human
Now, what's the matter with you? she asked, not unkindly.
gpt
Are you sick?
human
I s'pose that's Shakespeare you are giving me, she said.
gpt
I don't go much on Shake. He was all right in his day, but his day is past, and he won't go down with people in general now. The public wants something up to date, like this new play of Merriwell's, for instance.
human
Ah, yes, sighed Burns;
gpt
I think you speak the truth. In these degenerate days the vulgar rabble must be fed with what it can understand. The rabble's meager intellects do not fathom the depths of the immortal poet's thoughts, but its eyes can behold a mechanical arrangement that represents a boat race, and I doubt not that the groundlings will whoop themselves hoarse over it.
human
That's the stuff! nodded Cassie.
gpt
That's what we want, for I rather reckon Mr. Merriwell is out for the dust.
human
The dust! Ah, sordid mortals! All the world, to-day, seems 'out for the dust.'
gpt
Well, I rather think that's right. What do you want, anyway? If you have plenty to eat and drink and wear you're in luck.
human
That's all right; but just think of the ones who can't get all they want to eat, and who are driven to work like dogs, day after day, without ever getting enough sleep to rest them.
gpt
Ah, but few of them have hopes or aspirations. They are worms of the earth.
human
Oh, I don't know! I reckon some of them are as good as anybody, but they're down on their luck. The world has gone against them.
gpt
But they have never climbed to the heights, only to slip back to the depths. Then is when the world turns dark.