444 Tact and Talent. [September, 



before, bearing her fresb foliage, ripening her seeds, and refusing to 

 die; hiding still her juices and working her pumps in the deep masses 

 of her barkless body, wbich the sun of two whole years has not been 

 able to season through, dead as it is and weather-cracked without — it 

 is a sight so grand as almost to compensate for the loss we suffer by the 

 baseness of the human scamp. 



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Talent is some thing, but tact every thing. Talent is serious, 

 sober, grave, and respectable. Tact is all that, and more too. It is 

 no seventh sense, but it is the life of all five. It is the open eye, the 

 quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, and the lively touch. It 

 is the interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of difficulties, the re- 

 mover of all obstacles. It is useful at all times, and in all places. It 

 is useful in solitude, for it shows a man his way into the world. It is 

 "useful in society, for it shows a man his way through the world. 

 Talent is power — tact is skill. Talent is weight — tact is momentum. 

 Talent knows what to do — tact how to do it. Talent makes a man 

 respectable — tact will make a man respected. Talent is wealth — tact 

 is ready money. For all the practical purposes of life, tact carries 

 itself against talent, ten to one. Take them to the theater, and talent 

 will produce you a tragedy that will live scarcely long enough to be 

 condemned, while tact keeps the house in a roar, night after night, 

 with its successful farces. Take them to the bar : talent speaks learn- 

 edly and logically, tact triumphantly. Talent makes the world won- 

 der that it gets on no faster — tact excites astonishment that it gets 

 on so fast; and the secret is that it has no weight to carry, it makes 

 no false step, it hits the right nail on the head, it loses no time, it 

 takes all hints, and by keeping its eye on the weathercock, is ready to 

 take advantage of every wind that blows. Take them into the church; 

 talent may obtain a living — tact will make one. Talent gets a good 

 name — tact a great one. Talent convinces — tact convicts. Talent is 

 an honor to the profession — tact makes it brilliant. Take them to 

 court : talent feels its weight — tact finds its way. Talent commands — 

 tact is obeyed. Talent is honored with approbation — tact is blessed 

 with preferment. Place them in the Senate : talent has the ear of the 

 house — tact wins its heart and its votes. Talent is fit for employment — 



