We do not feel any more determined to do something in the world, to be somebody, after we have heard them talk than we felt before.
We know other people who talk very little, but whose words are so full of meat and stimulating brain force that we feel ourselves multiplied many times by the power they have injected into us.
In olden times the art of conversation reached a much higher standard than that of to-day.

The deterioration is due to the complete revolution in the conditions of modern civilization.

Formerly people had almost no other way of communicating their thoughts than by speech.
Knowledge of all kinds was disseminated almost wholly through the spoken word.

There were no great daily newspapers, no magazines or periodicals of any kind.
The great discoveries of vast wealth in the precious minerals, the new world opened up by inventions and discoveries, and the great impetus to ambition have changed all this.

In this lightning-express age, in these strenuous times, when everybody has the mania to attain wealth and position, we no longer have time to reflect with deliberation, and to develop our powers of conversation.