book_id
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| title
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|---|---|---|---|
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Rest here a while, he said, gently,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Steamer ahoy! What do you want?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Want all that bullion stowed in your strong room, answered Forsythe through a megaphone;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You want the bullion stowed in our strong room, do you? Anything else you want, sir?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, answered Forsythe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We want a boat full of provisions. Three barrels of flour, the rest in canned meats and vegetables."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Anything else?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is all, answered Forsythe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Load your gold into one of your own boats, the provisions in another. Lower them down and let the falls unreeve, so that they will go adrift. We will pick them up."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, of all the infernal impudence I ever heard, yours is the worst. I judge that you are that crew of jail-breakers we've heard of that stole a government boat and turned pirates."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are right, answered Forsythe;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sink us, you scoundrel? You can't, and you'd better not try, or threaten to. Your position is known, and three scouts started this morning from Boston and New York."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That bluff don't go, answered Forsythe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Will you cough up?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No; most decidedly _no_!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Kelly, said Forsythe,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The inhuman devil!"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you agree? yelled Forsythe, through the megaphone."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you agree, or shall we unload every torpedo we've got into your hull?"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We agree. We understand that your necks are in the halter, and that you have nothing to lose, even though you should fill every compartment and drown every soul on board this ship. So we will accede to your demands. We will fill one boat with the bullion and another with provisions, and cast them adrift. But do not fire again, for God's sake!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "All right, answered Forsythe."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Bear a hand."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is your man Casey, yelled Denman, excitedly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are you going to leave him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hold yer jaw back there, or ye'll get a passage, too."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Did any one see that fellow before?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Forget it! Open the boxes! Let's have a look at the stuff!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Forsythe, how about the big fellow's wireless? We didn't disable it. He has sent the news already. What do you think?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, shut up! answered Forsythe, irately."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I didn't think of it. Neither did any one. What of it? Nothing afloat can catch us. Open the box. Let's have a look, and we'll beat it for Africa."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I tell you, vociferated Munson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Will you shut up, or will I shut you up?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You'll not shut me up, retorted Munson."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're the biggest fool in this bunch, in spite of your bluff. Why don't you go ahead and get out o' this neighborhood?"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lead! howled Riley, as he stood erect, heaving a few men back with his shoulders."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lead it is, if I know wan metal from another."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Open them all, roared Forsythe."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get the axes--pinch bars--anything."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Start your engine!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lead! they shouted at last."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All lead! Was this job put up for us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, yelled Munson,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get up on the bridge, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you, Riley, to your engines."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, if you've had enough, shouted Forsythe,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I told you so. I told you so, rang out the crazed voice of Billings."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "A woman aboard ship--a woman aboard ship. Always makes trouble. There, take it!"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're caught, Forsythe, called out Denman, pointing to the south and east."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will you surrender before we're sunk or killed?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Florrie, called Denman down the companion,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll see you go first!"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, Forsythe, he said, as he covered the chagrined marksman,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Florrie! called Denman down the hatch."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come up now. We're all right."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Off with your coat, Forsythe, and stand up to me. We'll finish that old fight. Here, girl, hold this gun."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is the boat sinking, Billie?"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Jump! it said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Jump, or you'll be carried down with the wash."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good! he exclaimed, as he glanced down the letter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Listen, Florrie, here's something that pleases me as much as my exoneration by the Board of Inquiry."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "HERBERT JENKINS."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I'm glad, Billie! she exclaimed."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They are honest men, after all."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Honest men? repeated Denman, quizzically."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yet they stole a fine destroyer from Uncle Sam!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't care, she said, stoutly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm glad they were saved. And, Billie boy --her hands were on his shoulders--"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And where were you that night when it came?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "On the bridge with the captain and watch-officers. It was all hands that night. We had made out a curious light to the north'ard, and were trying to find out what it was."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What kind of a light?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, it was rather faint, and seemed to be about a mile away. Sometimes it looked red, then green, or yellow, or blue."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And then it disappeared?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, and though we steamed toward it with all the searchlights at work, we never found where it came from."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What form did it take--a beam or a glow?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It wasn't a glow--radiation--and it didn't seem to be a beam. It was an occasional flash, and in this sense was like a radiation--that is, like the spokes of a wheel, each spoke with its own color. But that was at the beginning. In three hours none of us could have distinguished colors."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And it was curious about Brainard, the most useless and utterly incompetent man ever graduated. He was so near-sighted that he couldn't see the end of his nose without glasses; but it was he that took the ship in, with the rest of us eating with our fingers and asking our way to the sick-bay."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And Brainard wore his glasses that night?'"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes; he couldn't see without them. It reminds me of Nydia, the blind girl who piloted a bunch out of Pompeii because she was used to the darkness. Still, Brainard is hardly a parallel."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Were his glasses the ordinary kind, or pebbles?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't know. Which are the cheapest? That's the kind."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The ordinary kind."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he had the ordinary kind--like himself. And he'll get special promotion. Oh, Lord! He'll be jumped up a dozen numbers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Metcalf, mysteriously,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Was it a bright, sunshiny day?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sure. Four days ago. He was heading about sou'west, and going slow."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anything happen to your eyesight?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Say--yes. One of my men's gone stone blind. Thinks he must have looked squarely at the sun when he thought he was looking at the fire up aloft."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It wasn't the sun. Keep him in utter darkness for a week at least. He'll get well. What was your position when you met that fellow?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "About six hundred miles due nor'west from here."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All right. Look out for Japanese craft. War is declared."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Smith, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, sir, I think he did--a larger submarine, without any conning-tower and the old-fashioned periscope. They have seven thousand miles' cruising radius, enough to cross the Pacific."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Wait till I get his bearing by compass, said Metcalf to his chief officer,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He surrenders, Mr. Smith, he said, joyously,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know him,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you surrender to the United States of America?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I surrender, answered the man."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am helpless."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then come aboard without arms. I'll send a boat."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, Saiksi, you perfected it, didn't you?--my invisible searchlight, that I hadn't money to go on with."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Metcalf--this you, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But I came back to the service, Saiksi. Thanks to you and your light--my light, rather--I am in command here in place of men you blinded. Saiksi, you deserve no consideration from me, in spite of our rooming together at Annapolis. You took--I don't say stole--my invention, and turned it against the country that educated you. You, or your _confrères_, did this before a declaration of war. You are a pirate, and I could string you up to my signal-yard and escape criticism."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was under orders from my superiors, Captain Metcalf."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They shall answer to mine. You shall answer to me. How many boats have you equipped with my light?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There are but three. It is very expensive."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One for our Philippine squadron, one for the Hawaiian, and one for the coast. You overdid things, Saiksi. If you hadn't set fire to that sealer the other day, I might not have found you. It was a senseless piece of work that did you no good. Oh, you are a sweet character! How do you get your ultraviolet rays--by filtration or prismatic dispersion?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By filtration."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Saiksi, you're a liar as well as a thief. The colored lights you use to attract attention are the discarded rays of the spectrum. No wonder you investigated me before you dared flash such a decoy! Well, I'm back in the navy, and I've been investigating you. As soon as I heard of the first symptom of sunburn, I knew it was caused by the ultraviolet rays, the same as from the sun; and I knew that nothing but my light could produce those rays at night time. And as a physician I knew what I did not know as an inventor--the swift amblyopia that follows the impact of this light on the retina. As a physician, too, I can inform you that your country has not permanently blinded a single American seaman or officer. The effects wear off."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where is the Japanese fleet bound?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do not know."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And would not tell, whether you knew or not. But you said you were helpless. What has happened to you? You can tell that."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "A simple thing, Captain Metcalf. My supply of oil leaked away, and my engines must work slowly. Your signal was useless; I could not have turned on the light."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have answered the first question. You are far from home without a mother-ship, or she would have found you and furnished oil before this. You have come thus far expecting the fleet to follow and strike a helpless coast before your supplies ran out."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can refurnish your boat with oil, my engineer and my men can handle her, and I can easily learn to manipulate your--or shall I say _our_--invisible searchlight. Hail your craft in English and order all hands on deck unarmed, ready for transshipment to this boat. I shall join your fleet myself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ae-hai, ae-hai, Matsu. We surrender. We are prisoner. Call up all men onto the deck. Leave arms behind. We are prisoner."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You, too, Saiksi,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is it not customary, Captain Metcalf, said the Jap,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not the surrendered commander of a craft that uses new and deadly weapons of war unknown to her adversary, and before the declaration of war. Hold up your hands. You're going into irons with your men. All Japs look alike to me, now."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good enough! he said to Smith, when next they met."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now if I'm any good I'll give the Japs a taste of their own medicine."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Take me along, captain, burst out Smith in sudden surrender."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't understand all this, but I want to be in it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, Mr. Smith. The chief might do your work, but I doubt that you could do his. I need him; so you can take the prisoners home. You will undoubtedly retain command."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very good, sir,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't want you to feel badly about it. I know how you all felt toward me. But I'm on a roving commission. I have no wireless apparatus and no definite instructions. I've been lampooned and ridiculed in the papers, and I'm going to give them my answer--that is, as I said, if I'm any good. If I'm not I'll be sunk."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Good work for the expenditure, he murmured, wearily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let's see--two carbons and about twenty amperes of current, against nine ships at ten millions apiece. Well, we'll soon know whether or not it worked."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The jig's up, chief, he called through a tube to the engineer."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll get forty feet down until the mosquitoes get by. I'd like to take a chance at them but there are too many. We'd get torpedoed, surely."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We knew they were on the coast, said the admiral, a little later, when Metcalf had made his report on the quarter-deck of the _Delaware_."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But about this light? Are you sure of all this? Why, if it's so, the President will rank you over us all. Mr. Smith came in with the prisoners, but he said nothing of an invisible light--only of a strong searchlight with which you set fire to the signal-yard."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I did not tell him all, admiral, answered Metcalf, a little hurt at the persistence of the feeling."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But I'm satisfied now. That fleet is coming on with incompetents on the bridge."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, we'll soon know. I've only one ship, but it's my business to get out and defend the United States against invaders, and as soon as I can steam against this gale and sea I'll go. And I'll want you, too. I'm short-handed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you, sir. I shall be glad to be with you. But wouldn't you like to examine the light?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Most certainly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is very simple, explained Metcalf, showing a rough diagram he had sketched."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You see he has used my system of reflectors about as I designed it. The focus of one curve coincides with the focus of the next, and the result is a thin beam containing nearly all the radiations of the arc."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very simple, remarked the admiral, dryly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very simple indeed. But, admitting this strong beam of light that, as you say, could set fire to that sealer, and be invisible in sunshine, how about the beam that is invisible by night? That is what I am wondering about."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Here, sir, removing the thick disk from around the light."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This contains the prisms, which refract the beam entirely around the lamp; and disperse it into the seven colors of the spectrum. All the visible light is cut out, leaving only the ultraviolet rays, and these travel as fast and as far, and return by reflection, as though accompanied by the visible rays."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But how can you see it? asked an officer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How is the ship it is directed at made visible?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By fluorescence, answered Metcalf."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The observer is the periscope itself. Any of the various fluorescing substances placed in the focus of the object-glass, or at the optical image in front of the eyepiece, will show the picture in the color peculiar to the fluorescing material. The color does not matter."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "More simple still, laughed the admiral."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But how about the colored lights they saw?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Simply the discarded light of the spectrum. By removing this cover on the disk, the different colored rays shoot up. That was to attract attention. I used only white light through the periscope."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And it was this invisible light that blinded so many men, which in your hands blinded the crews of the Japanese?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, sir. The ultraviolet rays are beneficial as a germicide, but are deadly if too strong."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lieutenant Metcalf, said the admiral, seriously,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, admiral, responded Metcalf,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then, unless the Japs are near-sighted, I expect an easy time when I go out."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I mean it, Foster was saying vehemently."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hope this boat does go to the bottom."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, Mr. Foster! cried the girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What a sentiment!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I tell you I mean it. You have made life unbearable."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I make your life unbearable?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, you, Irene. You know I have loved you from the beginning. And you have coquetted with me, played with me--as a cat plays with a mouse. When I have endeavored to escape, you have drawn me back by smiles and favor, and given me hope. Then it is coldness and disdain. I am tired of it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am sorry, Mr. Foster, if anything in my attitude has caused such an impression. I have given you no special smiles or favors, no special coldness or disdain."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But I love you. I want you. I cannot live without you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You lived a long time without me, before we met."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, before we met. Before I fell under the spell of your personality. You have hypnotized me, made yourself necessary to me. I am heartsick all the time, thinking of you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then you must get over it, Mr. Foster. I must think of myself."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then you do not care for me, at all?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do, but only as an acquaintance."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not even as a friend?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I do not like to answer such pointed questions, sir; but, since you ask, I will tell you. I do not like you, even as a friend. You demand so much. You are very selfish, never considering my feelings at all, and you often annoy me with your moods. Frankly, I am happier away from you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My moods! Foster repeated, bitterly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You cause my moods. But I know what the real trouble is. I was all right until Ross came along."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have no right, Mr. Foster, said the girl, angrily,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I understand. Do you think he can marry you on his pay?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mr. Ross' pay would not influence him, nor me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I'll tell you this --and Foster's voice became a snarl--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Whew! whistled Ross, softly, while he smiled sweetly, and danced a mental jig in the air. Then he danced a few steps of a real jig, to apprise them of his coming."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Time to end this, he said; then called out, cheerily:"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look out below,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Got a bad habit, he said, as he descended,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, no, lieutenant, he said, with a sickly smile."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is all strange and new to us. We were waiting for you. But I have become slightly interested in this-- He indicated a circular window, fixed in the steel side of the boat."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Isn't it a new feature in submarines?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, it is, answered Ross."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But it has long been known that glass will stand a stress equal to that of steel, so they've given us deadlights. See the side of the ship out there? We can see objects about twenty feet away near the surface. Deeper down it is darker."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I suppose you see some interesting sights under water,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, very interesting--and some very harrowing. I saw a man drowning not long ago. We were powerless to help him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Heavens, what a sight! exclaimed Foster."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The expression on his face must have been tragic."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pitiful--the most pitiful I ever looked at. He seemed to be calling to us. Such agony and despair; but it did not last long."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But while it _did_ last--did you have a camera? What a chance for a photographer! That is my line, you know. Did ever a photographer get a chance to photograph the expression on the face of a drowning man? What a picture it would be?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't, said the girl, with a shudder."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For mercy's sake, do not speak of such things."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I beg your pardon, Miss Fleming, said Ross, gently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was very tactless in me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And I, Miss Fleming, said Foster, with a bow,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sorry, Mr. Foster, answered Ross, coldly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We do all sorts of things to men in the navy, but we don't drown them for the sake of their pictures. Suppose I show you around, for at two bells the men will be back from their dinner. Now, aft here, is the gasoline engine, which we use to propel the boat on the surface. We can't use it submerged, however, on account of the exhaust; so, for under-water work, we use a strong storage battery to work a motor. You see the motor back there, and under this deck is the storage battery--large jars of sulphuric acid and lead. It is a bad combination if salt water floods it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How? What happens?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Battery gas, or, in chemical terms, chlorine gas is formed. It is one of the most poisonous and suffocating of all gases. That is the real danger in submarine boats--suffocation from chlorine. It will remain so until we get a better form of motive power, liquid or compressed air, perhaps. And here --Ross led them to a valve wheel amidships--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What's it for?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To sink the boat in case of fire. It's an inheritance from steamboats--pure precedent--and useless, for a submarine cannot catch fire. Why, a few turns of that wheel when in the awash trim would admit enough water in two minutes to sink the boat. I've applied for permission to abolish it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Two minutes, you say. Does it turn easy? Would it be possible to accidentally turn it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Very easy, and very possible. I caution my men every day."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And in case you do sink, and do not immediately suffocate, how do you rise?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "By pumping out the water. There's a strong pump connected with that motor aft there, that will force out water against the pressure of the sea at fifty fathoms down. That is ten atmospheres--pretty hard pressure. But, if the motor gets wet, it is useless to work the pump; so, we can be satisfied that, if we sink by means of the sea cock, we stay sunk. There is a hand pump, to use on the surface with dead batteries, but it is useless at any great depth."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you mean by the awash trim, lieutenant?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The diving trim--that is, submerged all but the conning-tower. I'll show you, so that you can say that you have really been under water."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are not going to sink the boat, are you, Mr. Ross?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, no, just filling the tanks. When full, we still have three hundred pounds reserve buoyancy, and would have to go ahead and steer down. But we won't go ahead. Come forward, and I'll show you the torpedo-tube."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, here is the tube, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "See this rear door. It is water-tight. When a torpedo is in the tube, as it is now, we admit water, as well; and, to expel the torpedo, we only have to open the forward door, apply compressed air, and out it goes. Then it propels and steers itself. We have a theory--no, not a theory now, for it has been proved--that, in case of accident, a submarine's crew can all be ejected through the tube except the last man. He must remain to die, for he cannot eject himself. That man --Ross smiled and bowed low to the girl--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How terrible! she answered, interested, but looking back abstractedly at Foster."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why do you remain at this work? Your life is always in danger."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And on that account promotion is more probable. I want promotion, and more pay --he lowered his voice and took her hand--"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Must you wait for promotion?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, Irene, no, exclaimed Ross, excitedly, squeezing the small hand in his own."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not if you say so; but I have nothing but my pay."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have always been poor, she said, looking him frankly in the face."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, John, that is not it. I am afraid. He--Mr. Foster, threatened us--vowed we would never-- Oh, and he turned something back there after you started. He did it so quickly--I just barely saw him as I turned to follow you. I do not know what it was. I did not understand what you were describing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He turned something! What?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was a wheel of some kind."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Say your prayers! yelled Foster, insanely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You two are going to die, I say. Die, both of you."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Blast your wretched, black heart and soul, he growled, as he hove the wheel around."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did you open this valve? Hey, answer me. You did, didn't you? And thought to escape yourself--you coward!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, God! cried Foster, running about distractedly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We're sinking, and I can't get out."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get up, he commanded, as the prostrate man rolled heavily over on his hands and knees."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get up, I may need you."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Battery gas!"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And Lord only knows, groaned Ross,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he commanded to the nerveless Foster, who had again found a seat."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lend a hand on this pump. I'll deal with your case when we get up."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What must I do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pump, yelled Ross, in his ear."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pump till you break your back if necessary. Ship that brake."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are we in danger, John? she asked."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Real danger, I mean?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, dear, we are, he answered, tenderly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And it is best that you should know. I have driven out all the water possible, and we cannot pump at this depth. Higher up we could. But I can eject the torpedo from the tube, and perhaps the others. That will lighten us a good deal."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stay there, he said, incisively,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What can I do? whimpered the photographer, a brave bully before the girl, when safe; a stricken poltroon now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll do anything you say, to get to the surface."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You'll get to the surface in time, answered Ross, significantly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How much do you weigh?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Two hundred pounds."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Two hundred more than we want. However, I'll get rid of this torpedo."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You next."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I next? What do you mean?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You want to get to the surface, don't you? said Ross, grimly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You expressed yourself as willing to do anything I might say, in order to get to the surface. Well, strip off your coat, vest, and shoes, and crawl into that tube."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What? To drown? No, I will not."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, you will. Can you swim?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can swim, but not when I am shot out of a gun."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then you'll drown. Peel off."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I cannot. I cannot. Would you kill me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't care much, answered Ross, quietly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "he added, his voice rising."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm giving you a chance for your life. I can swim, too, and would not hesitate at going out that tube, if I were sure that the boat, deprived of my weight, would rise. But I am not sure, so I send you, not only because you are heavier than I, but because, as Miss Fleming must remain, I prefer to remain, too, to live or die with her. Understand?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, Miss Fleming, cackled Foster."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "She can swim. I've heard her say so."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You cowardly scoundrel, said Ross, his eyes ablaze with scorn and rage. He had already shed his coat and vest. Now he rolled up his shirt-sleeves."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Will you go into that tube of your own volition, conscious, so that you may take a long breath before I flood the tube, or unconscious, and pushed in like a bag of meal, to drown before you know what ails you--which?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, shrieked Foster, as the menacing face and fists of Ross drew close to him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will not. Do something else. You are a sailor. You know what to do. Do something else."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not much, said Ross, busy with the girl."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When I get my wind, I'm going to jam you into that tube, like a dead man. I'll release you inside."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All right. Take a good breath, and I'll flood you, called Ross."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "When you're outside, swim up."
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Irene, he shouted, joyously,"
}
] |
24880
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sit still, he commanded, almost harshly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sit still, and rest."
}
] |
222177
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Anything to please the bold, bad man,"
}
] |
906574
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But these savages devour men! said they."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How did you escape?"
}
] |
470377
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If that be true, we've gained a half-day's work in two minutes."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Please, sir, be this note for you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "For me,--yes; it is my name."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have watched for you all the morning. I saw her go. Well! I did not throw myself under the hoofs of the horses. I write this in a public- house, not far. Will you follow the bearer, and see once again the outcast whom all the rest of the world will shun?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The boy wants to know if there's an answer,"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, said Vivian, speaking half to himself, half to me,"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I do see, said I;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Stop! said Vivian, laying my hand on his own, and with his old bitter smile on his lip,--"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come, said I,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How came you to know we had stayed in the town?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you think I could remain where you left me? I wandered out, wandered hither. Passing at dawn through yon streets, I saw the hostlers loitering by the gates of the yard, overheard them talk, and so knew you were all at the inn,--all!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your poor father is very ill. Oh, cousin, how could you fling from you so much love?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Love! his! my father's!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you really not believe, then, that your father loved you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I had believed it, I had never left him. All the gold of the Indies had never bribed me to leave my mother."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "This is indeed a strange misconception of yours. If we can remove it, all may be well yet. Need there now be any secrets between us? [persuasively]. Sit down, and tell me all, cousin."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Again I say"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Teach the understanding,--all else will follow;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Learn to read something, and it will all come right;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Follow the bias of the pupil's mind,--thus you develop genius, not thwart it."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mais, cher enfant, ton pere est Anglais,--c'est tout dire."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ho, then, my father is a great man, with all these ancestors and big words! And he has lands and a castle; and yet how miserably we live, and how he stints me! But if he has cause for pride in all these dead men, why, so have I. And are these lodgings, these appurtenances, fit for the 'gentleman' he says I am?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Am I not a gentleman? These are the things gentlemen require. Then perhaps Roland remembered the experiment of his French friend, and left his bureau unlocked, and said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ruin me if you will, but no debts. There is money in those drawers,--they are unlocked."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have no more a son. It was in this mood that he had first visited our house. But when, on that memorable night in which he had narrated to his thrilling listeners the dark tale of a fellow-sufferer's woe and crime,--betraying in the tale, to my father's quick sympathy, his own sorrow and passion,--it did not need much of his gentler brother's subtle art to learn or guess the whole, nor much of Austin's mild persuasion to convince Roland that he had not yet exhausted all efforts to track the wanderer and reclaim the erring child. Then he had gone to London; then he had sought every spot which the outcast would probably haunt; then had he saved and pinched from his own necessities to have wherewithal to enter theatres and gaming-houses, and fee the agencies of police; then had he seen the form for which he had watched and pined, in the street below his window, and cried, in a joyous delusion,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He repents!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, said Vivian, pursuing his tale,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he added mournfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I remember the very words,--a new light broke upon me, struggling and dim, but light still. The ambition with which I had sought the truckling Frenchman revived, and took worthier and more definite form. I would lift myself above the mire, make a name, rise in life!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pray for me"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Spare me reproach, sir,--it is unavailing; I seek you only to propose that you shall save your name and resign your son."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All I ask of you, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sickened and revolted, Roland attempted no argument; there was that in the son's cold manner which shut out hope, and against which his pride rose indignant. A meeker man might have remonstrated, implored, and wept; that was not in Roland's nature. He had but the choice of three evils: to say to his son,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Fool, I command thee to follow me! or say,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wretch, since thou wouldst cast me off as a stranger, as a stranger I say to thee,--Go, starve or rob, as thou wilt! or lastly, to bow his proud head, stunned by the blow, and say,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thou refusest me the obedience of the son, thou demandest to be as the dead to me. I can control thee not from vice, I can guide thee not to virtue. Thou wouldst sell me the name I have inherited stainless, and have as stainless borne. Be it so! Name thy price!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Pause before you decide."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have paused long; my decision is made! This is the last time we meet. I see before me now the way to fortune, fairly, honorably; you can aid me in it only in the way I have said. Reject me now, and the option may never come again to either!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have spared and saved for this son: what care I for aught else than enough to live without debt, creep into a corner, and await the grave? And the more I can give, why, the better chance that he will abjure the vile associate and the desperate course."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I take thee at thy word: 'Just enough not to starve!'"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "made him think,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is not for me, it is only for his name; and he said aloud,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I accept these terms, sir; here is the address of a solicitor with whom yours can settle them. Farewell forever."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Farewell, he repeated;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, then, my task in the world of man is over! I will back to the old ruin,--the wreck to the wrecks; and the sight of tombs I have at least rescued from dishonor shall comfort me for all!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is only one gentleman in the world who calls himself De Caxton, unless it be his son. Ah! I see now why you wished to conceal yourself from my friend Pisistratus. But how is this? Can you have any difference with your father? Confide in me, or it is my duty to write to him."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "For, said he to my father,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I felt the blood surging to my temples; and if I had said to Pisistratus, 'Describe this man,' and by his description I had recognized my son, and dreaded lest I might be too late to arrest him from so treacherous a crime, my brain would have given way,--and so I did not dare!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "in look and in manner which belonged to him. Naturally garrulous and indiscreet, she was unreserved to a pupil whom she conceived the whim to make"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I need not ask, said I, trying in vain to conceal my indignation,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And if we had not arrived, what would you have done? Oh, dare you look into the gulf of infamy you have escaped!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I cannot and I will not bear this! exclaimed Vivian, starting up."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have laid my heart bare before you, and it is ungenerous and unmanly thus to press upon its wounds. You can moralize, you can speak coldly; but--I--I loved!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And do you think, I burst forth,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hush! he cried;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was love! And I pray Heaven to grant that, one day, you may know how little your affection sprang from those feelings which make true love sublime as honor, and meek as is religion! Oh, cousin, cousin, with those rare gifts, what you might have been; what, if you will pass through repentance and cling to atonement, what, I dare hope, you may yet be! Talk not now of your love; I talk not of mine! Love is a thing gone from the lives of both. Go back to earlier thoughts, to heavier wrongs,--your father, that noble heart which you have so wantonly lacerated, which you have so little comprehended!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Spare me, spare me! I see it all now, wretch that I have been!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think I understood from you that you had sent for Austin,--is it so?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, sir; but I named --, as the nearest point to the Tower, for the place of meeting."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then let us go hence forthwith,--nay, I shall be better for the change. And here there must be curiosity, conjecture, torture! said he, locking his hands tightly together."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Order the horses at once!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If there be no vacancy there for me, said he,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall leave word where I am to be found. But I would gladly be where I was before--"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "At least there, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will injure him no more!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have again seen my cousin. I cannot make the way I wished. My dear father, you must see him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I? Yes, assuredly, if I can be of any service. But will he listen to me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think so. A young man will often respect in his elder what he will resent as a presumption in his contemporary."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It may be so. [Then more thoughtfully] But you describe this strange boy's mind as a wreck! In what part of the mouldering timbers can I fix the grappling-hook? Here it seems that most of the supports on which we can best rely, when we would save another, fail us,--religion, honor, the associations of childhood, the bonds of home, filial obedience, even the intelligence of self-interest, in the philosophical sense of the word. And I, too,--a mere bookman! My dear son, I despair!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, you do not despair; no, you must succeed,--for if you do not, what is to become of Uncle Roland? Do you not see his heart is fast breaking?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get me my hat. I will go; I will save this Ishmael,--I will not leave him till he is saved!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You ask me what support you are to cling to: a strong and a good one, sir."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah! what is that?"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "With that promise he was forced to content himself; he told me to direct to him at his favorite country seat, whither he was going that day, and so left me. I looked round the humble parlor of the mean lodging-house, and Trevanion's words came again before me like a flash of golden light. I stole into the open air and wandered through the crowded streets, agitated and disturbed."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am going away for a week or two. Keep Roland company till I return."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Going with him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "With him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is a good sign."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hope so; that is all I can say now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Read and un-learn!"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We sat down on heaps of mouldering stone, and it was there that I explained to him what Roland was in youth, and what he had dreamed that a son would be to him. I showed him the graves of his ancestors, and explained to him why they were sacred in Roland's eyes. I had gained a great way when he longed to enter the home that should have been his and I could make him pause of his own accord and say,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, I must first be worthy of it. Then you would have smiled--sly satirist that you are--to have heard me impressing upon this acute, sharp-witted youth all that we plain folk understand by the name of Home,--its perfect trust and truth, its simple holiness, its exquisite happiness, being to the world what conscience is to the human mind. And after that I brought in his sister, whom till then he had scarcely named, for whom he scarcely seemed to care,--brought her in to aid the father and endear the home."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And you know, said I,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your sister is a part of Home. If you think yourself worthy of either, go and claim both; I will not object."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She has my mother's eyes,"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pardon me, you know not what delight a father feels when, while sending a son away from him into the world, he can speak and think thus of him. But this, you see, is not your kind of ambition. Let us talk of making money, and driving a coach-and-four through this villanous world,"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ask yourself if I ought? I cannot wish Pisistratus to be other than he is; and unless you agree with him in all his principles and objects, ought I to incur the risk that you should give him your knowledge of the world and inoculate him with your ambition?"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "on the rough stones of which he is perpetually grinding his heart; turn him adrift amongst all the temptations to which he is most prone,--this is a trial which, I fear, will be too sharp for a conversion so incomplete. In the New World, no doubt, his energies would find a safer field, and even the adventurous and desultory habits of his childhood might there be put to healthful account. Those complaints of the disparities of the civilized world find, I suspect, an easier, if a bluffer, reply from the political economist than the Stoic philosopher."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don't like them, you find it hard to submit to them, says the political economist;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Thus would say the political economist; and, alas, even in your case, my son, I found no reply to the reasonings! I acknowledge, then, that Australia might open the best safety-valve to your cousin's discontent and desires; but I acknowledge also a counter-truth, which is this:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is not permitted to an honest man to corrupt himself for the sake of others."
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is from Austin, said he; then he paused a moment, and added, in a tone that seemed quite humble,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "May I see it,--and dare I?"
}
] |
7602
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes, uncle! I said, smiling;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have reflected, and I have no fear of the result. Before my father wrote, what he now suggests had become my secret wish. As for our other companions, their simple natures would defy all such sophistries as--But he is already half-cured of those. Let him come with me, and when he returns he shall be worthy of a place in your heart beside his sister Blanche. I feel, I promise it; do not fear for me! Such a charge will be a talisman to myself. I will shun every error that I might otherwise commit, so that he may have no example to entice him to err."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She is yours."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Know thyself, said the old philosophy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Improve thyself,"
}
] |
356638
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Olaf"
}
] |
715504
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's it, sir. You're a ph'los'pher,"
}
] |
479802
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dearest, dearest Olympia,"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Frank Oldfield"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No,"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Miss Stansfield, I suppose?"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am a stranger to you at present, my dear young lady; but I hope not to be so long. I daresay you will guess that I am the new occupier of Riverton Park. I suppose I ought properly to wait for a formal introduction before making your acquaintance; but I have lived abroad in the colonies for some years past, and colonial life makes one disposed at times to set aside or disregard some of those social barriers which are, I know, necessary in the old country; so you must excuse an old man for introducing himself, and will permit him, I am sure, to accompany you as far as your aunt's lodge."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must know, Miss Stansfield, proceeded the stranger,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "he added, with a smile, as he noticed her look of extreme surprise and her blush of bewilderment."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are thinking, What can I have heard about one who is leading such a commonplace, retired life as yours? I will tell you. I have been rather anxious to know what sort of neighbours I shall have round me here, so I have been getting a little reliable information on the subject--where from it matters not; and my informant has told me about an old lady whose estate adjoins Riverton Park, and who has a niece living with her who belongs to a class for which I have a special respect, and which I may call `workers in the shade.' Do you understand me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Perfectly, replied his companion;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course you do. And just for this reason, because you're in the habit of burning candles instead of letting off fireworks; and so you think your humble candles aren't of much service because they don't go off with a rush and a fizz. Is that it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Perhaps it may be so,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, do you remember what Shakespeare says?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, I want you kindly to answer me a question. It is this, Are there any unselfish people in Franchope or the neighbourhood?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're a little doubtful as to the old gentleman's vanity? he said, laughing;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Really, said the other, much amused,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! True, was his reply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, sir, if you mean by unselfish persons those who really work for God's glory and not their own, I freely admit that they are, and I suppose always must be, comparatively rare."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is exactly what I _do_ mean, my dear young lady; can you help me to find a few such unselfish workers in your own rank of life, and of your own sex?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I judge, dear sir, from the tone of your questions that you are a follower of that Saviour who has set us the only perfect example of unselfishness."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I trust so, my young friend, was the other's reply;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish at least to be so. Well, I see we have only a few more steps to bring us to your aunt's lodge. We shall meet again, I have no doubt, before long; and perhaps when we do I shall have more to say to you on the same subject. Farewell, and thank you."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My sister Miss Dawson; my nephew Mr Horace Jackson."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "THE NEW SCHOOL."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "and indeed it had been"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "for so many years, that there seemed scarcely the remotest prospect of its being"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Pray excuse my calling so early,"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was thinking how selfish we naturally are; those beautiful flowers reminded me of it, and seemed to reproach me. God gives us such a profusion of colour, and harmonises it so marvellously to delight us; and yet how ready we are to pick out, as it were, the sombrest tints in his dealings with us, and to keep our eyes fixed on them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, I quite agree with you, Colonel Dawson; there is abundance of selfishness in our days, especially among young people. They seem to think of nothing but having their own way, and seldom condescend to admit that those who have been brought up in less enlightened days can have gained any wisdom by experience."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! I dare say, replied the other;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've no doubt that young people, many of them at least, have a large share of this very unlovable quality. Perhaps we have all of us more of it than we should like to admit to ourselves. But now, to tell the truth, I am on the look-out for one or two unselfish people;--can either of you, my dear friends, help me to find them?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think you will search in vain in _this_ neighbourhood,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nay, my dear Miss Stansfield, are you not a little uncharitable? Surely you can point me to some who love doing good, and forget themselves in doing it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can say `Yes' to the first but not to the last part of your question, was the reply."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There are plenty who love doing good, according to the popular estimate of goodness; but they love still more to be known and praised as the doer of it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, rejoined her visitor,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I fear not, Colonel Dawson. However, I will mention a few of what I believe to be but counterfeit gems. There are the Wilders, for instance. Those girls are always doing good, and their brother too. You have only to look into the local papers to see what a broad stream of good works is perpetually flowing from that family. What with ecclesiastical decorations, Sunday-school and day-school _fetes_, dancing at charity balls, managing coal and clothing clubs, and a hundred other things in which the world and the Church get their alternate share pretty evenly, that family is a perfect pattern of good deeds for everybody to look at,--like the children's samplers, which their mothers point to with so much pride, as they hang up framed in their cottages."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then you do not consider that there are likely to be any unselfish workers in the Wilder family?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You had better ask my niece, colonel. She will give you an unprejudiced opinion."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am asking now in confidence, and with an object, not from mere idle curiosity, far less from any wish to pick holes in the characters and conduct of any of my neighbours. So, Miss Mary, kindly give me your opinion."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I fear that my aunt is right in her judgment of the Wilders. I dare not recommend them to you as likely to prove, in the truest sense, unselfish workers. They are very kind and good-natured, and no one can help liking them; but--"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I understand you, said the colonel;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I fear not; but then I should be sorry to judge them harshly, only you asked my honest opinion."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, speak out, my dear, speak out, said her aunt;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah yes, said the colonel thoughtfully,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm afraid you'll hardly be able to find any in this neighbourhood, for the clouds,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nay, nay, my dear friend, cried the colonel cheerily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ay, said the old lady dryly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You think not? Well, let me tell you what I have heard of her. Those who know her well say that she never seems so happy as when she is doing good and making others happy. Her mother calls her `my sunbeam.' She seems to take a pleasure in thwarting herself in order to gratify others. If she wants to go out for a walk, and some tiresome visitor comes in, she will laugh, and say, `I was just wanting some one to come and keep me in, for I dare say I should have caught cold if I had gone out just now.' Or it may be quite the other way. She is just sitting down to draw or play, and some one calls and asks her to take a walk, and she at once leaves her occupation, jumps up, and says, `Ah, how nice this is! I ought to take exercise, but felt disinclined; and you've come at the very right time, to entice me out.' In fact, her greatest pleasure seems to be to cross her own will and inclinations, that she may do what will give pleasure to others. Such is the picture that intimate friends have drawn of her; and certainly it is a very charming one. What say you to it, Miss Mary?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is very beautiful, Colonel Dawson--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, then, too highly coloured, I suppose you would say. Give me your candid opinion."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is very difficult to say what I feel, replied Mary Stansfield,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course it does, broke in the elder lady;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I fear so, dear aunt. I cannot help thinking that, as some one has said of faith, so it may be said of true unselfishness, that `it is colourless like water,'--it makes no show nor assertion of itself. But dear Grace Willerly is a sterling character for all that."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So then, said the colonel, after a pause,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I must give up in despair, must I? No, that will never do. Now, I am wanting a quiet worker in the shade for poor Bridgepath,--some young lady friend who has a little leisure time, and will go now and then and read in the cottages there the Word of God, and give some loving counsel to those who need it so much. I have the good vicar's full consent and approbation; he will gladly welcome any such helper as I may find for the post. It will be a true labour of love; and, without any more words I am come to ask Miss Stansfield if she will spare her niece for the good work, and Miss Mary if she will be willing to undertake it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Impossible! cried the old lady."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Me!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nay, not impossible, dear friend, said the colonel gently."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want this service of love only once a week for an hour or two, and I am sure you can spare my young friend for that time.--And as for yourself, Miss Mary, I believe, from what I have seen of you, that you are just fitted for the work; and I am sure that you are too sincere to excuse yourself on the ground of an unfitness which you do not really feel."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And what am I to do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Exercise a little of this true unselfishness, dear friend. You see there are many ways in which you too can show true unselfishness in the cause of that Master whom I know you truly love, though he has laid you aside from much active work for him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't understand these many ways in which I can show unselfishness, Colonel Dawson."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you not? May I mention some?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, do,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, bear with me then, while I make one or two suggestions which our late conversations have been leading up to. I will imagine myself in your place, and looking out to see where I may best put the stamp of the Cross on my life. I am wishing to do good, I am trying to do good: but may it not be that my benevolence is sometimes rendered so ungraciously that it gives more pain than pleasure to those who receive it? Ah, then, I will put the stamp of the Cross here. I will try, not only to do good, but to do it graciously. Perhaps, again, I am looking upon suffering and natural infirmity of temper as an excuse for harshness and hard judgment, and not as a call to exercise charity, patience, and forbearance. Then let me put the stamp of the Cross here also. Or, once more, perhaps I am in the habit of looking for the weeds rather than the flowers, for the shadows rather than the sunshine, in my lot. Well, then, here again I may place the stamp of the Cross, by exercising quiet, unostentatious self-denial and unselfishness before the loving eyes of him who has made us for himself, and redeemed us that we might in all things glorify him. Might I not thus, dear friend, exhibit true unselfishness, and at the same time brighten my own heart, and also the hearts of others?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Thank you, thank you, faithful friend. Mary shall undertake the post if she will."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He had not yet consciously arrived at a warmer stage of feeling in regard to any one of them, and his estimate was tolerably correct. Somebody had characterised the young ladies of Holly House as"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What a charming sight, isn't it? said Mrs Wilder to Colonel Dawson, as they strolled up to the tea-tables, which had been set out under the shade of some huge elms."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How happy the dear children seem!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, replied her guest;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah! Very true, colonel;--but won't you come into the house? I see our friends are gathering in the drawing-room. We shall find tea there; and Clara and Millicent, with Grace Willerly, will see that their little friends want for nothing. Oh! Here is your nephew.--Pray, Mr Jackson, come in with us; I am sure you will be glad of a little refreshment."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What a relief!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, it was dull work, uncle, I allow, said the young man, laughing."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But these gatherings are, I suppose, useful and necessary, if people are to keep up friendly acquaintance with one another, and do what is civil and neighbourly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, perhaps so, replied his uncle;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And I am afraid, uncle, that you do not find them improve upon acquaintance."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just so, Horace; they don't suit my taste at all."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And yet, dear uncle, with all their dash, and _brusquerie_, and fastness, they really are most kind-hearted and unselfish girls."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Kind-hearted, I allow, but I doubt their unselfishness."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But why, uncle? What would you have more? They certainly don't spare themselves. They are here, there, and everywhere, when any good is to be done, and think nothing of spending any amount of time and money in making other people happy."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "True, Horace, but there is a pleasurable excitement in all this which more than overbalances any trouble it may cost, especially when the world's applause for their good deeds is thrown into the same scale."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "But, remonstrated the young man, in rather a disturbed and anxious tone,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah! You think me severe and uncharitable, Horace. But now, it just comes to this. What do the Misses Wilder and their brother (for I suppose we must take him into consideration too), really forsake or give up in order to do good? I don't pretend to know the private affairs of the family generally, but certainly there are strong rumours afloat that the maxim, `Be just before you are generous,' is not acted upon by the young people in their money concerns. I allowed just now that they are good-natured, but good-nature is a very different thing from unselfishness. What personal gratification do they surrender in order to do good? What worldly pleasure or amusement do they deny themselves? What extravagance do they curtail?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't say much for them in that respect, certainly, replied the young man thoughtfully;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can well believe it, my dear nephew: but I have something much weightier to say on the subject, and it is this. There is manifestly one great want in all the doings of these kind-hearted people at Holly House, which would make me at once deny the character of unselfishness to their best deeds."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And what is that, dear uncle?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The stamp of the Cross, Horace. I know that there are plenty of crosses about them,--crosses on their prayer-books, crosses round their necks, crosses on their writing-cases and on their furniture; but _the_ Cross is wanting. In a word, they are not denying self, and seeking to do good to others from love to that Saviour who gave up so much for them. I know that they are not without religion in the eyes of the world; but I cannot, I dare not believe that they are really actuated by love to the great Master in what they may do to make others happy. Am I wrong, Horace?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, uncle, I cannot say that you are. Much as I like the girls on many accounts, I should not be speaking my honest sentiments were I to say that I believed them to be doing good to others from real Christian motives. And yet--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Ah, my dear nephew, I know what you would say. I know that the world would embrace such as these within its elastic band as among genuine unselfish workers, though avowedly on a lower level than that adopted by the true Christian. But, after all, can God, the searcher of hearts, approve of anything as being truly unselfish which does not bear the stamp of the Cross? And can anything of which he does not approve be a reality?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I suppose not, said the other reluctantly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, it is difficult not to be dazzled by what looks like a reflection from the true Light; and difficult, too, to detect a sham where we are willing to see a reality."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Very difficult, replied Colonel Dawson:"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How very kind of your aunt to spare you! said Grace to her friend;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I hardly expected it, knowing how much she depends upon you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh yes! was the reply:"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, it is very wonderful, dear Mary. Certainly our new neighbour is a most earnest and useful man; and he has shown his discernment, too, in getting hold of yourself to work for him in Bridgepath. But I am afraid you will find it very up-hill work; you'll want the strength of a horse, the patience of Job, and the zeal of an apostle in such a place as that."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Certainly, I shall want the grace of an apostle, said the other quietly;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It is very good of you to say so, Mary; I am afraid the work wouldn't suit me. I don't mind making sacrifices--indeed, I think I can truly say it is one of my chief pleasures to make them; but there must be something very depressing in the jog-trot sort of work you are called on to do. I don't mind anything, so long as it has a little bit of dash in it; but I am afraid I should soon grow weary of a regular grind like yours."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, but you are quite mistaken about my work at Bridgepath, said the other, laughing."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There is nothing dull or monotonous about it; and it is such a happiness to see the light of God's truth beginning to dawn on dark and troubled hearts. And there is one particularly interesting family--I mean John Price's. You have heard, I dare say, that he was steward to the squire, and that he lost almost everything by his poor master's extravagance. Poor man, he is bed-ridden now, and I fear had little comfort even from his Bible, for he seemed to have learned little from it but patience. But, oh! How he has brightened up, and his wife and daughter, too, now that they have been led to see that it is their privilege to work and suffer _from_ salvation instead of _for_ salvation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't understand you,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Don't you? Oh, it makes all the difference. Poor John Price has been reading his Bible, and bearing his troubles patiently, in the hope that at the end he may be accepted and saved through his Saviour's merits. That is what I mean by working _for_ salvation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And what else, dear Mary, would you have him do?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "O Grace! This is poor work indeed, working in view of a merely possible salvation. No! What he has learned now is to see that his Saviour, in whom he humbly and truly believes, has given him a present salvation; so that he, and his wife and daughter too, can now say, `We love him, because he first loved us.' And so they work and suffer cheerfully, and even thankfully, from love to that Saviour who has already received them as his own. This is what I mean by working _from_ salvation. Surely we shall work more heartily for one of whom we know that he _has_ saved us, than for one of whom we know only that he has saved others, and may perhaps save us also in the end."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see what you mean, dear Mary, but I never saw it so before. Such a view of God's love to us personally must take the selfishness out of our good works, because what we do will be done just simply from love to Christ. It is a beautiful way of looking at God's dealings with us."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, Grace; and as true and scriptural as it is beautiful. It is just what God sees that we need, and furnishes us with the most constraining motive to serve him, and to deny self in his service."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I see it, said Miss Willerly sadly and thoughtfully, after a pause."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I very much fear, dear Mary, that I have been greatly deceiving myself. I have been just simply building up a monument to my own honour and glory out of my heap of little daily crosses."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Nay, dear Grace, you are dealing too severely with yourself."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, I think not. At any rate, I am sadly aware that not the love of Christ, but the love of human applause, has been the constraining motive in my acts of self-denial. I have made such a parade of my willingness to thwart my own will that I might please others, so that while I should have been startled to see a full-grown trumpeter at my side proclaiming my unselfishness, I have all the while been keeping in my service a little dwarf page, who has been sounding out my praises on his shrill whistle."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You judge yourself hardly, dear Grace; and yet, no doubt, self does enter largely even into our unselfishness. I am sure I have felt it, oh, how deeply! And specially just lately, since I have undertaken this work at Bridgepath."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You, dear Mary!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, indeed. And I see now how wisely our heavenly Father ordered his discipline in my case. There was indeed a `needs-be' in my dear aunt's former harshness and irritability to me; but for that, and for her disparaging remarks on my conduct, I might have been more self-seeking than I am. But the discipline has been changed now, and I trust that the chastisement has not been wholly in vain. What we all want, I am sure, if we are to be true workers for God, is to lift our eyes from self, and keep them steadily fixed on Him who has done so much for us."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am sure you are right, said the other."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know I wish to do right, and I feel a pleasure in crossing my own inclination when it will gratify others; but then my inmost look has been to the world and its approbation. `What will people say? What will people think?' or, at any rate, `What will good people say and think?' this has been the prominent thought in my heart, I fear."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, dear Grace, I suppose this is so, more or less, with us all. What we want, I think, and comparatively seldom find in these showy and surface days, is a high sense of duty, so that we just act as duty calls, let the world, or good people even, judge of us or speak of us as they please."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And yet, dear Mary, I think I see a little crevice through which self may creep in even there. I have met some of your `duty' people who have flung themselves so violently against the prejudices of society, or, at any rate, of good people, crying out all the time, `Duty, duty! It don't matter to us what the world thinks,' that they have given great offence where they might have avoided giving any, and have set up people's backs against what is good and true."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I dare say you have met such, dear Grace, and I think you may be talking to one of the class now, said Miss Stansfield, laughing;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah! I believe you are right, said her friend, with a sigh."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I wish there were more of such true unselfishness amongst us; I wish I were such a character myself."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And so you are, dear Grace, in the main. No one can possibly doubt your genuineness and sincerity. You have only just to step up on to the higher platform, and, as your heart's gaze becomes more fixed on a Saviour known and loved, you will cease to think about how your self- denial looks in the eyes of others, and will feel the cross which you carry after Christ in the path of duty to be easy and his burden light."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I shall not forget our conversation on this subject, said Miss Willerly with tears in her eyes."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I always thought that I hated selfishness, but now I see that I have been blinded to my own. I suppose it is very difficult for us to see it in ourselves as it really is, especially in these days when there are so many attractive forms of self-denial. It occurred to me the other day what an odd thing it would be to see how a number of utterly selfish people would get on if thrown together for some weeks, with not a single unselfish person amongst them, and unable to get rid of one another's company. I feel sure the result would teach an admirable lesson on the misery of a thoroughly selfish disposition."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think so too, Grace, said her companion, much amused."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you say to putting a story or allegory together on the subject."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Capital! cried Miss Willerly;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must let me be the first to see it,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, certainly; and you must give me your free and candid criticisms."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, I will do so; and I don't doubt I shall find profit in the reading of it, and a little bit of myself in more than one of your characters."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have ascertained from my lord chancellor, whose secretary took down the names and addresses of you all when you applied for your tickets, that he has made careful inquiry into your several characters, and finds that you all belong to a class of persons who greatly trouble our city. You have accepted my invitation professedly as unselfish people, but your estimate of yourselves is the very reverse of that which is held by those who know you best. I have therefore resolved, for the good of the community generally, to transport the whole of you, for a period of six months, to the uninhabited island of Comoro, situate in the midst of the great lake, where you will find ample means for living in health, peace, and comfort, provided you are all and each willing to lay aside your selfishness, and to find your happiness in living for the good of others. And I trust that at the end of the six months, when steamers shall call for you at Comoro, you may all be spared to return to your homes improved in character, more useful members of society, and more fitted to contribute to the real prosperity of this kingdom."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "but he soon became painfully conscious that he could not do this without the help of"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "May I request, sir, to be informed what it is you have to complain of?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I complain of everything and everybody,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is that _all_ you have to complain of? the commissioner then asked. Before the old gentleman could frame an answer to this second question, the judge, having paused to give a few moments for reply, exclaimed,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Officer, dismiss this complainant;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "And now, madam, continued the commissioner, addressing a middle-aged lady of dignified mien and commanding stature,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I complain, sir, replied the lady sternly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Excuse me, madam, was the judge's reply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And you, sir, speaking to a gentleman of very severe countenance, who had been used at home to"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "--"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Charge, Mr Commissioner! Charge enough, I'm sure! Why, I can't get any one to mind a word that I say."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then, I am sure, sir, the fault must be wholly or for the most part your own.--Officer, remove him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Has no one anything more definite to complain of?"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm sure it's very hard, sighed a knot of young ladies, who had listened from the outside to what had been going on, and were afraid to speak out more plainly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We shall be moped to death if we're kept here any longer,"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ah, sir! replied the poor sufferer, who was a man some sixty years of age, with grey hair, and a countenance whose expression was one of mingled shrewdness, discontent, and ill-temper,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "How alone, my friend? asked the other;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why, sir, was the poor man's reply,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I have been torn from the best and most loving of wives--I who am so entirely dependent on her for my happiness--I who love her so tenderly;--alas! Wretched man that I am, what shall I do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know this gentleman?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know him well, your excellency, was the reply;"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "My friend, said the commissioner gently,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am truly sorry for you; but I am in hopes that your solitude will work for your good. Think over the past with contrition, and be up and joining in some useful work for the good of others; and when you return home, treat your injured, long-suffering, and admirable wife as a human being, a lady, a companion, a friend, an equal, and not, as you have hitherto done, like a slave or a brute beast."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, sir, said the other, somewhat impatiently,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Sir, said the young man, dropping, at the same time, his affected drawl,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On what grounds?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, sir, I have an old mother and a sister, both in infirm health, who can hardly get on without me; and it is only just that I should be allowed to return, as my mother, who is a widow, has no other son."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know this young man?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Far too well, your excellency; he is the clog of his home, the laughing-stock of his companions behind his back, and is despised by all wise and sensible people. He has had situation after situation offered him, in which he could have earned an honest and respectable livelihood, but he has declined one after another as not to his taste. He is far too much of a gentleman, in his own estimation, to enter upon any work that will involve any steady exertion; but he does not scruple to sponge upon his poor mother, to whose support he contributes nothing, and who has barely enough to meet her own needs, while he borrows--that is, appropriates--the savings of his delicate sister, who, though in feeble health, has undertaken tuition, because this brother of hers is too fine a gentleman to live in anything but idleness, and spends those hard- earned savings of hers as pocket-money on his own elegant pleasures and follies."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Contemptible wretch! exclaimed the commissioner with flashing eyes;"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Selfish Island"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I exceedingly regret, ladies, that I cannot promise you any shortening of your time of banishment. His majesty has received your complaint, and has caused due investigation to be made; and the result of that investigation has not led him to make any relaxation in your case. For it has been clearly ascertained that the good works and charitable deeds of which you informed me on my last visit, consisted in your attending to work to which you were not called, to the neglect of duties which plainly belonged to you; and that for any seeming sacrifice you made in the bestowal of your time and labour, you more than repaid yourselves in the applause which you managed to obtain from a troop of ignorant or interested admirers. It would, in fact, appear that your benevolence and labour for others involved no real self-denial in it, but was only, after all, another but less obvious form of selfishness. His majesty admires and respects nothing more than genuine co-operation in working for the benefit of the suffering and the needy; but in your case this stamp of genuineness is found to be wanting. We trust, however, that your present work may prove to be of a better character, and that at the expiry of your exile you will return home prepared to do good from truly pure and unselfish motives."
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I most heartily advise your majesty to do so, said the commissioner, somewhat bluntly;"
}
] |
21134
|
Unknown Title
|
Unknown Author
|
[
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Don't let us interrupt you, Miss Stansfield, said the former;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was only looking round with my nephew, who has not been here before, to see how things are going on in Bridgepath. We will call again!"
}
] |
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