The Art of Introducing.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8, 24 August 1907, Page 14

The Art of Introducing.

Introductions are a great power in social life; they are the basis upon which all acquaintanceships are founded. There are. however, introductions and introductions. Those, that are direct and intentional, made with a purpose, formal and conventional; and introductions that are indirect and unintentional, and which hardly merit the name applied to them. The formal, intentional introduction is a simple ami straightforward one. The matter and manner of introducing varies, or should do so, according to environments —that is to say, and unintentional, and which hardly merit the name probably by sight, or even when the names convey so much that nothing further need be said, the mere mention of the two names suffices. All introductions cannot, as a matter of course, bo made under such favourable conditions, and when introducing complete strangers to each other it is needful that the introducer should go a little further than merely to mention the. names of those introduced. The introduction should be prefaced with a few words of personal biograph. When personal facts are not to be drawn upon, reference is made to events, or places are made to do duty in their stead. If these preliminaries are not observed, two strangers abruptly introduced find a difficulty in starting a conversation, much less in carrying it on.