ANOTHER ART OF COMMUNICATION

Last week we turned our thoughts to written communication; this week, to oral communication.

How often do we take or make time to converse with someone? To have an indepth conversation about a specific topic. Or a rambling talk about this and that. Something more than a “How’s it going? Good. Yeah, things are okay with me, too. See ya” kind of chat. People who lived a century ago would not have been satisfied with that kind of exchange, for conversation was not only a way to communicate; it was a source of entertainment in their world void of radio and television.

Abram Bullis, Nettie’s father, must have been an avid conversationalist. Once his wife Josephine sent Abram to town to buy kerosene. He started talking to people downtown and returned home empty handed. Josephine sent him back and he again returned without the kerosene. He had gotten involved a second time in talking to people and forgotten his task! Now that is true conversation; being so caught up in talking, listening, and thinking about what was said that you put all other thoughts completely out of your mind.

Where did Nettie’s father get this gift of gab? Perhaps it was an inherited trait. Or perhaps he was motivated by books he had read. We’ve found two books on the shelves here in the Bullis Room on that topic. First, there’s THE ART OF EXTEMPORE SPEAKING: hints for the pulpit, the senate and the bar by Louis Bautain. It was published in 1898 and Abram may have purchased and read it. The other book, author William Elder’s PERISCOPICS: or, Current subjects extemporaneously treated, was published in 1854 and has a sticker on the inside front cover that reads, “Library of Abram R. Bullis.” When he read this collection of articles, we surmise that he paid special attention to a section that describes Frederick Douglas’s great speaking skills and took note of Mr. Douglas’s methods.

We’re adding both of these books to our reading list. Perhaps they will motivate us to take time for a real conversation now and then. They are on shelves W-1 and G-3, respectively.