Conversation.

CONVERSATION .

THERE has been a great deal in the neAvspapers lately on the subject of conversation , suogested by the advertisement of a Professor of that art . If we Avere professors of the art of Conversation , Ave should begin with the teeth .

If , according to the philosopher , a lie is too o-ood a thing to Avaste , so is the effect Avhich may be produced iu conversation by the judicious display of the teeth . Teeth is only , after all , another word for smile—in the nomenclature ef the art of

conversation . How often , then , in every rank ( except the lowest , and , in this matter , the wisest ) , by the clergyman , the laAvyer , the editor , the dry-goods merchant , the artist , the

Avoraau of society especially , do Ave see the beautiful device of the smile utterly Avasted and frittered aAvay . There is nothing Avhich can be more inane and ineffective :

there is nothing capable of greater utility and force . The trouble is , that most people-AVIIO appreciate the poAver of this device , smile perpetually , from the beginning to the end of a conversation . The

background of facial expression should he rather of a neutral , or perhap even sombre tone—against Avhich the hi g h light of a sudden smile may be g lowingly relieved .

At the beginning of the session with the person before Avhom your art is to be exercised , the smile , of course , is in order . The features should then take their natural position in repose ; or should , if the

circumstances seem to require it , assume a graver expression ; it might , indeed , be well to show the lines of the broAV some-Avhat draAvn together , Avith a suggestion of trouble , or at least of concentrated

attention . Above all things , remember that Avhen your vis-a vis begins Avhat promises to be a prolonged humourous narration , your face must instantly relapse into quiet . The smile may begin early in the storybut should be very light and inconspicuous

at first , gradually diffusing itself over the entire countenance and coining to a climax Avith the point of the story—either in an actual laugh , or , still better , in a radiant smile of appreciation , tip-toe on the verge of laughter , and a hundred times more effective for its reticence . No one who

Conversation.

has made use of this method will ever return to the old and inelegant systemtiring to yourself and unsatisfactory to your interlocutor . —of beginning the facial audience , if Ave may so call it , at the

highest pitch at the outset of his narration , and vainly endeavouring to keep up the strain upon the features to the end . The consequence of such a course is , that either the smile becomes hard and mechanical , or

that precisely lvhen most needed it altogether disappears , and you are forced to some clumsy substitute . You may say that the rule just given is too simple to be regarded . But behold the disastrous results that have followed

the ignoring of a method so simple—so entirely within the reach of all . History tells us of a man who rose to the highest political positions on the mere strength of

a smile . A discerning and witty people associated the exercise of this gift with his very name . He kneAv how to smile ; but he did not knoAv hoAv not to smile . The

constant use of this method of conversation

gave his features as decided a set as that Avhich Avas more artificially produced in the case of Victor Hugo ' s "homme qui rit . " His art Avas only half learned , and the old

adage Avas again proved true , that a little knoAvledge is a dangerous thing . We might cite another case in Avhich the art of a Avhole social life-time Avas

betrayed—Ave will not say nullified—in ripe old age . There Avas a man Avho smiled subtly and successfully through fifty seasons . He then contracted the not unusual

habit of falling asleep in company . There Avould not have been anything serious in this , had he taken the precaution carefully to re-adjust his features before letting himself drop into SAveet oblivion . But no ;

instead of this , he Avould permit the nicelyarranged expression Avith Avhich he had listened to the last pleasing commonplace still to linger meaningless and ghastlyupon his countenance , Avhile his head dropped

against the wall or upon his shoulder . We had nearly forgotten one important point . The most exquisitely proportioned smile will utterly fail of its effect , if the features too quickly resume their ordinary

tone . The hand , or rather face , of the master is shoivn in nothing more conspicuously than in the delicate shading off of expression . This is the croAvning art , by which the art is hidden .