{"id":"01KG6YH92DMAHTHTX7PW800NM8","cid":"bafkreieaez3viaoza4sweq5nlr2loyikri3pju37n27l45td3xlbzn7hoe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":907,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":849,"text":"the crisp particles in his mouth. Of all the fiery afternoon blunders\r\nand flurried rashnesses of Turkey, was his once moistening a\r\nginger-cake between his lips, and clapping it on to a mortgage, for a\r\nseal. I came within an ace of dismissing him then. But he mollified me\r\nby making an oriental bow, and saying—\r\n\r\n“With submission, sir, it was generous of me to find you in stationery\r\non my own account.”\r\n\r\nNow my original business—that of a conveyancer and title hunter, and\r\ndrawer-up of recondite documents of all sorts—was considerably\r\nincreased by receiving the master’s office. There was now great work\r\nfor scriveners. Not only must I push the clerks already with me, but I\r\nmust have additional help.\r\n\r\nIn answer to my advertisement, a motionless young man one morning stood\r\nupon my office threshold, the door being open, for it was summer. I can\r\nsee that figure now—pallidly neat, pitiably respectable, incurably\r\nforlorn! It was Bartleby.\r\n\r\nAfter a few words touching his qualifications, I engaged him, glad to\r\nhave among my corps of copyists a man of so singularly sedate an\r\naspect, which I thought might operate beneficially upon the flighty\r\ntemper of Turkey, and the fiery one of Nippers.\r\n\r\nI should have stated before that ground glass folding-doors divided my\r\npremises into two parts, one of which was occupied by my scriveners,\r\nthe other by myself. According to my humor, I threw open these doors,\r\nor closed them. I resolved to assign Bartleby a corner by the\r\nfolding-doors, but on my side of them, so as to have this quiet man\r\nwithin easy call, in case any trifling thing was to be done. I placed\r\nhis desk close up to a small side-window in that part of the room, a\r\nwindow which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy\r\nbackyards and bricks, but which, owing to subsequent erections,\r\ncommanded at present no view at all, though it gave some light. Within\r\nthree feet of the panes was a wall, and the light came down from far\r\nabove, between two lofty buildings, as from a very small opening in a\r\ndome. Still further to a satisfactory arrangement, I procured a high\r\ngreen folding screen, which might entirely isolate Bartleby from my\r\nsight, though not remove him from my voice. And thus, in a manner,\r\nprivacy and society were conjoined.\r\n\r\nAt first, Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long\r\nfamishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my\r\ndocuments. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night\r\nline, copying by sun-light and by candle-light. I should have been\r\nquite delighted with his application, had he been cheerfully\r\nindustrious. But he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically.\r\n\r\nIt is, of course, an indispensable part of a scrivener’s business to\r\nverify the accuracy of his copy, word by word. Where there are two or\r\nmore scriveners in an office, they assist each other in this\r\nexamination, one reading from the copy, the other holding the original.\r\nIt is a very dull, wearisome, and lethargic affair. I can readily\r\nimagine that, to some sanguine temperaments, it would be altogether\r\nintolerable. For example, I cannot credit that the mettlesome poet,\r\nByron, would have contentedly sat down with Bartleby to examine a law\r\ndocument of, say five hundred pages, closely written in a crimpy hand.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7ZQ9TDECCV6B9DR6PT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH92D6AFNTERJEQ7RN9S9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH92GED2ZCQ4YZSH62586","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:56.173Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:02.737Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}