human
As I say, I sacrificed everything to reason, continued Queed, obviously struggling against embarrassment,
gpt
he asked abruptly,
human
Then you appreciate the nature and the size of the debt I owe you.
gpt
Oh, no, no, no! If I have done anything at all to help you, said Sharlee, considerably moved,
human
Oh, _don't_ talk like that! broke from him.
gpt
You throw out the idea somehow that I consider that I have undergone some remarkable conversion and transformation. I haven't done anything of the sort. I am just the same as I always was. Just the same.... Only now I am willing to admit, as a scientific truth, that time given to things not in themselves directly productive, can be made to pay a good dividend. If what I said led you to think that I meant more than that, then I have, for once, expressed myself badly. I tell you this, he went on hurriedly,
human
I am glad you wanted to tell me, said Sharlee,
gpt
In a certain sense, he hurried on--
human
Perhaps, he said, almost defiantly,
gpt
Oh, yes! I like it very much.
human
And yet, he said,
gpt
I don't think of you as I fancy a man would think of his mother, or even of his sister. It is rather extraordinary. It has become clear to me that you have obtained a unique place in my thought--in my regard. Well, good-night.
human
Oh! Do you think you must go?
gpt
Well--yes. I have said everything that I came to say. Did you want me to stay particularly?
human
Not if you feel that you shouldn't. You've been very good to give me a whole evening, as it is.
gpt
I'll tell you one more thing before I go.
human
I am thinking of making an experiment in practical social work next year. What would be your opinion of a free night-school for working boys?
gpt
Technical training, of course, would be the nominal basis of it. I could throw in, also, boxing and physical culture. Buck Klinker would be delighted to help there. By the way, you must know Klinker: he has some first-rate ideas about what to do for the working population. Needless to say, both the technical and physical training would be only baits to draw attendance, though both could be made very valuable. My main plan is along a new line. I want to teach what no other school attempts--only one thing, but that to be hammered in so that it can never be forgotten.
human
What is that?
gpt
You might sum it all up as the doctrine of individual responsibility.
human
I want to see if I can teach boys that they are not individuals--not unrelated atoms in a random universe. Teach them that they live in a world of law--of evolution by law--that they are links, every one of them, in a splendid chain that has been running since life began, and will run on to the end of time. Knock into their heads that no chain is stronger than its weakest link, and that _this means them_. Don't you see what a powerful socializing force there is in the sense of personal responsibility, if cultivated in the right direction? A boy may be willing to take his chances on going to the bad--economically and socially, as well as morally--if he thinks that it is only his own personal concern. But he will hesitate when you once impress upon him that, in doing so, he is blocking the whole magnificent procession. My plan would be to develop these boys' social efficiency by stamping upon them the knowledge that the very humblest of them holds a trusteeship of cosmic importance.
gpt
I understand.... How splendid--not to practice sociology on them, but to teach it to them--
human
But could we get the boys?
gpt
Oh, I think so! The Department has all sorts of connections, as well as lots of data which would be useful in that way. How Mr. Dayne will welcome you as an ally! And I, too. I think it is fine of you, Mr. Queed, so generous and kind, to--
human
Not at all! Not in the least! I beg you, he interrupted, irritably,
gpt
In the meantime the experiment will have done a great deal for a certain number of poor boys--unfortunates on your doorstep....
human
That, he said shortly,
gpt
Mr. Queed, said Sharlee,
human
Because I am not doing anything of the sort! Why will you harp on that one string? Good heavens! Aren't you yourself the author of the sentiment that a sociologist ought to have some first-hand knowledge of the problems of society?