OCR Text |
Show FISHERMAN'S LUCK nor depth, 't is all one; there is yet grace and pertinence; all there is tented with a mature and constant judgment, and mixed with goodness, freedom, gayety, and friendship." How close to the mark the old essayist sends his arrow! He is right about the essential qualities of good talk. They are not merely intellectual. They are moral. Goodness of heart, freedom of spirit, gayety of temper, and friendliness of disposition, -these are four fine things, and doubtless as acceptable to God as they are agreeable to men. The talkability which springs out of these q11alities has its roots in a good soil. On such a plant one need not look for the poison berries of malign discourse, nor for the Dead Sea apples of frivolous mockery. But fair fruit will be there, pleasant to the sight and good for food, brought forth abundantly according to the season. '70 TALKABILITY III VARIATIONS-oN A PLEASANT PHRASE FROM MONTAIGNE Montaigne has given as our text, "Goodness, freedom, gayety, and friendship,"-these are the conditions which produce talkability. And on this fourfold the~e we may embroider a few variations, by way of exposition and enlargement. Goodness is the first thing and the most needful. An ugly, envious, irritable dispoSition is not fitted for talk. The occasions for offence are too numerous, and the way into strife is too short and easy. A touch of good-natured combativeness, a fondness for brisk argument, a readiness to try a friendly bout with any comer, on any ground, is a decided advantage in a talker. It breaks up the offensive monotony of polite concurrence, and makes things lively. But quarrelsomeness is quite another affair, and very fatal. I am always a little uneasy in a discourse with the Reverend Bellicosus Macduff. It is like play' 71 |