ffered here
will contribute to the general elevation and improvement of daily
speech.

Considering the large number of persons who are obliged to talk in
social, business, and public life, the subject of correct speech should
receive more serious consideration than is usually given to it. It is
earnestly hoped that this volume will be of practical value to those who
are desirous of developing and improving their conversational powers.

Appreciative thanks are expressed to the Editors of the _Homiletic
Review_ for permission to reprint some of the extracts.

GRENVILLE KLEISER.

NEW YORK CITY,
MAY, 1916.

Boys flying kites haul in their white-wing'd birds:
You can't do that way when you're flying words.
"Careful with fire," is good advice we know;
"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.
Thoughts unexpress'd may sometimes fall back dead,
But God Himself can't kill them once they're said!

--_Will Carleton._

The first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in
this world; and talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or
more, is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing;
it is all profit; it completes our education; it founds and fosters
our friendships; and it is by talk alone that we learn our period
and ourselves.

--_Robert Louis Stevenson._

Vociferated logic kills me quite;
A noisy man is always in the right--
I twirl my thumbs, fall back into my chair,
Fix on the wainscot a distressful stare;
And when I hope his blunders all are out,
Reply discreetly, "To be sure--no doubt!"

--_Anon._

TALKS ON TALKING

THE ART OF TALKING

The charm of conversation chiefly depends upon the adaptability of the
participants. It is a great accomplishment to be able to enter gently
and agreeably into the moods of others, and to give way to them with
grace and readiness.

The spirit of conversation is oftentimes more important than the ideas
expressed. What we are rather than what we say has the most permanent
influence upon those around us. Hence it is that where a group of
persons are met together in conversation, it is the inner life of each
which silently though none the less surely imparts tone and character to
the occasion.

It requires vigorous self-discipline so to cultivate the feelings of
kindness