human
Come and sit by me, Phillis, said her guardian.
gpt
I have neglected you. Agatha will tell you that I am a worthless youth of forty, who neglects all his duties. You are so much improved, my child, that I hardly knew you. Prettier and--and--everything. How goes on the education?
human
Reading and writing, said Phillis,
gpt
And you liked your galleries?
human
Some of them. The Academy was tiring. Why don't they put all the portraits in one room together, so that we need not waste time over them?
gpt
What did you look at?
human
I looked at what all the other people pressed to see, first of all. There was a picture of Waterloo, with the French and English crowded together so that they could shake hands. It was drawn beautifully; but somehow it made me feel as if War was a little thing. Mr. Dyson used to say that women take the grandeur and strength out of Art. Then there was a brown man with a sling on a platform. The platform rested on stalks of corn; and if the man were to throw the stone he would topple over, and tumble off his platform. And there was another one, of a row of women going to be sold for slaves; a curious picture, and beautifully painted, but I did not like it.
gpt
What did you like?
human
I liked some that told their own story, and made me think. There was a picture of a moor--take me to see a moor, Lawrence--with a windy sky, and a wooden fence, and a light upon. Oh, I liked all the landscapes. I think our artists feel trees and sunshine. But what is my opinion worth?
gpt
Come with me to-morrow, Phillis; we will go through the pictures together, and you shall teach me what to like. Your opinion worth? Why, child, all the opinions of all the critics together are not worth yours.
human
What is it that has been done?