Bartleby the Scrivener Web Study Text

Study Webtext

"Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street " (1853)
+ Herman Melville

+

Prepared by Ann + Woodlief, Virginia Commonwealth University

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+ 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 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 employees, 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 tranquillity + of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgages and title-deeds. 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 last 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 of 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 the 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 manlike 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 willingto 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 unseemingly + 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 tea-time. 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 indispensible, 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 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 profession + 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 anything, 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 businessat 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 dressedin 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 with 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 course--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 a 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 a 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 + famishingfor 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 be 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 low scrape of his chair legs on the unscraped 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 + conclusion; 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, Nipper's 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 (Nipper's) 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 way 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. That 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 minutes 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 with?--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, had 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 point-blank. +

32 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 is 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 round 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 we 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 t 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. Yet, thought I, it + is evident enough that Bartleby has been making his home here, keeping + bachelor's hallall 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 be 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 + resolvedupon this;--I would put certain calm questions to him the + next morning, touching his history, &c., and if he declined to answer + then openly and reservedly (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 the 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 anything 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 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 office, 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 tomorrow 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 idly 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 involuntary 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</font> 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 six pences 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 the 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 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 suffice--in short, an assumption. But it appears I am deceived. Why," + I added, unaffectedly + starting, "you have not even touched the 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 + prudentto 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 deadwall 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 least 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 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 to 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 tranquillity, 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 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 buildinggenerally, 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 torment, I fell back before it, and would fain have + locked myselfin 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 effectualy 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 + desk. opened it with trembling hands. informed me that writer had sent + to police, and Bartleby removed 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 yards 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 a + friend; 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. What will you + have for dinner today?"

"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 help 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 sound 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 the eyes.

"Eh!--He's asleep, aint he?"

"With + kings and counsellors," murmured I.

* * * * * * * *

There would seem little need for proceeding further in this history. Imagination + will readily supply the meagre 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 a certain strange suggestive + interest to me, however said, 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 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!

Study Webtext

"Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street " (1853) + Herman Melville

+

Prepared by Ann + Woodlief, Virginia Commonwealth University

Click on text in red for hypertext notes and questions

Study Webtext

"Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street " (1853) + Herman Melville

+

Prepared by Ann + Woodlief, Virginia Commonwealth University

Click on text in red for hypertext notes and questions

"Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street " (1853)
+ Herman Melville

"Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street " (1853)
+ Herman Melville