Part 1

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THE ART OF CONVERSATION

Twelve Golden Rules

JOSEPHINE TURCK BAKER

Author of Correct English: a Complete Grammar Ten Thousand Words: How To Pronounce Them and Editor of the Magazine Correct English: How To Use It

Published by Correct English Publishing Company Evanston, Illinois

Copyright, 1907 by Josephine Turck Baker

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

TWELVE GOLDEN RULES

GOLDEN RULE NUMBER I

Avoid unnecessary details.

He.--Do you know that what you say always interests me?

She.--That is because we are such good comrades.

He.--Not altogether. I think that it is because you never dwell upon details.

She.--Then, one is interesting in conversation according as one omits details?

He.--Unnecessary details.

She.--I remember that, when visiting some friends whom I had not seen for several years, my hostess said to me, "Ever since your arrival, I have been trying to discover why you are so interesting in conversation, and I have decided that it is because you omit unnecessary details." I felt that my hostess had paid me a high compliment.

He.--Yes; but one that you deserve. Now, even in telling this incident, you were direct. The bore would have "side-tracked," and would have told innumerable and irrelevant details. I don't believe you could bore a person if you were to try.

She.--I am quite sure that I could. Listen to this: "Several years ago,--four years ago just,--this last June; no, it was only three years ago, because I remember now that four years ago I did not attend the alumnae reunion of our college, and so it must have been three years ago,--I was the guest of one of the members of my class,--I was attending the annual reunion of the alumnae of our college,--almost every year I attend the alumnae reunion of our college,--and on this occasion, I was the guest of one of the members of my class. She had not been attending the reunions, and so I had not seen her for several years,--five years at least, and----"

He.--Pardon my interruption, but you are a success.

She.--As a bore?

He.--No; as an imitator. I think that you should have been an actress.

She.--Yes; I think that Nature intended me for one; and I could have "acted." Indeed, I usually find it difficult not to act; that is, I find it difficult to be myself.

He.--Like "Sensational Tommy" in "Tommy and Grizel"?

She.--Yes; in a way.

He.--And why were you not an actress? Was it because you did not know that you had talent?

She.--From an opposite reason. I had so many talents that, like the woman in "Mother Goose," I hardly knew what to do.

He.--That sounds modest. You probably would have been a great actress.