While on a hunting trip in the Texas Kiowa Reservation, Bud Kingsbury acts as guide to a group of his friends and others. As he cooks antelope steaks on the fire, a young man approaches the fire to light his cigarette.
In the process of lighting his cigarette, the young man says to Bud: “Nice night!” To which Bud responds: “As nice as any night could be that ain’t received the Broadway stamp of approval.” Hearing this response, Bud’s friends ask him how he knows that the young man is from New York and, in response, Bud tells them all a tale of when he visited New York.
A couple of years earlier, Bud had saved up enough money to make a trip from Texas to New York. At first, the Manhattan people overwhelmed and intimidated Bud. Yet he soon realized that the Manhattan people were plain people, just like his friends back in Texas. Feeling reassured, Bud began ambling through town.
The city lights and crowds distracted him for a good while, so much so that he forgot to engage in a good, friendly conversation. Bud admitted to his audience: “I never was no hand to deny myself the pleasures of sociable vocal intercourse with friends and strangers.”
Good Conversation
One day, while in a cafe, the manager says to Bud: “Nice day!” Starved for conversation, Bud immediately jumps up and puts his arm around the manager. “Sure it’s a nice day,” Bud said. “But don’t you think ... that ’twas a little cool early in the morning; and ain’t there a feeling of rain in the air to-night? But along about noon it sure was gallupsious weather.”
Shocked at Bud’s sudden, gregarious speech, the manager walked away without saying anything. Confused by this response, Bud sought out his fried Summers. He informed Bud that the manager of the cafe wasn’t trying to make conversation, but giving a friendly word to Bud. Summer admonished Bud: “That’s just the New York style. ... You oughtn’t to have followed it up.”
Through his story, Henry wished to communicate the importance of good, friendly conversation amongst people, in spite of their differences. Through healthy conversation, a community and friendship can form across differences of country, state, and tradition.
Besides emphasizing the importance of conversation, Henry highlights the excitement of conversation, just as Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote in “Gift from the Sea”: “Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.”
Good, healthy communication fosters ideas and words that bridge the gaps between people. By bridging the gaps, it can form exciting friendships and adventures that would otherwise remain unknown.
