human
What made you want to write?
gpt
I had always been a reader. I read everything in the Warburton Public Library, I think. When I was in High School I wrote some stories which the local editor published, under an assumed name. My mother thought I had great talent, and I was tempted to agree with her,
human
How long did your funds last, in New York?
gpt
Not long. I did not have much in the first place. I realized before the money was gone that I must take any job I could find. I was not prepared to do anything.
human
Same old story. How did you get work in the studios?
gpt
Answered Mr. Paxton's advertisement. I've been there ever since. I didn't care what I did, just so I made a living. My real life is here, with my true work.
human
Just what do you do in the studios?
gpt
Anything--everything. Mend their clothes, clean palettes, sweep the studios, make curtains, look after them when they're sick, cook for them when they're busy.
human
No wonder you know them so well.
gpt
Were you never tempted to take up your mother's profession?
human
No. You see, I had always been told how hard that life was, and I suppose I rather shared my father's belief that it wasn't respectable. Warburton found my mother its most interesting citizen, while it disapproved of her entirely. She was just a simple, frail woman, but to Warburton she was a brand plucked from the burning, and her past was never to be forgotten.
gpt
Was your father in love with her, or was it the romance of her profession which attracted him?
human
Father was very religious. I think he married her to save her soul. He was as kind to her as he knew how to be, but he never understood her.
gpt
And you?
human
I loved her and took care of her. She was my child from the time I was a baby. I acted as interpreter to my father, whom I understood, too, in a way. He was a dour, silent man, but just.
gpt
I get the picture of both of them,
human
Can I write?
gpt
How long have you been working at that desk?
human
Five years.
gpt
You've told nobody, offered nothing for sale in those years?
human
Not since my first editor, who gave me such good advice.
gpt
It is incredible.
human
Is the time wasted?
gpt
No. Work is never wasted, and of course you are destined to write.
human
Am I?
gpt
My child, how you care!
human
I have been profoundly interested in the things you gave me to read. I want more, much more. There are certain undoubted qualities--an astonishing vocabulary, a fine sense of words. You are a _gourmet_ for choice words, rich words, words fat with meaning. You've a pretty good sense of form. I can fairly analyze your literary diet. 'Ha, now she's devouring Molière,' I would say to myself, or, 'she's overeating the Russians.'
gpt
As a specialist, I must say that you are overfed and undernourished. You read too much and live too little. You look out on life from this white cell. Do you see what I mean?
human
Yes, yes; but what can I do?
gpt
We must do something. The true artist speaks for the age in which he lives. There is no room for the ascetic point of view in our world to-day--this is a world of the senses. Like it or not, it's true. We measure all pleasure, all experience, by their æsthetic or emotional value. We go back to the very sources of art to find a fiercer reaction. We have Piccabia, Matisse crudity gone stark; we have dissonance in harmony--DeBussey and Strauss; the Russians with their barbaric dances. We have the Irish renaissance in drama, going back to the peasant for primitive emotions. We have the bloodiest war in all times; we are primitive savages in our greed for lust and power, just as we are supermen in devising ways of exquisite, torturing death for our enemies. We are the age of the senses, my friend; we brook no denial of the flesh and its appetites.
human
I understand what you mean; I know it to be true; but how can I have a part in life, when perforce, I am just an onlooker?
gpt
We will find a way. We must open the door of the nunnery, and lead Sister Jane into the world of deeds, of fight and lose, heartache and some rare joys. Do you want to come, Sister Jane?
human
I shall miss the sanctuary, the quiet, and my holy saints, she said, her hand sweeping the books,
gpt
Good. We will begin with your worldly education to-night, dear saint. We'll go to Polly's for dinner, and thence to a meeting at Cooper Union, where I am to speak. Will you come?
human
Oh, yes, she cried excitedly.
gpt
It is so wonderful to have a friend and go off for dinner and talk. You're the first friend I've ever had,
human
That's a responsibility, he answered,
gpt
You have. I wish I could give you something to make you happy, in exchange.
human
I am a _gourmet_ of people, as you are of words, Jane Judd. You give me a rare treat, a new flavour. Come, get your hat, child, and let's be about your living!