His greatest quality in
speaking is his manifest sincerity, and it is this particularly which
has ingratiated him in the hearts of his countrymen.
The Honorable Joseph H. Choate must certainly be reckoned among the best
conversationalists of our time. His manner, both in conversation and in
public speaking, is singularly gracious and winning. He is unsurpassed
as a story-teller. His fine taste, combined with long experience as a
public man, makes him an ideal after-dinner speaker.
Some eminent men try to mask their greatness when engaged in
conversation. They do not wear their feelings nor their 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.
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