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diff --git a/11231-0.txt b/11231-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb48809 --- /dev/null +++ b/11231-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1567 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11231 *** +Bartleby, The Scrivener + +A STORY OF WALL-STREET. + +by Herman Melville + + + + +I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last +thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what +would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as +yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:—I mean the +law-copyists or scriveners. I have known very many of them, +professionally and privately, and if I pleased, could relate divers +histories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental +souls might weep. But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners +for a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener of the +strangest I ever saw or heard of. While of other law-copyists I might +write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be done. +I believe that no materials exist for a full and satisfactory biography +of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature. Bartleby was one +of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable, except from the +original sources, and in his case those are very small. What my own +astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, _that_ is all I know of him, except, +indeed, one vague report which will appear in the sequel. + +Ere introducing the scrivener, as he first appeared to me, it is fit I +make some mention of myself, my employés, my business, my chambers, and +general surroundings; because some such description is indispensable to +an adequate understanding of the chief character about to be presented. + +Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with +a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best. Hence, +though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic and nervous, +even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort have I ever +suffered to invade my peace. I am one of those unambitious lawyers who +never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause; but +in the cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among +rich men’s bonds and mortgages and title-deeds. All who know me, +consider me an eminently _safe_ man. The late John Jacob Astor, a +personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in +pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method. I do +not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not +unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor; a name which, +I admit, I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to +it, and rings like unto bullion. I will freely add, that I was not +insensible to the late John Jacob Astor’s good opinion. + +Some time prior to the period at which this little history begins, my +avocations had been largely increased. The good old office, now extinct +in the State of New York, of a Master in Chancery, had been conferred +upon me. It was not a very arduous office, but very pleasantly +remunerative. I seldom lose my temper; much more seldom indulge in +dangerous indignation at wrongs and outrages; but I must be permitted +to be rash here and declare, that I consider the sudden and violent +abrogation of the office of Master in Chancery, by the new +Constitution, as a—premature act; inasmuch as I had counted upon a +life-lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short +years. But this is by the way. + +My chambers were up stairs at No.—Wall-street. At one end they looked +upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious sky-light shaft, +penetrating the building from top to bottom. This view might have been +considered rather tame than otherwise, deficient in what landscape +painters call “life.” But if so, the view from the other end of my +chambers offered, at least, a contrast, if nothing more. In that +direction my windows commanded an unobstructed view of a lofty brick +wall, black by age and everlasting shade; which wall required no +spy-glass to bring out its lurking beauties, but for the benefit of all +near-sighted spectators, was pushed up to within ten feet of my window +panes. Owing to the great height of the surrounding buildings, and my +chambers being on the second floor, the interval between this wall and +mine not a little resembled a huge square cistern. + +At the period just preceding the advent of Bartleby, I had two persons +as copyists in my employment, and a promising lad as an office-boy. +First, Turkey; second, Nippers; third, Ginger Nut. These may seem +names, the like of which are not usually found in the Directory. In +truth they were nicknames, mutually conferred upon each other by my +three clerks, and were deemed expressive of their respective persons or +characters. Turkey was a short, pursy Englishman of about my own age, +that is, somewhere not far from sixty. In the morning, one might say, +his face was of a fine florid hue, but after twelve o’clock, +meridian—his dinner hour—it blazed like a grate full of Christmas +coals; and continued blazing—but, as it were, with a gradual wane—till +6 o’clock, P.M. or thereabouts, after which I saw no more of the +proprietor of the face, which gaining its meridian with the sun, seemed +to set with it, to rise, culminate, and decline the following day, with +the like regularity and undiminished glory. There are many singular +coincidences I have known in the course of my life, not the least among +which was the fact, that exactly when Turkey displayed his fullest +beams from his red and radiant countenance, just then, too, at that +critical moment, began the daily period when I considered his business +capacities as seriously disturbed for the remainder of the twenty-four +hours. Not that he was absolutely idle, or averse to business then; far +from it. The difficulty was, he was apt to be altogether too energetic. +There was a strange, inflamed, flurried, flighty recklessness of +activity about him. He would be incautious in dipping his pen into his +inkstand. All his blots upon my documents, were dropped there after +twelve o’clock, meridian. Indeed, not only would he be reckless and +sadly given to making blots in the afternoon, but some days he went +further, and was rather noisy. At such times, too, his face flamed with +augmented blazonry, as if cannel coal had been heaped on anthracite. He +made an unpleasant racket with his chair; spilled his sand-box; in +mending his pens, impatiently split them all to pieces, and threw them +on the floor in a sudden passion; stood up and leaned over his table, +boxing his papers about in a most indecorous manner, very sad to behold +in an elderly man like him. Nevertheless, as he was in many ways a most +valuable person to me, and all the time before twelve o’clock, +meridian, was the quickest, steadiest creature too, accomplishing a +great deal of work in a style not easy to be matched—for these reasons, +I was willing to overlook his eccentricities, though indeed, +occasionally, I remonstrated with him. I did this very gently, however, +because, though the civilest, nay, the blandest and most reverential of +men in the morning, yet in the afternoon he was disposed, upon +provocation, to be slightly rash with his tongue, in fact, insolent. +Now, valuing his morning services as I did, and resolved not to lose +them; yet, at the same time made uncomfortable by his inflamed ways +after twelve o’clock; and being a man of peace, unwilling by my +admonitions to call forth unseemly retorts from him; I took upon me, +one Saturday noon (he was always worse on Saturdays), to hint to him, +very kindly, that perhaps now that he was growing old, it might be well +to abridge his labors; in short, he need not come to my chambers after +twelve o’clock, but, dinner over, had best go home to his lodgings and +rest himself till teatime. But no; he insisted upon his afternoon +devotions. His countenance became intolerably fervid, as he +oratorically assured me—gesticulating with a long ruler at the other +end of the room—that if his services in the morning were useful, how +indispensable, then, in the afternoon? + +“With submission, sir,” said Turkey on this occasion, “I consider +myself your right-hand man. In the morning I but marshal and deploy my +columns; but in the afternoon I put myself at their head, and gallantly +charge the foe, thus!”—and he made a violent thrust with the ruler. + +“But the blots, Turkey,” intimated I. + +“True,—but, with submission, sir, behold these hairs! I am getting old. +Surely, sir, a blot or two of a warm afternoon is not to be severely +urged against gray hairs. Old age—even if it blot the page—is +honorable. With submission, sir, we _both_ are getting old.” + +This appeal to my fellow-feeling was hardly to be resisted. At all +events, I saw that go he would not. So I made up my mind to let him +stay, resolving, nevertheless, to see to it, that during the afternoon +he had to do with my less important papers. + +Nippers, the second on my list, was a whiskered, sallow, and, upon the +whole, rather piratical-looking young man of about five and twenty. I +always deemed him the victim of two evil powers—ambition and +indigestion. The ambition was evinced by a certain impatience of the +duties of a mere copyist, an unwarrantable usurpation of strictly +professional affairs, such as the original drawing up of legal +documents. The indigestion seemed betokened in an occasional nervous +testiness and grinning irritability, causing the teeth to audibly grind +together over mistakes committed in copying; unnecessary maledictions, +hissed, rather than spoken, in the heat of business; and especially by +a continual discontent with the height of the table where he worked. +Though of a very ingenious mechanical turn, Nippers could never get +this table to suit him. He put chips under it, blocks of various sorts, +bits of pasteboard, and at last went so far as to attempt an exquisite +adjustment by final pieces of folded blotting paper. But no invention +would answer. If, for the sake of easing his back, he brought the table +lid at a sharp angle well up towards his chin, and wrote there like a +man using the steep roof of a Dutch house for his desk:—then he +declared that it stopped the circulation in his arms. If now he lowered +the table to his waistbands, and stooped over it in writing, then there +was a sore aching in his back. In short, the truth of the matter was, +Nippers knew not what he wanted. Or, if he wanted any thing, it was to +be rid of a scrivener’s table altogether. Among the manifestations of +his diseased ambition was a fondness he had for receiving visits from +certain ambiguous-looking fellows in seedy coats, whom he called his +clients. Indeed I was aware that not only was he, at times, +considerable of a ward-politician, but he occasionally did a little +business at the Justices’ courts, and was not unknown on the steps of +the Tombs. I have good reason to believe, however, that one individual +who called upon him at my chambers, and who, with a grand air, he +insisted was his client, was no other than a dun, and the alleged +title-deed, a bill. But with all his failings, and the annoyances he +caused me, Nippers, like his compatriot Turkey, was a very useful man +to me; wrote a neat, swift hand; and, when he chose, was not deficient +in a gentlemanly sort of deportment. Added to this, he always dressed +in a gentlemanly sort of way; and so, incidentally, reflected credit +upon my chambers. Whereas with respect to Turkey, I had much ado to +keep him from being a reproach to me. His clothes were apt to look oily +and smell of eating-houses. He wore his pantaloons very loose and baggy +in summer. His coats were execrable; his hat not to be handled. But +while the hat was a thing of indifference to me, inasmuch as his +natural civility and deference, as a dependent Englishman, always led +him to doff it the moment he entered the room, yet his coat was another +matter. Concerning his coats, I reasoned with him; but with no effect. +The truth was, I suppose, that a man of so small an income, could not +afford to sport such a lustrous face and a lustrous coat at one and the +same time. As Nippers once observed, Turkey’s money went chiefly for +red ink. One winter day I presented Turkey with a highly-respectable +looking coat of my own, a padded gray coat, of a most comfortable +warmth, and which buttoned straight up from the knee to the neck. I +thought Turkey would appreciate the favor, and abate his rashness and +obstreperousness of afternoons. But no. I verily believe that buttoning +himself up in so downy and blanket-like a coat had a pernicious effect +upon him; upon the same principle that too much oats are bad for +horses. In fact, precisely as a rash, restive horse is said to feel his +oats, so Turkey felt his coat. It made him insolent. He was a man whom +prosperity harmed. + +Though concerning the self-indulgent habits of Turkey I had my own +private surmises, yet touching Nippers I was well persuaded that +whatever might be his faults in other respects, he was, at least, a +temperate young man. But indeed, nature herself seemed to have been his +vintner, and at his birth charged him so thoroughly with an irritable, +brandy-like disposition, that all subsequent potations were needless. +When I consider how, amid the stillness of my chambers, Nippers would +sometimes impatiently rise from his seat, and stooping over his table, +spread his arms wide apart, seize the whole desk, and move it, and jerk +it, with a grim, grinding motion on the floor, as if the table were a +perverse voluntary agent, intent on thwarting and vexing him; I plainly +perceive that for Nippers, brandy and water were altogether +superfluous. + +It was fortunate for me that, owing to its peculiar +cause—indigestion—the irritability and consequent nervousness of +Nippers, were mainly observable in the morning, while in the afternoon +he was comparatively mild. So that Turkey’s paroxysms only coming on +about twelve o’clock, I never had to do with their eccentricities at +one time. Their fits relieved each other like guards. When Nippers’ was +on, Turkey’s was off; and _vice versa_. This was a good natural +arrangement under the circumstances. + +Ginger Nut, the third on my list, was a lad some twelve years old. His +father was a carman, ambitious of seeing his son on the bench instead +of a cart, before he died. So he sent him to my office as student at +law, errand boy, and cleaner and sweeper, at the rate of one dollar a +week. He had a little desk to himself, but he did not use it much. Upon +inspection, the drawer exhibited a great array of the shells of various +sorts of nuts. Indeed, to this quick-witted youth the whole noble +science of the law was contained in a nut-shell. Not the least among +the employments of Ginger Nut, as well as one which he discharged with +the most alacrity, was his duty as cake and apple purveyor for Turkey +and Nippers. Copying law papers being proverbially dry, husky sort of +business, my two scriveners were fain to moisten their mouths very +often with Spitzenbergs to be had at the numerous stalls nigh the +Custom House and Post Office. Also, they sent Ginger Nut very +frequently for that peculiar cake—small, flat, round, and very +spicy—after which he had been named by them. Of a cold morning when +business was but dull, Turkey would gobble up scores of these cakes, as +if they were mere wafers—indeed they sell them at the rate of six or +eight for a penny—the scrape of his pen blending with the crunching of +the crisp particles in his mouth. Of all the fiery afternoon blunders +and flurried rashnesses of Turkey, was his once moistening a +ginger-cake between his lips, and clapping it on to a mortgage for a +seal. I came within an ace of dismissing him then. But he mollified me +by making an oriental bow, and saying—“With submission, sir, it was +generous of me to find you in stationery on my own account.” + +Now my original business—that of a conveyancer and title hunter, and +drawer-up of recondite documents of all sorts—was considerably +increased by receiving the master’s office. There was now great work +for scriveners. Not only must I push the clerks already with me, but I +must have additional help. In answer to my advertisement, a motionless +young man one morning, stood upon my office threshold, the door being +open, for it was summer. I can see that figure now—pallidly neat, +pitiably respectable, incurably forlorn! It was Bartleby. + +After a few words touching his qualifications, I engaged him, glad to +have among my corps of copyists a man of so singularly sedate an +aspect, which I thought might operate beneficially upon the flighty +temper of Turkey, and the fiery one of Nippers. + +I should have stated before that ground glass folding-doors divided my +premises into two parts, one of which was occupied by my scriveners, +the other by myself. According to my humor I threw open these doors, or +closed them. I resolved to assign Bartleby a corner by the +folding-doors, but on my side of them, so as to have this quiet man +within easy call, in case any trifling thing was to be done. I placed +his desk close up to a small side-window in that part of the room, a +window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy +back-yards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections, +commanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light. Within +three feet of the panes was a wall, and the light came down from far +above, between two lofty buildings, as from a very small opening in a +dome. Still further to a satisfactory arrangement, I procured a high +green folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my +sight, though not remove him from my voice. And thus, in a manner, +privacy and society were conjoined. + +At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long +famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my +documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night +line, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been +quite delighted with his application, had he been cheerfully +industrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically. + +It is, of course, an indispensable part of a scrivener’s business to +verify the accuracy of his copy, word by word. Where there are two or +more scriveners in an office, they assist each other in this +examination, one reading from the copy, the other holding the original. +It is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair. I can readily +imagine that to some sanguine temperaments it would be altogether +intolerable. For example, I cannot credit that the mettlesome poet +Byron would have contentedly sat down with Bartleby to examine a law +document of, say five hundred pages, closely written in a crimpy hand. + +Now and then, in the haste of business, it had been my habit to assist +in comparing some brief document myself, calling Turkey or Nippers for +this purpose. One object I had in placing Bartleby so handy to me +behind the screen, was to avail myself of his services on such trivial +occasions. It was on the third day, I think, of his being with me, and +before any necessity had arisen for having his own writing examined, +that, being much hurried to complete a small affair I had in hand, I +abruptly called to Bartleby. In my haste and natural expectancy of +instant compliance, I sat with my head bent over the original on my +desk, and my right hand sideways, and somewhat nervously extended with +the copy, so that immediately upon emerging from his retreat, Bartleby +might snatch it and proceed to business without the least delay. + +In this very attitude did I sit when I called to him, rapidly stating +what it was I wanted him to do—namely, to examine a small paper with +me. Imagine my surprise, nay, my consternation, when without moving +from his privacy, Bartleby in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, +“I would prefer not to.” + +I sat awhile in perfect silence, rallying my stunned faculties. +Immediately it occurred to me that my ears had deceived me, or Bartleby +had entirely misunderstood my meaning. I repeated my request in the +clearest tone I could assume. But in quite as clear a one came the +previous reply, “I would prefer not to.” + +“Prefer not to,” echoed I, rising in high excitement, and crossing the +room with a stride. “What do you mean? Are you moon-struck? I want you +to help me compare this sheet here—take it,” and I thrust it towards +him. + +“I would prefer not to,” said he. + +I looked at him steadfastly. His face was leanly composed; his gray eye +dimly calm. Not a wrinkle of agitation rippled him. Had there been the +least uneasiness, anger, impatience or impertinence in his manner; in +other words, had there been any thing ordinarily human about him, +doubtless I should have violently dismissed him from the premises. But +as it was, I should have as soon thought of turning my pale +plaster-of-paris bust of Cicero out of doors. I stood gazing at him +awhile, as he went on with his own writing, and then reseated myself at +my desk. This is very strange, thought I. What had one best do? But my +business hurried me. I concluded to forget the matter for the present, +reserving it for my future leisure. So calling Nippers from the other +room, the paper was speedily examined. + +A few days after this, Bartleby concluded four lengthy documents, being +quadruplicates of a week’s testimony taken before me in my High Court +of Chancery. It became necessary to examine them. It was an important +suit, and great accuracy was imperative. Having all things arranged I +called Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nut from the next room, meaning to +place the four copies in the hands of my four clerks, while I should +read from the original. Accordingly Turkey, Nippers and Ginger Nut had +taken their seats in a row, each with his document in hand, when I +called to Bartleby to join this interesting group. + +“Bartleby! quick, I am waiting.” + +I heard a slow scrape of his chair legs on the uncarpeted floor, and +soon he appeared standing at the entrance of his hermitage. + +“What is wanted?” said he mildly. + +“The copies, the copies,” said I hurriedly. “We are going to examine +them. There”—and I held towards him the fourth quadruplicate. + +“I would prefer not to,” he said, and gently disappeared behind the +screen. + +For a few moments I was turned into a pillar of salt, standing at the +head of my seated column of clerks. Recovering myself, I advanced +towards the screen, and demanded the reason for such extraordinary +conduct. + +“_Why_ do you refuse?” + +“I would prefer not to.” + +With any other man I should have flown outright into a dreadful +passion, scorned all further words, and thrust him ignominiously from +my presence. But there was something about Bartleby that not only +strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful manner touched and +disconcerted me. I began to reason with him. + +“These are your own copies we are about to examine. It is labor saving +to you, because one examination will answer for your four papers. It is +common usage. Every copyist is bound to help examine his copy. Is it +not so? Will you not speak? Answer!” + +“I prefer not to,” he replied in a flute-like tone. It seemed to me +that while I had been addressing him, he carefully revolved every +statement that I made; fully comprehended the meaning; could not +gainsay the irresistible conclusions; but, at the same time, some +paramount consideration prevailed with him to reply as he did. + +“You are decided, then, not to comply with my request—a request made +according to common usage and common sense?” + +He briefly gave me to understand that on that point my judgment was +sound. Yes: his decision was irreversible. + +It is not seldom the case that when a man is browbeaten in some +unprecedented and violently unreasonable way, he begins to stagger in +his own plainest faith. He begins, as it were, vaguely to surmise that, +wonderful as it may be, all the justice and all the reason is on the +other side. Accordingly, if any disinterested persons are present, he +turns to them for some reinforcement for his own faltering mind. + +“Turkey,” said I, “what do you think of this? Am I not right?” + +“With submission, sir,” said Turkey, with his blandest tone, “I think +that you are.” + +“Nippers,” said I, “what do _you_ think of it?” + +“I think I should kick him out of the office.” + +(The reader of nice perceptions will here perceive that, it being +morning, Turkey’s answer is couched in polite and tranquil terms, but +Nippers replies in ill-tempered ones. Or, to repeat a previous +sentence, Nippers’ ugly mood was on duty and Turkey’s off.) + +“Ginger Nut,” said I, willing to enlist the smallest suffrage in my +behalf, “what do you think of it?” + +“I think, sir, he’s a little _luny_,” replied Ginger Nut with a grin. + +“You hear what they say,” said I, turning towards the screen, “come +forth and do your duty.” + +But he vouchsafed no reply. I pondered a moment in sore perplexity. But +once more business hurried me. I determined again to postpone the +consideration of this dilemma to my future leisure. With a little +trouble we made out to examine the papers without Bartleby, though at +every page or two, Turkey deferentially dropped his opinion that this +proceeding was quite out of the common; while Nippers, twitching in his +chair with a dyspeptic nervousness, ground out between his set teeth +occasional hissing maledictions against the stubborn oaf behind the +screen. And for his (Nippers’) part, this was the first and the last +time he would do another man’s business without pay. + +Meanwhile Bartleby sat in his hermitage, oblivious to every thing but +his own peculiar business there. + +Some days passed, the scrivener being employed upon another lengthy +work. His late remarkable conduct led me to regard his ways narrowly. I +observed that he never went to dinner; indeed that he never went any +where. As yet I had never of my personal knowledge known him to be +outside of my office. He was a perpetual sentry in the corner. At about +eleven o’clock though, in the morning, I noticed that Ginger Nut would +advance toward the opening in Bartleby’s screen, as if silently +beckoned thither by a gesture invisible to me where I sat. The boy +would then leave the office jingling a few pence, and reappear with a +handful of ginger-nuts which he delivered in the hermitage, receiving +two of the cakes for his trouble. + +He lives, then, on ginger-nuts, thought I; never eats a dinner, +properly speaking; he must be a vegetarian then; but no; he never eats +even vegetables, he eats nothing but ginger-nuts. My mind then ran on +in reveries concerning the probable effects upon the human constitution +of living entirely on ginger-nuts. Ginger-nuts are so called because +they contain ginger as one of their peculiar constituents, and the +final flavoring one. Now what was ginger? A hot, spicy thing. Was +Bartleby hot and spicy? Not at all. Ginger, then, had no effect upon +Bartleby. Probably he preferred it should have none. + +Nothing so aggravates an earnest person as a passive resistance. If the +individual so resisted be of a not inhumane temper, and the resisting +one perfectly harmless in his passivity; then, in the better moods of +the former, he will endeavor charitably to construe to his imagination +what proves impossible to be solved by his judgment. Even so, for the +most part, I regarded Bartleby and his ways. Poor fellow! thought I, he +means no mischief; it is plain he intends no insolence; his aspect +sufficiently evinces that his eccentricities are involuntary. He is +useful to me. I can get along with him. If I turn him away, the chances +are he will fall in with some less indulgent employer, and then he will +be rudely treated, and perhaps driven forth miserably to starve. Yes. +Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend +Bartleby; to humor him in his strange willfulness, will cost me little +or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a +sweet morsel for my conscience. But this mood was not invariable with +me. The passiveness of Bartleby sometimes irritated me. I felt +strangely goaded on to encounter him in new opposition, to elicit some +angry spark from him answerable to my own. But indeed I might as well +have essayed to strike fire with my knuckles against a bit of Windsor +soap. But one afternoon the evil impulse in me mastered me, and the +following little scene ensued: + +“Bartleby,” said I, “when those papers are all copied, I will compare +them with you.” + +“I would prefer not to.” + +“How? Surely you do not mean to persist in that mulish vagary?” + +No answer. + +I threw open the folding-doors near by, and turning upon Turkey and +Nippers, exclaimed in an excited manner— + +“He says, a second time, he won’t examine his papers. What do you think +of it, Turkey?” + +It was afternoon, be it remembered. Turkey sat glowing like a brass +boiler, his bald head steaming, his hands reeling among his blotted +papers. + +“Think of it?” roared Turkey; “I think I’ll just step behind his +screen, and black his eyes for him!” + +So saying, Turkey rose to his feet and threw his arms into a pugilistic +position. He was hurrying away to make good his promise, when I +detained him, alarmed at the effect of incautiously rousing Turkey’s +combativeness after dinner. + +“Sit down, Turkey,” said I, “and hear what Nippers has to say. What do +you think of it, Nippers? Would I not be justified in immediately +dismissing Bartleby?” + +“Excuse me, that is for you to decide, sir. I think his conduct quite +unusual, and indeed unjust, as regards Turkey and myself. But it may +only be a passing whim.” + +“Ah,” exclaimed I, “you have strangely changed your mind then—you speak +very gently of him now.” + +“All beer,” cried Turkey; “gentleness is effects of beer—Nippers and I +dined together to-day. You see how gentle _I_ am, sir. Shall I go and +black his eyes?” + +“You refer to Bartleby, I suppose. No, not to-day, Turkey,” I replied; +“pray, put up your fists.” + +I closed the doors, and again advanced towards Bartleby. I felt +additional incentives tempting me to my fate. I burned to be rebelled +against again. I remembered that Bartleby never left the office. + +“Bartleby,” said I, “Ginger Nut is away; just step round to the Post +Office, won’t you? (it was but a three minute walk,) and see if there +is any thing for me.” + +“I would prefer not to.” + +“You _will_ not?” + +“I _prefer_ not.” + +I staggered to my desk, and sat there in a deep study. My blind +inveteracy returned. Was there any other thing in which I could procure +myself to be ignominiously repulsed by this lean, penniless wight?—my +hired clerk? What added thing is there, perfectly reasonable, that he +will be sure to refuse to do? + +“Bartleby!” + +No answer. + +“Bartleby,” in a louder tone. + +No answer. + +“Bartleby,” I roared. + +Like a very ghost, agreeably to the laws of magical invocation, at the +third summons, he appeared at the entrance of his hermitage. + +“Go to the next room, and tell Nippers to come to me.” + +“I prefer not to,” he respectfully and slowly said, and mildly +disappeared. + +“Very good, Bartleby,” said I, in a quiet sort of serenely severe +self-possessed tone, intimating the unalterable purpose of some +terrible retribution very close at hand. At the moment I half intended +something of the kind. But upon the whole, as it was drawing towards my +dinner-hour, I thought it best to put on my hat and walk home for the +day, suffering much from perplexity and distress of mind. + +Shall I acknowledge it? The conclusion of this whole business was, that +it soon became a fixed fact of my chambers, that a pale young +scrivener, by the name of Bartleby, and a desk there; that he copied +for me at the usual rate of four cents a folio (one hundred words); but +he was permanently exempt from examining the work done by him, that +duty being transferred to Turkey and Nippers, one of compliment +doubtless to their superior acuteness; moreover, said Bartleby was +never on any account to be dispatched on the most trivial errand of any +sort; and that even if entreated to take upon him such a matter, it was +generally understood that he would prefer not to—in other words, that +he would refuse pointblank. + +As days passed on, I became considerably reconciled to Bartleby. His +steadiness, his freedom from all dissipation, his incessant industry +(except when he chose to throw himself into a standing revery behind +his screen), his great stillness, his unalterableness of demeanor under +all circumstances, made him a valuable acquisition. One prime thing was +this,—_he was always there;_—first in the morning, continually through +the day, and the last at night. I had a singular confidence in his +honesty. I felt my most precious papers perfectly safe in his hands. +Sometimes to be sure I could not, for the very soul of me, avoid +falling into sudden spasmodic passions with him. For it was exceeding +difficult to bear in mind all the time those strange peculiarities, +privileges, and unheard of exemptions, forming the tacit stipulations +on Bartleby’s part under which he remained in my office. Now and then, +in the eagerness of dispatching pressing business, I would +inadvertently summon Bartleby, in a short, rapid tone, to put his +finger, say, on the incipient tie of a bit of red tape with which I was +about compressing some papers. Of course, from behind the screen the +usual answer, “I prefer not to,” was sure to come; and then, how could +a human creature with the common infirmities of our nature, refrain +from bitterly exclaiming upon such perverseness—such unreasonableness. +However, every added repulse of this sort which I received only tended +to lessen the probability of my repeating the inadvertence. + +Here it must be said, that according to the custom of most legal +gentlemen occupying chambers in densely-populated law buildings, there +were several keys to my door. One was kept by a woman residing in the +attic, which person weekly scrubbed and daily swept and dusted my +apartments. Another was kept by Turkey for convenience sake. The third +I sometimes carried in my own pocket. The fourth I knew not who had. + +Now, one Sunday morning I happened to go to Trinity Church, to hear a +celebrated preacher, and finding myself rather early on the ground, I +thought I would walk around to my chambers for a while. Luckily I had +my key with me; but upon applying it to the lock, I found it resisted +by something inserted from the inside. Quite surprised, I called out; +when to my consternation a key was turned from within; and thrusting +his lean visage at me, and holding the door ajar, the apparition of +Bartleby appeared, in his shirt sleeves, and otherwise in a strangely +tattered dishabille, saying quietly that he was sorry, but he was +deeply engaged just then, and—preferred not admitting me at present. In +a brief word or two, he moreover added, that perhaps I had better walk +round the block two or three times, and by that time he would probably +have concluded his affairs. + +Now, the utterly unsurmised appearance of Bartleby, tenanting my +law-chambers of a Sunday morning, with his cadaverously gentlemanly +_nonchalance_, yet withal firm and self-possessed, had such a strange +effect upon me, that incontinently I slunk away from my own door, and +did as desired. But not without sundry twinges of impotent rebellion +against the mild effrontery of this unaccountable scrivener. Indeed, it +was his wonderful mildness chiefly, which not only disarmed me, but +unmanned me, as it were. For I consider that one, for the time, is a +sort of unmanned when he tranquilly permits his hired clerk to dictate +to him, and order him away from his own premises. Furthermore, I was +full of uneasiness as to what Bartleby could possibly be doing in my +office in his shirt sleeves, and in an otherwise dismantled condition +of a Sunday morning. Was any thing amiss going on? Nay, that was out of +the question. It was not to be thought of for a moment that Bartleby +was an immoral person. But what could he be doing there?—copying? Nay +again, whatever might be his eccentricities, Bartleby was an eminently +decorous person. He would be the last man to sit down to his desk in +any state approaching to nudity. Besides, it was Sunday; and there was +something about Bartleby that forbade the supposition that he would by +any secular occupation violate the proprieties of the day. + +Nevertheless, my mind was not pacified; and full of a restless +curiosity, at last I returned to the door. Without hindrance I inserted +my key, opened it, and entered. Bartleby was not to be seen. I looked +round anxiously, peeped behind his screen; but it was very plain that +he was gone. Upon more closely examining the place, I surmised that for +an indefinite period Bartleby must have ate, dressed, and slept in my +office, and that too without plate, mirror, or bed. The cushioned seat +of a rickety old sofa in one corner bore the faint impress of a lean, +reclining form. Rolled away under his desk, I found a blanket; under +the empty grate, a blacking box and brush; on a chair, a tin basin, +with soap and a ragged towel; in a newspaper a few crumbs of +ginger-nuts and a morsel of cheese. Yes, thought I, it is evident +enough that Bartleby has been making his home here, keeping bachelor’s +hall all by himself. Immediately then the thought came sweeping across +me, What miserable friendlessness and loneliness are here revealed! His +poverty is great; but his solitude, how horrible! Think of it. Of a +Sunday, Wall-street is deserted as Petra; and every night of every day +it is an emptiness. This building too, which of week-days hums with +industry and life, at nightfall echoes with sheer vacancy, and all +through Sunday is forlorn. And here Bartleby makes his home; sole +spectator of a solitude which he has seen all populous—a sort of +innocent and transformed Marius brooding among the ruins of Carthage! + +For the first time in my life a feeling of overpowering stinging +melancholy seized me. Before, I had never experienced aught but a +not-unpleasing sadness. The bond of a common humanity now drew me +irresistibly to gloom. A fraternal melancholy! For both I and Bartleby +were sons of Adam. I remembered the bright silks and sparkling faces I +had seen that day, in gala trim, swan-like sailing down the Mississippi +of Broadway; and I contrasted them with the pallid copyist, and thought +to myself, Ah, happiness courts the light, so we deem the world is gay; +but misery hides aloof, so we deem that misery there is none. These sad +fancyings—chimeras, doubtless, of a sick and silly brain—led on to +other and more special thoughts, concerning the eccentricities of +Bartleby. Presentiments of strange discoveries hovered round me. The +scrivener’s pale form appeared to me laid out, among uncaring +strangers, in its shivering winding sheet. + +Suddenly I was attracted by Bartleby’s closed desk, the key in open +sight left in the lock. + +I mean no mischief, seek the gratification of no heartless curiosity, +thought I; besides, the desk is mine, and its contents too, so I will +make bold to look within. Every thing was methodically arranged, the +papers smoothly placed. The pigeon holes were deep, and removing the +files of documents, I groped into their recesses. Presently I felt +something there, and dragged it out. It was an old bandanna +handkerchief, heavy and knotted. I opened it, and saw it was a savings’ +bank. + +I now recalled all the quiet mysteries which I had noted in the man. I +remembered that he never spoke but to answer; that though at intervals +he had considerable time to himself, yet I had never seen him +reading—no, not even a newspaper; that for long periods he would stand +looking out, at his pale window behind the screen, upon the dead brick +wall; I was quite sure he never visited any refectory or eating house; +while his pale face clearly indicated that he never drank beer like +Turkey, or tea and coffee even, like other men; that he never went any +where in particular that I could learn; never went out for a walk, +unless indeed that was the case at present; that he had declined +telling who he was, or whence he came, or whether he had any relatives +in the world; that though so thin and pale, he never complained of ill +health. And more than all, I remembered a certain unconscious air of +pallid—how shall I call it?—of pallid haughtiness, say, or rather an +austere reserve about him, which had positively awed me into my tame +compliance with his eccentricities, when I had feared to ask him to do +the slightest incidental thing for me, even though I might know, from +his long-continued motionlessness, that behind his screen he must be +standing in one of those dead-wall reveries of his. + +Revolving all these things, and coupling them with the recently +discovered fact that he made my office his constant abiding place and +home, and not forgetful of his morbid moodiness; revolving all these +things, a prudential feeling began to steal over me. My first emotions +had been those of pure melancholy and sincerest pity; but just in +proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to my +imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into +repulsion. So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain +point the thought or sight of misery enlists our best affections; but, +in certain special cases, beyond that point it does not. They err who +would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent selfishness +of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of +remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not +seldom pain. And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot +lead to effectual succor, common sense bids the soul rid of it. What I +saw that morning persuaded me that the scrivener was the victim of +innate and incurable disorder. I might give alms to his body; but his +body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I +could not reach. + +I did not accomplish the purpose of going to Trinity Church that +morning. Somehow, the things I had seen disqualified me for the time +from church-going. I walked homeward, thinking what I would do with +Bartleby. Finally, I resolved upon this;—I would put certain calm +questions to him the next morning, touching his history, etc., and if +he declined to answer them openly and unreservedly (and I supposed he +would prefer not), then to give him a twenty dollar bill over and above +whatever I might owe him, and tell him his services were no longer +required; but that if in any other way I could assist him, I would be +happy to do so, especially if he desired to return to his native place, +wherever that might be, I would willingly help to defray the expenses. +Moreover, if, after reaching home, he found himself at any time in want +of aid, a letter from him would be sure of a reply. + +The next morning came. + +“Bartleby,” said I, gently calling to him behind his screen. + +No reply. + +“Bartleby,” said I, in a still gentler tone, “come here; I am not going +to ask you to do any thing you would prefer not to do—I simply wish to +speak to you.” + +Upon this he noiselessly slid into view. + +“Will you tell me, Bartleby, where you were born?” + +“I would prefer not to.” + +“Will you tell me _any thing_ about yourself?” + +“I would prefer not to.” + +“But what reasonable objection can you have to speak to me? I feel +friendly towards you.” + +He did not look at me while I spoke, but kept his glance fixed upon my +bust of Cicero, which as I then sat, was directly behind me, some six +inches above my head. + +“What is your answer, Bartleby?” said I, after waiting a considerable +time for a reply, during which his countenance remained immovable, only +there was the faintest conceivable tremor of the white attenuated +mouth. + +“At present I prefer to give no answer,” he said, and retired into his +hermitage. + +It was rather weak in me I confess, but his manner on this occasion +nettled me. Not only did there seem to lurk in it a certain calm +disdain, but his perverseness seemed ungrateful, considering the +undeniable good usage and indulgence he had received from me. + +Again I sat ruminating what I should do. Mortified as I was at his +behavior, and resolved as I had been to dismiss him when I entered my +offices, nevertheless I strangely felt something superstitious knocking +at my heart, and forbidding me to carry out my purpose, and denouncing +me for a villain if I dared to breathe one bitter word against this +forlornest of mankind. At last, familiarly drawing my chair behind his +screen, I sat down and said: “Bartleby, never mind then about revealing +your history; but let me entreat you, as a friend, to comply as far as +may be with the usages of this office. Say now you will help to examine +papers to-morrow or next day: in short, say now that in a day or two +you will begin to be a little reasonable:—say so, Bartleby.” + +“At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable,” was his +mildly cadaverous reply. + +Just then the folding-doors opened, and Nippers approached. He seemed +suffering from an unusually bad night’s rest, induced by severer +indigestion than common. He overheard those final words of Bartleby. + +“_Prefer not_, eh?” gritted Nippers—“I’d _prefer_ him, if I were you, +sir,” addressing me—“I’d _prefer_ him; I’d give him preferences, the +stubborn mule! What is it, sir, pray, that he _prefers_ not to do now?” + +Bartleby moved not a limb. + +“Mr. Nippers,” said I, “I’d prefer that you would withdraw for the +present.” + +Somehow, of late I had got into the way of involuntarily using this +word “prefer” upon all sorts of not exactly suitable occasions. And I +trembled to think that my contact with the scrivener had already and +seriously affected me in a mental way. And what further and deeper +aberration might it not yet produce? This apprehension had not been +without efficacy in determining me to summary means. + +As Nippers, looking very sour and sulky, was departing, Turkey blandly +and deferentially approached. + +“With submission, sir,” said he, “yesterday I was thinking about +Bartleby here, and I think that if he would but prefer to take a quart +of good ale every day, it would do much towards mending him, and +enabling him to assist in examining his papers.” + +“So you have got the word too,” said I, slightly excited. + +“With submission, what word, sir,” asked Turkey, respectfully crowding +himself into the contracted space behind the screen, and by so doing, +making me jostle the scrivener. “What word, sir?” + +“I would prefer to be left alone here,” said Bartleby, as if offended +at being mobbed in his privacy. + +“_That’s_ the word, Turkey,” said I—“that’s it.” + +“Oh, _prefer_? oh yes—queer word. I never use it myself. But, sir, as I +was saying, if he would but prefer—” + +“Turkey,” interrupted I, “you will please withdraw.” + +“Oh certainly, sir, if you prefer that I should.” + +As he opened the folding-door to retire, Nippers at his desk caught a +glimpse of me, and asked whether I would prefer to have a certain paper +copied on blue paper or white. He did not in the least roguishly accent +the word prefer. It was plain that it involuntarily rolled from his +tongue. I thought to myself, surely I must get rid of a demented man, +who already has in some degree turned the tongues, if not the heads of +myself and clerks. But I thought it prudent not to break the dismission +at once. + +The next day I noticed that Bartleby did nothing but stand at his +window in his dead-wall revery. Upon asking him why he did not write, +he said that he had decided upon doing no more writing. + +“Why, how now? what next?” exclaimed I, “do no more writing?” + +“No more.” + +“And what is the reason?” + +“Do you not see the reason for yourself,” he indifferently replied. + +I looked steadfastly at him, and perceived that his eyes looked dull +and glazed. Instantly it occurred to me, that his unexampled diligence +in copying by his dim window for the first few weeks of his stay with +me might have temporarily impaired his vision. + +I was touched. I said something in condolence with him. I hinted that +of course he did wisely in abstaining from writing for a while; and +urged him to embrace that opportunity of taking wholesome exercise in +the open air. This, however, he did not do. A few days after this, my +other clerks being absent, and being in a great hurry to dispatch +certain letters by the mail, I thought that, having nothing else +earthly to do, Bartleby would surely be less inflexible than usual, and +carry these letters to the post-office. But he blankly declined. So, +much to my inconvenience, I went myself. + +Still added days went by. Whether Bartleby’s eyes improved or not, I +could not say. To all appearance, I thought they did. But when I asked +him if they did, he vouchsafed no answer. At all events, he would do no +copying. At last, in reply to my urgings, he informed me that he had +permanently given up copying. + +“What!” exclaimed I; “suppose your eyes should get entirely well—better +than ever before—would you not copy then?” + +“I have given up copying,” he answered, and slid aside. + +He remained as ever, a fixture in my chamber. Nay—if that were +possible—he became still more of a fixture than before. What was to be +done? He would do nothing in the office: why should he stay there? In +plain fact, he had now become a millstone to me, not only useless as a +necklace, but afflictive to bear. Yet I was sorry for him. I speak less +than truth when I say that, on his own account, he occasioned me +uneasiness. If he would but have named a single relative or friend, I +would instantly have written, and urged their taking the poor fellow +away to some convenient retreat. But he seemed alone, absolutely alone +in the universe. A bit of wreck in the mid Atlantic. At length, +necessities connected with my business tyrannized over all other +considerations. Decently as I could, I told Bartleby that in six days’ +time he must unconditionally leave the office. I warned him to take +measures, in the interval, for procuring some other abode. I offered to +assist him in this endeavor, if he himself would but take the first +step towards a removal. “And when you finally quit me, Bartleby,” added +I, “I shall see that you go not away entirely unprovided. Six days from +this hour, remember.” + +At the expiration of that period, I peeped behind the screen, and lo! +Bartleby was there. + +I buttoned up my coat, balanced myself; advanced slowly towards him, +touched his shoulder, and said, “The time has come; you must quit this +place; I am sorry for you; here is money; but you must go.” + +“I would prefer not,” he replied, with his back still towards me. + +“You _must_.” + +He remained silent. + +Now I had an unbounded confidence in this man’s common honesty. He had +frequently restored to me sixpences and shillings carelessly dropped +upon the floor, for I am apt to be very reckless in such shirt-button +affairs. The proceeding then which followed will not be deemed +extraordinary. + +“Bartleby,” said I, “I owe you twelve dollars on account; here are +thirty-two; the odd twenty are yours.—Will you take it?” and I handed +the bills towards him. + +But he made no motion. + +“I will leave them here then,” putting them under a weight on the +table. Then taking my hat and cane and going to the door I tranquilly +turned and added—“After you have removed your things from these +offices, Bartleby, you will of course lock the door—since every one is +now gone for the day but you—and if you please, slip your key +underneath the mat, so that I may have it in the morning. I shall not +see you again; so good-bye to you. If hereafter in your new place of +abode I can be of any service to you, do not fail to advise me by +letter. Good-bye, Bartleby, and fare you well.” + +But he answered not a word; like the last column of some ruined temple, +he remained standing mute and solitary in the middle of the otherwise +deserted room. + +As I walked home in a pensive mood, my vanity got the better of my +pity. I could not but highly plume myself on my masterly management in +getting rid of Bartleby. Masterly I call it, and such it must appear to +any dispassionate thinker. The beauty of my procedure seemed to consist +in its perfect quietness. There was no vulgar bullying, no bravado of +any sort, no choleric hectoring, and striding to and fro across the +apartment, jerking out vehement commands for Bartleby to bundle himself +off with his beggarly traps. Nothing of the kind. Without loudly +bidding Bartleby depart—as an inferior genius might have done—I +_assumed_ the ground that depart he must; and upon that assumption +built all I had to say. The more I thought over my procedure, the more +I was charmed with it. Nevertheless, next morning, upon awakening, I +had my doubts,—I had somehow slept off the fumes of vanity. One of the +coolest and wisest hours a man has, is just after he awakes in the +morning. My procedure seemed as sagacious as ever.—but only in theory. +How it would prove in practice—there was the rub. It was truly a +beautiful thought to have assumed Bartleby’s departure; but, after all, +that assumption was simply my own, and none of Bartleby’s. The great +point was, not whether I had assumed that he would quit me, but whether +he would prefer so to do. He was more a man of preferences than +assumptions. + +After breakfast, I walked down town, arguing the probabilities _pro_ +and _con_. One moment I thought it would prove a miserable failure, and +Bartleby would be found all alive at my office as usual; the next +moment it seemed certain that I should see his chair empty. And so I +kept veering about. At the corner of Broadway and Canal-street, I saw +quite an excited group of people standing in earnest conversation. + +“I’ll take odds he doesn’t,” said a voice as I passed. + +“Doesn’t go?—done!” said I, “put up your money.” + +I was instinctively putting my hand in my pocket to produce my own, +when I remembered that this was an election day. The words I had +overheard bore no reference to Bartleby, but to the success or +non-success of some candidate for the mayoralty. In my intent frame of +mind, I had, as it were, imagined that all Broadway shared in my +excitement, and were debating the same question with me. I passed on, +very thankful that the uproar of the street screened my momentary +absent-mindedness. + +As I had intended, I was earlier than usual at my office door. I stood +listening for a moment. All was still. He must be gone. I tried the +knob. The door was locked. Yes, my procedure had worked to a charm; he +indeed must be vanished. Yet a certain melancholy mixed with this: I +was almost sorry for my brilliant success. I was fumbling under the +door mat for the key, which Bartleby was to have left there for me, +when accidentally my knee knocked against a panel, producing a +summoning sound, and in response a voice came to me from within—“Not +yet; I am occupied.” + +It was Bartleby. + +I was thunderstruck. For an instant I stood like the man who, pipe in +mouth, was killed one cloudless afternoon long ago in Virginia, by a +summer lightning; at his own warm open window he was killed, and +remained leaning out there upon the dreamy afternoon, till some one +touched him, when he fell. + +“Not gone!” I murmured at last. But again obeying that wondrous +ascendancy which the inscrutable scrivener had over me, and from which +ascendancy, for all my chafing, I could not completely escape, I slowly +went down stairs and out into the street, and while walking round the +block, considered what I should next do in this unheard-of perplexity. +Turn the man out by an actual thrusting I could not; to drive him away +by calling him hard names would not do; calling in the police was an +unpleasant idea; and yet, permit him to enjoy his cadaverous triumph +over me,—this too I could not think of. What was to be done? or, if +nothing could be done, was there any thing further that I could +_assume_ in the matter? Yes, as before I had prospectively assumed that +Bartleby would depart, so now I might retrospectively assume that +departed he was. In the legitimate carrying out of this assumption, I +might enter my office in a great hurry, and pretending not to see +Bartleby at all, walk straight against him as if he were air. Such a +proceeding would in a singular degree have the appearance of a +home-thrust. It was hardly possible that Bartleby could withstand such +an application of the doctrine of assumptions. But upon second thoughts +the success of the plan seemed rather dubious. I resolved to argue the +matter over with him again. + +“Bartleby,” said I, entering the office, with a quietly severe +expression, “I am seriously displeased. I am pained, Bartleby. I had +thought better of you. I had imagined you of such a gentlemanly +organization, that in any delicate dilemma a slight hint would have +suffice—in short, an assumption. But it appears I am deceived. Why,” I +added, unaffectedly starting, “you have not even touched that money +yet,” pointing to it, just where I had left it the evening previous. + +He answered nothing. + +“Will you, or will you not, quit me?” I now demanded in a sudden +passion, advancing close to him. + +“I would prefer _not_ to quit you,” he replied, gently emphasizing the +_not_. + +“What earthly right have you to stay here? Do you pay any rent? Do you +pay my taxes? Or is this property yours?” + +He answered nothing. + +“Are you ready to go on and write now? Are your eyes recovered? Could +you copy a small paper for me this morning? or help examine a few +lines? or step round to the post-office? In a word, will you do any +thing at all, to give a coloring to your refusal to depart the +premises?” + +He silently retired into his hermitage. + +I was now in such a state of nervous resentment that I thought it but +prudent to check myself at present from further demonstrations. +Bartleby and I were alone. I remembered the tragedy of the unfortunate +Adams and the still more unfortunate Colt in the solitary office of the +latter; and how poor Colt, being dreadfully incensed by Adams, and +imprudently permitting himself to get wildly excited, was at unawares +hurried into his fatal act—an act which certainly no man could possibly +deplore more than the actor himself. Often it had occurred to me in my +ponderings upon the subject, that had that altercation taken place in +the public street, or at a private residence, it would not have +terminated as it did. It was the circumstance of being alone in a +solitary office, up stairs, of a building entirely unhallowed by +humanizing domestic associations—an uncarpeted office, doubtless, of a +dusty, haggard sort of appearance;—this it must have been, which +greatly helped to enhance the irritable desperation of the hapless +Colt. + +But when this old Adam of resentment rose in me and tempted me +concerning Bartleby, I grappled him and threw him. How? Why, simply by +recalling the divine injunction: “A new commandment give I unto you, +that ye love one another.” Yes, this it was that saved me. Aside from +higher considerations, charity often operates as a vastly wise and +prudent principle—a great safeguard to its possessor. Men have +committed murder for jealousy’s sake, and anger’s sake, and hatred’s +sake, and selfishness’ sake, and spiritual pride’s sake; but no man +that ever I heard of, ever committed a diabolical murder for sweet +charity’s sake. Mere self-interest, then, if no better motive can be +enlisted, should, especially with high-tempered men, prompt all beings +to charity and philanthropy. At any rate, upon the occasion in +question, I strove to drown my exasperated feelings towards the +scrivener by benevolently construing his conduct. Poor fellow, poor +fellow! thought I, he don’t mean any thing; and besides, he has seen +hard times, and ought to be indulged. + +I endeavored also immediately to occupy myself, and at the same time to +comfort my despondency. I tried to fancy that in the course of the +morning, at such time as might prove agreeable to him, Bartleby, of his +own free accord, would emerge from his hermitage, and take up some +decided line of march in the direction of the door. But no. Half-past +twelve o’clock came; Turkey began to glow in the face, overturn his +inkstand, and become generally obstreperous; Nippers abated down into +quietude and courtesy; Ginger Nut munched his noon apple; and Bartleby +remained standing at his window in one of his profoundest dead-wall +reveries. Will it be credited? Ought I to acknowledge it? That +afternoon I left the office without saying one further word to him. + +Some days now passed, during which, at leisure intervals I looked a +little into “Edwards on the Will,” and “Priestly on Necessity.” Under +the circumstances, those books induced a salutary feeling. Gradually I +slid into the persuasion that these troubles of mine touching the +scrivener, had been all predestinated from eternity, and Bartleby was +billeted upon me for some mysterious purpose of an all-wise Providence, +which it was not for a mere mortal like me to fathom. Yes, Bartleby, +stay there behind your screen, thought I; I shall persecute you no +more; you are harmless and noiseless as any of these old chairs; in +short, I never feel so private as when I know you are here. At last I +see it, I feel it; I penetrate to the predestinated purpose of my life. +I am content. Others may have loftier parts to enact; but my mission in +this world, Bartleby, is to furnish you with office-room for such +period as you may see fit to remain. + +I believe that this wise and blessed frame of mind would have continued +with me, had it not been for the unsolicited and uncharitable remarks +obtruded upon me by my professional friends who visited the rooms. But +thus it often is, that the constant friction of illiberal minds wears +out at last the best resolves of the more generous. Though to be sure, +when I reflected upon it, it was not strange that people entering my +office should be struck by the peculiar aspect of the unaccountable +Bartleby, and so be tempted to throw out some sinister observations +concerning him. Sometimes an attorney having business with me, and +calling at my office and finding no one but the scrivener there, would +undertake to obtain some sort of precise information from him touching +my whereabouts; but without heeding his idle talk, Bartleby would +remain standing immovable in the middle of the room. So after +contemplating him in that position for a time, the attorney would +depart, no wiser than he came. + +Also, when a Reference was going on, and the room full of lawyers and +witnesses and business was driving fast; some deeply occupied legal +gentleman present, seeing Bartleby wholly unemployed, would request him +to run round to his (the legal gentleman’s) office and fetch some +papers for him. Thereupon, Bartleby would tranquilly decline, and yet +remain idle as before. Then the lawyer would give a great stare, and +turn to me. And what could I say? At last I was made aware that all +through the circle of my professional acquaintance, a whisper of wonder +was running round, having reference to the strange creature I kept at +my office. This worried me very much. And as the idea came upon me of +his possibly turning out a long-lived man, and keep occupying my +chambers, and denying my authority; and perplexing my visitors; and +scandalizing my professional reputation; and casting a general gloom +over the premises; keeping soul and body together to the last upon his +savings (for doubtless he spent but half a dime a day), and in the end +perhaps outlive me, and claim possession of my office by right of his +perpetual occupancy: as all these dark anticipations crowded upon me +more and more, and my friends continually intruded their relentless +remarks upon the apparition in my room; a great change was wrought in +me. I resolved to gather all my faculties together, and for ever rid me +of this intolerable incubus. + +Ere revolving any complicated project, however, adapted to this end, I +first simply suggested to Bartleby the propriety of his permanent +departure. In a calm and serious tone, I commended the idea to his +careful and mature consideration. But having taken three days to +meditate upon it, he apprised me that his original determination +remained the same; in short, that he still preferred to abide with me. + +What shall I do? I now said to myself, buttoning up my coat to the last +button. What shall I do? what ought I to do? what does conscience say I +_should_ do with this man, or rather ghost. Rid myself of him, I must; +go, he shall. But how? You will not thrust him, the poor, pale, passive +mortal,—you will not thrust such a helpless creature out of your door? +you will not dishonor yourself by such cruelty? No, I will not, I +cannot do that. Rather would I let him live and die here, and then +mason up his remains in the wall. What then will you do? For all your +coaxing, he will not budge. Bribes he leaves under your own paperweight +on your table; in short, it is quite plain that he prefers to cling to +you. + +Then something severe, something unusual must be done. What! surely you +will not have him collared by a constable, and commit his innocent +pallor to the common jail? And upon what ground could you procure such +a thing to be done?—a vagrant, is he? What! he a vagrant, a wanderer, +who refuses to budge? It is because he will _not_ be a vagrant, then, +that you seek to count him _as_ a vagrant. That is too absurd. No +visible means of support: there I have him. Wrong again: for +indubitably he _does_ support himself, and that is the only +unanswerable proof that any man can show of his possessing the means so +to do. No more then. Since he will not quit me, I must quit him. I will +change my offices; I will move elsewhere; and give him fair notice, +that if I find him on my new premises I will then proceed against him +as a common trespasser. + +Acting accordingly, next day I thus addressed him: “I find these +chambers too far from the City Hall; the air is unwholesome. In a word, +I propose to remove my offices next week, and shall no longer require +your services. I tell you this now, in order that you may seek another +place.” + +He made no reply, and nothing more was said. + +On the appointed day I engaged carts and men, proceeded to my chambers, +and having but little furniture, every thing was removed in a few +hours. Throughout, the scrivener remained standing behind the screen, +which I directed to be removed the last thing. It was withdrawn; and +being folded up like a huge folio, left him the motionless occupant of +a naked room. I stood in the entry watching him a moment, while +something from within me upbraided me. + +I re-entered, with my hand in my pocket—and—and my heart in my mouth. + +“Good-bye, Bartleby; I am going—good-bye, and God some way bless you; +and take that,” slipping something in his hand. But it dropped upon the +floor, and then,—strange to say—I tore myself from him whom I had so +longed to be rid of. + +Established in my new quarters, for a day or two I kept the door +locked, and started at every footfall in the passages. When I returned +to my rooms after any little absence, I would pause at the threshold +for an instant, and attentively listen, ere applying my key. But these +fears were needless. Bartleby never came nigh me. + +I thought all was going well, when a perturbed looking stranger visited +me, inquiring whether I was the person who had recently occupied rooms +at No.—Wall-street. + +Full of forebodings, I replied that I was. + +“Then sir,” said the stranger, who proved a lawyer, “you are +responsible for the man you left there. He refuses to do any copying; +he refuses to do any thing; he says he prefers not to; and he refuses +to quit the premises.” + +“I am very sorry, sir,” said I, with assumed tranquility, but an inward +tremor, “but, really, the man you allude to is nothing to me—he is no +relation or apprentice of mine, that you should hold me responsible for +him.” + +“In mercy’s name, who is he?” + +“I certainly cannot inform you. I know nothing about him. Formerly I +employed him as a copyist; but he has done nothing for me now for some +time past.” + +“I shall settle him then,—good morning, sir.” + +Several days passed, and I heard nothing more; and though I often felt +a charitable prompting to call at the place and see poor Bartleby, yet +a certain squeamishness of I know not what withheld me. + +All is over with him, by this time, thought I at last, when through +another week no further intelligence reached me. But coming to my room +the day after, I found several persons waiting at my door in a high +state of nervous excitement. + +“That’s the man—here he comes,” cried the foremost one, whom I +recognized as the lawyer who had previously called upon me alone. + +“You must take him away, sir, at once,” cried a portly person among +them, advancing upon me, and whom I knew to be the landlord of +No.—Wall-street. “These gentlemen, my tenants, cannot stand it any +longer; Mr. B—” pointing to the lawyer, “has turned him out of his +room, and he now persists in haunting the building generally, sitting +upon the banisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by +night. Every body is concerned; clients are leaving the offices; some +fears are entertained of a mob; something you must do, and that without +delay.” + +Aghast at this torrent, I fell back before it, and would fain have +locked myself in my new quarters. In vain I persisted that Bartleby was +nothing to me—no more than to any one else. In vain:—I was the last +person known to have any thing to do with him, and they held me to the +terrible account. Fearful then of being exposed in the papers (as one +person present obscurely threatened) I considered the matter, and at +length said, that if the lawyer would give me a confidential interview +with the scrivener, in his (the lawyer’s) own room, I would that +afternoon strive my best to rid them of the nuisance they complained +of. + +Going up stairs to my old haunt, there was Bartleby silently sitting +upon the banister at the landing. + +“What are you doing here, Bartleby?” said I. + +“Sitting upon the banister,” he mildly replied. + +I motioned him into the lawyer’s room, who then left us. + +“Bartleby,” said I, “are you aware that you are the cause of great +tribulation to me, by persisting in occupying the entry after being +dismissed from the office?” + +No answer. + +“Now one of two things must take place. Either you must do something, +or something must be done to you. Now what sort of business would you +like to engage in? Would you like to re-engage in copying for some +one?” + +“No; I would prefer not to make any change.” + +“Would you like a clerkship in a dry-goods store?” + +“There is too much confinement about that. No, I would not like a +clerkship; but I am not particular.” + +“Too much confinement,” I cried, “why you keep yourself confined all +the time!” + +“I would prefer not to take a clerkship,” he rejoined, as if to settle +that little item at once. + +“How would a bar-tender’s business suit you? There is no trying of the +eyesight in that.” + +“I would not like it at all; though, as I said before, I am not +particular.” + +His unwonted wordiness inspirited me. I returned to the charge. + +“Well then, would you like to travel through the country collecting +bills for the merchants? That would improve your health.” + +“No, I would prefer to be doing something else.” + +“How then would going as a companion to Europe, to entertain some young +gentleman with your conversation,—how would that suit you?” + +“Not at all. It does not strike me that there is any thing definite +about that. I like to be stationary. But I am not particular.” + +“Stationary you shall be then,” I cried, now losing all patience, and +for the first time in all my exasperating connection with him fairly +flying into a passion. “If you do not go away from these premises +before night, I shall feel bound—indeed I _am_ bound—to—to—to quit the +premises myself!” I rather absurdly concluded, knowing not with what +possible threat to try to frighten his immobility into compliance. +Despairing of all further efforts, I was precipitately leaving him, +when a final thought occurred to me—one which had not been wholly +unindulged before. + +“Bartleby,” said I, in the kindest tone I could assume under such +exciting circumstances, “will you go home with me now—not to my office, +but my dwelling—and remain there till we can conclude upon some +convenient arrangement for you at our leisure? Come, let us start now, +right away.” + +“No: at present I would prefer not to make any change at all.” + +I answered nothing; but effectually dodging every one by the suddenness +and rapidity of my flight, rushed from the building, ran up Wall-street +towards Broadway, and jumping into the first omnibus was soon removed +from pursuit. As soon as tranquility returned I distinctly perceived +that I had now done all that I possibly could, both in respect to the +demands of the landlord and his tenants, and with regard to my own +desire and sense of duty, to benefit Bartleby, and shield him from rude +persecution. I now strove to be entirely care-free and quiescent; and +my conscience justified me in the attempt; though indeed it was not so +successful as I could have wished. So fearful was I of being again +hunted out by the incensed landlord and his exasperated tenants, that, +surrendering my business to Nippers, for a few days I drove about the +upper part of the town and through the suburbs, in my rockaway; crossed +over to Jersey City and Hoboken, and paid fugitive visits to +Manhattanville and Astoria. In fact I almost lived in my rockaway for +the time. + +When again I entered my office, lo, a note from the landlord lay upon +the desk. I opened it with trembling hands. It informed me that the +writer had sent to the police, and had Bartleby removed to the Tombs as +a vagrant. Moreover, since I knew more about him than any one else, he +wished me to appear at that place, and make a suitable statement of the +facts. These tidings had a conflicting effect upon me. At first I was +indignant; but at last almost approved. The landlord’s energetic, +summary disposition had led him to adopt a procedure which I do not +think I would have decided upon myself; and yet as a last resort, under +such peculiar circumstances, it seemed the only plan. + +As I afterwards learned, the poor scrivener, when told that he must be +conducted to the Tombs, offered not the slightest obstacle, but in his +pale unmoving way, silently acquiesced. + +Some of the compassionate and curious bystanders joined the party; and +headed by one of the constables arm in arm with Bartleby, the silent +procession filed its way through all the noise, and heat, and joy of +the roaring thoroughfares at noon. + +The same day I received the note I went to the Tombs, or to speak more +properly, the Halls of Justice. Seeking the right officer, I stated the +purpose of my call, and was informed that the individual I described +was indeed within. I then assured the functionary that Bartleby was a +perfectly honest man, and greatly to be compassionated, however +unaccountably eccentric. I narrated all I knew, and closed by +suggesting the idea of letting him remain in as indulgent confinement +as possible till something less harsh might be done—though indeed I +hardly knew what. At all events, if nothing else could be decided upon, +the alms-house must receive him. I then begged to have an interview. + +Being under no disgraceful charge, and quite serene and harmless in all +his ways, they had permitted him freely to wander about the prison, and +especially in the inclosed grass-platted yard thereof. And so I found +him there, standing all alone in the quietest of the yards, his face +towards a high wall, while all around, from the narrow slits of the +jail windows, I thought I saw peering out upon him the eyes of +murderers and thieves. + +“Bartleby!” + +“I know you,” he said, without looking round,—“and I want nothing to +say to you.” + +“It was not I that brought you here, Bartleby,” said I, keenly pained +at his implied suspicion. “And to you, this should not be so vile a +place. Nothing reproachful attaches to you by being here. And see, it +is not so sad a place as one might think. Look, there is the sky, and +here is the grass.” + +“I know where I am,” he replied, but would say nothing more, and so I +left him. + +As I entered the corridor again, a broad meat-like man, in an apron, +accosted me, and jerking his thumb over his shoulder said—“Is that your +friend?” + +“Yes.” + +“Does he want to starve? If he does, let him live on the prison fare, +that’s all.” + +“Who are you?” asked I, not knowing what to make of such an +unofficially speaking person in such a place. + +“I am the grub-man. Such gentlemen as have friends here, hire me to +provide them with something good to eat.” + +“Is this so?” said I, turning to the turnkey. + +He said it was. + +“Well then,” said I, slipping some silver into the grub-man’s hands +(for so they called him). “I want you to give particular attention to +my friend there; let him have the best dinner you can get. And you must +be as polite to him as possible.” + +“Introduce me, will you?” said the grub-man, looking at me with an +expression which seemed to say he was all impatience for an opportunity +to give a specimen of his breeding. + +Thinking it would prove of benefit to the scrivener, I acquiesced; and +asking the grub-man his name, went up with him to Bartleby. + +“Bartleby, this is Mr. Cutlets; you will find him very useful to you.” + +“Your sarvant, sir, your sarvant,” said the grub-man, making a low +salutation behind his apron. “Hope you find it pleasant here, +sir;—spacious grounds—cool apartments, sir—hope you’ll stay with us +some time—try to make it agreeable. May Mrs. Cutlets and I have the +pleasure of your company to dinner, sir, in Mrs. Cutlets’ private +room?” + +“I prefer not to dine to-day,” said Bartleby, turning away. “It would +disagree with me; I am unused to dinners.” So saying he slowly moved to +the other side of the inclosure, and took up a position fronting the +dead-wall. + +“How’s this?” said the grub-man, addressing me with a stare of +astonishment. “He’s odd, aint he?” + +“I think he is a little deranged,” said I, sadly. + +“Deranged? deranged is it? Well now, upon my word, I thought that +friend of yourn was a gentleman forger; they are always pale and +genteel-like, them forgers. I can’t pity’em—can’t help it, sir. Did you +know Monroe Edwards?” he added touchingly, and paused. Then, laying his +hand pityingly on my shoulder, sighed, “he died of consumption at +Sing-Sing. So you weren’t acquainted with Monroe?” + +“No, I was never socially acquainted with any forgers. But I cannot +stop longer. Look to my friend yonder. You will not lose by it. I will +see you again.” + +Some few days after this, I again obtained admission to the Tombs, and +went through the corridors in quest of Bartleby; but without finding +him. + +“I saw him coming from his cell not long ago,” said a turnkey, “may be +he’s gone to loiter in the yards.” + +So I went in that direction. + +“Are you looking for the silent man?” said another turnkey passing me. +“Yonder he lies—sleeping in the yard there. ’Tis not twenty minutes +since I saw him lie down.” + +The yard was entirely quiet. It was not accessible to the common +prisoners. The surrounding walls, of amazing thickness, kept off all +sounds behind them. The Egyptian character of the masonry weighed upon +me with its gloom. But a soft imprisoned turf grew under foot. The +heart of the eternal pyramids, it seemed, wherein, by some strange +magic, through the clefts, grass-seed, dropped by birds, had sprung. + +Strangely huddled at the base of the wall, his knees drawn up, and +lying on his side, his head touching the cold stones, I saw the wasted +Bartleby. But nothing stirred. I paused; then went close up to him; +stooped over, and saw that his dim eyes were open; otherwise he seemed +profoundly sleeping. Something prompted me to touch him. I felt his +hand, when a tingling shiver ran up my arm and down my spine to my +feet. + +The round face of the grub-man peered upon me now. “His dinner is +ready. Won’t he dine to-day, either? Or does he live without dining?” + +“Lives without dining,” said I, and closed his eyes. + +“Eh!—He’s asleep, aint he?” + +“With kings and counselors,” murmured I. + + +There would seem little need for proceeding further in this history. +Imagination will readily supply the meager recital of poor Bartleby’s +interment. But ere parting with the reader, let me say, that if this +little narrative has sufficiently interested him, to awaken curiosity +as to who Bartleby was, and what manner of life he led prior to the +present narrator’s making his acquaintance, I can only reply, that in +such curiosity I fully share, but am wholly unable to gratify it. Yet +here I hardly know whether I should divulge one little item of rumor, +which came to my ear a few months after the scrivener’s decease. Upon +what basis it rested, I could never ascertain; and hence, how true it +is I cannot now tell. But inasmuch as this vague report has not been +without certain strange suggestive interest to me, however sad, it may +prove the same with some others; and so I will briefly mention it. The +report was this: that Bartleby had been a subordinate clerk in the Dead +Letter Office at Washington, from which he had been suddenly removed by +a change in the administration. When I think over this rumor, I cannot +adequately express the emotions which seize me. Dead letters! does it +not sound like dead men? Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone +to a pallid hopelessness, can any business seem more fitted to heighten +it than that of continually handling these dead letters, and assorting +them for the flames? For by the cart-load they are annually burned. +Sometimes from out the folded paper the pale clerk takes a ring:—the +finger it was meant for, perhaps, moulders in the grave; a bank-note +sent in swiftest charity:—he whom it would relieve, nor eats nor +hungers any more; pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those +who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by +unrelieved calamities. On errands of life, these letters speed to +death. + +Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity! + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11231 *** |