Tagconversation

Public actions and public men have always afforded abundant material for conversation. How prime ministers govern or misgovern, how men of business make fortunes or waste them, by what means one person has succeeded and for what reason another has failed—all the characters and all the doings of everyday life are discussed more or less wisely everywhere. Men claim the right to speak about persons and things, and to criticize and pass judgment according to their own wisdom or standard. At the corners of the streets, in clubrooms and in drawing rooms, precisely the same thing goes on. Over and above what concerns all, however, each class or gathering has matters to discuss that more or less worthily and more or less frequently interest themselves.