{"id":"01KG6YH92DDD7EXTHWF4ZBYAY7","cid":"bafkreic2rn4f2gmzjy6aak6or7vhi3sms5rgtkn6vl5qhqskmx3uqnzvj4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":663,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":605,"text":"BARTLEBY.\r\n\r\n\r\nI am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations, for the last\r\nthirty years, has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what\r\nwould seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom, as\r\nyet, nothing, that I know of, has ever been written—I mean, the\r\nlaw-copyists, or scriveners. I have known very many of them,\r\nprofessionally and privately, and, if I pleased, could relate divers\r\nhistories, at which good-natured gentlemen might smile, and sentimental\r\nsouls might weep. But I waive the biographies of all other scriveners,\r\nfor a few passages in the life of Bartleby, who was a scrivener, the\r\nstrangest I ever saw, or heard of. While, of other law-copyists, I\r\nmight write the complete life, of Bartleby nothing of that sort can be\r\ndone. I believe that no materials exist, for a full and satisfactory\r\nbiography of this man. It is an irreparable loss to literature.\r\nBartleby was one of those beings of whom nothing is ascertainable,\r\nexcept from the original sources, and, in his case, those are very\r\nsmall. What my own astonished eyes saw of Bartleby, _that_ is all I\r\nknow of him, except, indeed, one vague report, which will appear in the\r\nsequel.\r\n\r\nEre introducing the scrivener, as he first appeared to me, it is fit I\r\nmake some mention of myself, my _employés_, my business, my chambers,\r\nand general surroundings; because some such description is\r\nindispensable to an adequate understanding of the chief character about\r\nto be presented. Imprimis: I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has\r\nbeen filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is\r\nthe best. Hence, though I belong to a profession proverbially energetic\r\nand nervous, even to turbulence, at times, yet nothing of that sort\r\nhave I ever suffered to invade my peace. I am one of those unambitious\r\nlawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public\r\napplause; but, in the cool tranquillity of a snug retreat, do a snug\r\nbusiness among rich men’s bonds, and mortgages, and title-deeds. All\r\nwho know me, consider me an eminently _safe_ man. The late John Jacob\r\nAstor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation\r\nin pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method. I\r\ndo not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not\r\nunemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor; a name which,\r\nI admit, I love to repeat; for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to\r\nit, and rings like unto bullion. I will freely add, that I was not\r\ninsensible to the late John Jacob Astor’s good opinion.\r\n\r\nSome time prior to the period at which this little history begins, my\r\navocations had been largely increased. The good old office, now extinct\r\nin the State of New York, of a Master in Chancery, had been conferred\r\nupon me. It was not a very arduous office, but very pleasantly\r\nremunerative. I seldom lose my temper; much more seldom indulge in\r\ndangerous indignation at wrongs and outrages; but, I must be permitted\r\nto be rash here, and declare, that I consider the sudden and violent\r\nabrogation of the office of Master in Chancery, by the new\r\nConstitution, as a —— premature act; inasmuch as I had counted upon a\r\nlife-lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short\r\nyears. But this is by the way.\r\n\r\nMy chambers were up stairs, at No. —— Wall street. At one end, they\r\nlooked upon the white wall of the interior of a spacious skylight\r\nshaft, penetrating the building from top to bottom.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7ZQ9TDECCV6B9DR6PT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH92MQ1AJSGSG6SW8KGN0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:56.173Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:02.165Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}