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Again and again the generous connoisseurship of Boswell describes not only the witticism but the joyous gusto with which it was uttered. On no subject is the great talker's amazing ingeniousness of retort more conspicuous.
The talk was light word-play, such as depends upon the talker's own mood for its point or its pointlessness. Between two young people of equal years it might have had meanings to penetrate, to sigh over, to question. Colville found it delicious to be pursued by the ingenuous fervour of this young girl, eager to vindicate her sincerity in prohibiting him from his own ironical depreciation.
But remember that talking is one of the fine arts, the noblest, the most important, and the most difficult, and that its fluent harmonies may be spoiled by the intrusion of a single harsh note. Therefore conversation which is suggestive rather than argumentative, which lets out the most of each talker's results of thought, is commonly the pleasantest and the most profitable.
While we were consulting keeping up our scattering fire of small-arms under the old talker's heavy guns our parish minister called, old Doctor Wortleby, for whom we have a great liking and respect. Of course we had to introduce him to Uncle Popworth, for they met face to face; and of course Uncle Popworth fastened at once upon the brother clergyman.
"Or," said Beltane, "the fool shall charm thy souls to kindliness with his pipe " "Ho, Roger!" cried the second forester, "split me this tall talker's yellow sconce, now!" "Come," growled Roger, threatening of mien, "yield us the fool, 'tis an arrant knave hath angered his lord!" "What matter for that," said Beltane, "so he hath not angered his God?
From the coldly polite way in which I have taken the talker's remarks, he discovers the value I put upon them, and after that, if he has a neighbor on the other side, he leaves me alone. Enough has been said to show that the Arcadian's golden rule is to be careful about what he says. This does not mean that he is to say nothing.
But just as he went about picking up small items of gossip, so he also gathered in stray scraps of thought and information, and being by nature endowed with an excellent memory, he let nothing that he had once heard escape him. He had, besides, the talker's gift of neatly stringing together these tags he had pulled off other people, of connecting them, and giving them a varnish of originality.
Tense silence fell as Tom's eyes followed the sweep of the second hand. "All clear for blast-off!" came the talker's report. Tom pressed the firing button. A split second later the listeners' eardrums throbbed to a muffled roar from topside as the slender recovery missile shot skyward. The ship rocked convulsively from the shock of blast-off.
I want you to take a peep at it. You've travelled about some an' seen sights, but for a place jest to live in, I'll bet you'll admit this caps the stack. If a royal emperor was to kick at a home like this it would start a revolution amongst his subjects." Henley and the demure little woman followed at the talker's heels.
Practically speaking, the complaints of the decline of morality are merely uttered as a mode of showing the talker's own superiority. It is really most kind on the part of certain good people to reorganise the amusements of the people; but, as each reorganiser fancies himself to be the only man who has the right notion, it follows that matters are becoming more and more complicated.
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