These commonplaces of warning, as old as civilization itself, belong to manners and to fundamental unselfishness, but obvious as they are they have to be said and to be repeated and enforced until they become matters of course.

Not to seem bored, not to interrupt, not to contradict, not to make personal remarks, not to talk of oneself (some one was naive enough to say "then what is there to talk of"), not to get heated and not to look cold, not to do all the talking and not to be silent, not to advance if the ground seems uncertain, and to be sensitively attentive to what jars--all these and other things are troublesome to obtain, but exceedingly necessary.

And even observing them all we may be just as far from conversation as before; how often among English people, through shyness or otherwise, it simply faints from inanition.

We can at least teach that a first essential is to have something to say, and that the best preparation of mind is thought and reading and observation, to be interested in many things, and to give enough personal application to a few things as to have something worth saying about them.
By testing in writing every step of an educational course a great deal of command over all acquired materials may be secured.

As our girls grow older, essay-writing becomes the most powerful means for fashioning their minds and bringing out their individual characteristics.
It is customary now to begin with oral composition,--quite rightly, for one difficulty at a time is enough.