CONVERSATION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3829, 4 November 1936, Page 6

CONVERSATION

: DISAPPOINTING TRENDS. I ! “Just as a country is said (somej what harshly) to deserve the governj tnent it gets, so an age gets the cons' versation of which it is worthy. The • happiest: conversation is a sharing i of the pleasure of knowing. But how ; many people do enjoy knowledge except in the sense in which the French- ; man said he always enjoyed bad | health ? 1 “We live in times when the capa- ' city for being bored far exceeds that for being interested. An incipient yawn is on everybody’s face. The progress of invention, the absurd I cheapness of mechanical entertainment, and opportunities flor rapid travel have all emphasised physics at the expense of philosophy; and while physics may contribute material for table talk, it is the spirit of the philosopher that gives point and significance to the bald facts and lends grace to their discussion. “The disappointment which one often feels in the conversation lof much-travelled people can often be explained in this way. Conversation itself forms a ninvaluable method of adding to one’s knowledge, and the wise man or woman uses the social occasion as a means of gathering as well as of imparting knowledge. “There are few people. whom we meet who cannot extend our knowledge for us in some direction on which their occupation or some other special personal interest has made them well-informed.” Mr Stanley Townsend, in “ The Art of Conversation.”