by a system of forbearance) applied to the besetting vices of social
intercourse than ever _was_ or _can_ be done by all varieties of
intellectual power assembled upon the same arena."

But there are certain things the mind must do in connection with the
disposition. Concentrating the thoughts is one of these things,--very
hard for young or old to acquire. Persons resort to very queer methods
to obtain it,--some scratch their heads, others rub their chins. I
have seen a public speaker try to wreak thoughts out of a watch-chain.
Another jerked at the rear pockets of his swallow-tailed coat to pick
out a thought there. You know the story Walter Scott tells about the
head boy? He always fumbled over a particular button when he recited;
so, one day, the button being furtively removed by Walter, the boy
became abstracted, and Scott passed above him. Madame De Stael, as
she talked, twisted a bit of paper, or rolled a leaf between her
fingers. (Some have attributed this to her vanity, as she had very
beautiful hands.) I believe friends came to note her necessity, and
supplied her with leaves. Well, do what you will that is harmless, if it
but serve to pin your attention right down to the matter before you.

The great conversers of literature are wrongly called so. Set topics
do not often lead to genuine conversation, and those who occupy the
time by delivering their ideas on given subjects are really lecturers.
Johnson as well as Coleridge talked right on while all the rest sat
and listened.

Conversation that is real implies give and take. We do not talk to
illuminate the minds of others only, but to get their ideas also. And,
don't you see, we never quite know what our own thoughts are till we
come to try to make them clear to others? "Intercourse is, after all,