human
How pleasant to sit here for ever! said Claude, one afternoon, in the inn garden at Beddgelert,
gpt
Till a diver came and tore him up for the sake of his pearls?
human
He did not intend to contain any pearls. A pearl, you know, is a disease of the oyster, the product of some irritation. He wished to be the oyster pure and simple, a part of nature.
gpt
And to be of no use?
human
Of none whatsoever. Nature had made him what he was, and all beside was her business, and not his. I don't deny that I laughed at him, and made him wroth by telling him that his doctrine was 'the apotheosis of loafing.' But my heart went with him, and the jolly oyster too. It is very beautiful after all, that careless nymph and shepherd life of the old Greeks, and that Marquesas romance of Herman Melville's--to enjoy the simple fact of living, like a Neapolitan lazzaroni, or a fly upon a wall.
gpt
But the old Greek heroes fought and laboured to till the land, and rid it of giants and monsters, said Frank.
human
And as for the Marquesas, Mr. Melville found out, did he not--as you did once--that they were only petting and fattening him for the purpose of eating him? There is a dark side to that pretty picture, Mr. Mellot.
gpt
One of your wilful paradoxes, Mr. Mellot; why, you are photographing them all day long.
human
Not quite all day long, madam. And after all, _il faut vivre:_ I want a few luxuries; I have no capacity for keeping a shop; photographing pays better than painting, considering the time it takes; and it is only Nature reproducing herself, not caricaturing her. But if any one will ensure me a poor two thousand a year, I will promise to photograph no more, but vanish to Sicily or Calabria, and sit with Sabina in an orchard all my days, twining rose garlands for her pretty head, like Theocritus and his friends, while the 'pears drop on our shoulders, and the apples by our side.'
gpt
What do you think of all this?
human
That I am too like the Emersonian oyster here, very happy, and very useless; and, therefore, very anxious to be gone.
gpt
Surely you have earned the right to be idle awhile?
human
No one has a right to be idle.
gpt
Oh! groaned Claude;
human
I have done with all eleventh commandments; for I find it quite hard work enough to keep the ancient ten. But I find it, Mellot, in the deepest abyss of all; in the very depth from which the commandments sprang. But we will not talk about it here.
gpt
Why not? asked Valencia, looking up.
human
Are we so very naughty as to be unworthy to listen?
gpt
And are these mountains, asked Claude,
human
Do not courtesy, pity, chivalry, generosity, self-sacrifice,--in short, being of use,--do not our hearts tell us that they are the most beautiful, noble, lovely things in the world?
gpt
I suppose it is so,
human
Why does one admire a soldier? Not for his epaulettes and red coat, but because one knows that, coxcomb though he be at home here, there is the power in him of that same self-sacrifice; that, when he is called, he will go and die, that he may be of use to his country. And yet--it may seem invidious to say so just now--but there are other sorts of self-sacrifice, less showy, but even more beautiful.
gpt
Oh, Mr. Headley, what can a man do more than die for his countrymen?
human
Live for them. It is a longer work, and therefore a more difficult and a nobler one.
gpt
But, tell me, she said,
human
Simply that it is the law of all earth, and heaven, and Him who made them.--That God is perfectly powerful, because He is perfectly and infinitely of use; and perfectly good, because he delights utterly and always in being of use; and that, therefore, we can become like God--as the very heathens felt that we can, and ought to become--only in proportion as we become of use. I did not see it once. I tried to be good, not knowing what good meant. I tried to be good, because I thought it would pay me in the world to come. But, at last, I saw that all life, all devotion, all piety, were only worth anything, only Divine, and God-like, and God-beloved, as they were means to that one end--to be of use.
gpt
It is a noble thought, Headley,
human
It is a noble thought, Mellot; and all thoughts become clear in the light of it; even that most difficult thought of all, which so often torments good people, when they feel, 'I ought to love God, and yet I do not love him.' Easy to love Him, if one can once think of Him as the concentration, the ideal perfection, of all which is most noble, admirable, lovely in human character! And easy to work, too, when one once feels that one is working for such a Being, and with such a Being; as that! The whole world round us, and the future of the world too, seem full of light even down to its murkiest and foulest depths, when we can but remember that great idea,--An infinitely useful God over all, who is trying to make each of us useful in his place. If that be not the beatific vision of which old Mystics spoke so rapturously, one glimpse of which was perfect bliss, I at least know none nobler, desire none more blessed. Pray forgive me, Miss St. Just! I ought not to intrude thus!
gpt
Go on!
human
I--I really have no more to say. I have said too much. I do not know how I have been betrayed so far,
gpt
Can you tell us too much truth? Mr. Headley is right, Mr. Mellot, and you are wrong.
human
It will not be the first time, Miss St. Just. But what I spoke in jest, he has answered in earnest.
gpt
He was quite right. We are none of us half earnest enough. There is Lucia with the children.
human
You have moved the fair trifler somewhat,
gpt
God grant it! but I cannot think what made me.
human
Why think? You spoke out nobly, and I shall not forget your sermon.
gpt
I was not preaching at you, most affectionate and kindly of men.
human
And laziest of men, likewise. What can I do now, at this moment, to be of use to any one? Set me my task.