human
And what work interests you so much?
gpt
One you have read, of course, replied Mrs. Dale, putting a book-mark embroidered by herself into the page, and handing the volume to Randal.
human
It has made a great sensation, I believe.
gpt
True, said he,
human
I have heard much of it in London, but I have not yet had time to read it.
gpt
I can lend it to you, if you like to look over it to-night, and you can leave it for me with Mrs. Hazeldean.
human
Oh, that book!--yes, you must read it. I do not know a work more instructive.
gpt
Instructive! Certainly I will read it then. But I thought it was a mere work of amusement,--of fancy. It seems so as I look over it.
human
So is the 'Vicar of Wakefield;' yet what book more instructive?
gpt
I should not have said that of the 'Vicar of Wakefield.' A pretty book enough, though the story is most improbable. But how is it instructive?
human
By its results: it leaves us happier and better. What can any instruction do more? Some works instruct through the head, some through the heart. The last reach the widest circle, and often produce the most genial influence on the character. This book belongs to the last. You will grant my proposition when you have read it.
gpt
I have heard it ascribed to many writers, but I believe no one has claimed it.
human
I think it must have been written by my old college friend, Professor Moss, the naturalist,--its descriptions of scenery are so accurate.
gpt
La, Charles dear! that snuffy, tiresome, prosy professor? How can you talk such nonsense? I am sure the author must be young, there is so much freshness of feeling.
human
Yes, certainly, young.
gpt
I should say just the contrary. Its tone is too serene, and its style too simple, for a young man. Besides, I don't know any young man who would send me his book, and this book has been sent me, very handsomely bound, too, you see. Depend upon it Moss is the loan--quite his turn of mind.
human
You are too provoking, Charles dear! Mr. Moss is so remarkably plain, too.
gpt
Must an author be handsome?
human
Ha! ha! Answer that if you can, Carry.
gpt
I don't see why you should suppose it was written by a man at all. For my part, I think it must be a woman.
human
Yes, there's a passage about maternal affection, which only a woman could have written.
gpt
Pooh! pooh! I should like to see a woman who could have written that description of an August evening before a thunderstorm; every wild-flower in the hedgerow exactly the flowers of August, every sign in the air exactly those of the month. Bless you! a woman would have filled the hedge with violets and cowslips. Nobody else but my friend Moss could have written that description.
human
I don't know; there's a simile about the waste of corn-seed in hand-sowing, which makes me think he must be a farmer!
gpt
A farmer! In hobnailed shoes, I suppose! I say it is a woman.
human
A WOMAN, and A MOTHER!
gpt
A middle-aged man, and a naturalist.
human
No, no, Parson, certainly a young man; for that love-scene puts me in mind of my own young days, when I would have given my ears to tell Harry how handsome I thought her; and all I could say was, 'Fine weather for the crops, Miss.' Yes, a young man and a farmer. I should not wonder if he had held the plough himself.
gpt
This sketch of Night in London comes from a man who has lived the life of cities and looked at wealth with the eyes of poverty. Not bad! I will read the book.
human
Strange, said the parson, smiling,
gpt
A sort of power, certainly, sir,