Talking is his
constant exercise and recreation. He thrives on it. He lives for
talking's sake. He would languish if he were deprived of it for a single
day. His continuous practice in talking enables him easily to
outdistance all ordinary competitors. There is nothing which so
completely unnerves him as long periods of silence. He has the talking
habit in its most virulent form.

The trifling talker is equally objectionable. He talks much, but says
little. He skims over the