Pitman

“ Pitman put his lips to it, set it down again, and sighed.
‘Well, I must say you’re the poorest companion for a holiday!’ cried Michael. ‘If that’s all you know of brandy, you shall have no more of it; and while I finish the flask, you may as well begin business. Come to think of it,’ he broke off, ‘I have made an abominable error: you should have ordered the cart before you were disguised. Why, Pitman, what the devil’s the use of you? why couldn’t you have reminded me of that?’
‘I never even knew there was a cart to be ordered,’ said the artist. ”

“ We must place the affair, in short, in the hands of some one with fewer scruples and more resources.”
“A private detective, perhaps?” suggested Pitman.
“There are times when you fill me with pity,” observed the lawyer. “By the way, Pitman,” he added in another key, “I have always regretted that you have no piano in this den of yours. Even if you don’t play yourself, your friends might like to entertain themselves with a little music while you were mudding.” ”

“ Finsbury, do not trifle with my misery,” cried Pitman. “You see before you a man who has been all his life—I do not hesitate to say it—eminently respectable. Even in this solemn hour I can lay my hand upon my heart without a blush. Except on the really trifling point of the smuggling of the Hercules (and even of that I now humbly repent) , my life has been entirely fit for publication. I never feared the light,” cried the little man; “and now—now——!”
“Cheer up, old boy,” said Michael. ”

“ Pitman, in consequence of the numerous alterations that were being made, was disgusted, and came to America to see if he could establish a system upon a little different principle. A certain wealthy gentleman in our country became interested in the enterprise, and he, by will, advanced money to publish an extensive dictionary upon the phonetic principle. ”

“ His true objective was the provision of a full, accurate, legible script for our noble but ill-dressed language; but he was led past that by his contempt for the popular Pitman system of Shorthand, which he called the Pitfall system. The triumph of Pitman was a triumph of business organization: there was a weekly paper to persuade you to learn Pitman: there were cheap textbooks and exercise books and transcripts of speeches for you to copy, and schools where experienced teachers coached you up to the necessary proficiency. Sweet could not organize his market in that fashion. ”

“ At four o'clock my door-bell rang violently; and upon descending to ascertain the cause of a visit at such an unseemly hour, I encountered Judge Pitman. He was nearly frantic with indignation.
"Adeler," he said, "them fellers is a-carryin' on scand'lus over yer at my house. They're all drunk as owls; an' when I want 'em to go home, they laugh an' swear an' cheer [Pg 366] an' smash the furniture an' bu'st things generally. Mrs. Pitman's 'bout skeered to death. ”

“ On Michael in the character of charioteer (since this is not intended to be a novel of adventure) it would be superfluous to dwell at length. Pitman, as he sat holding on and gasping counsels, sole witness of this singular feat, knew not whether most to admire the driver’s valour or his undeserved good fortune. But the latter at least prevailed, the cart reached Cannon Street without disaster; and Mr Brown’s piano was speedily and cleverly got on board. ”

“ A bald Pitman, I know, is less fascinating than a Pitman with hair; but rather than have suffered this misery, I would prefer a Pitman without an eye-winker, or fuzz enough on him to make a camel’s-hair pencil. But I shall hardly give another certificate of cure in any event. If I should see a patent medicine man take a mummy which died the year Joseph was sold into Egypt, and dose it until it kicked off its rags and danced the polka mazurka while it whistled the tune, I would die at the stake sooner than acknowledge the miracle on paper. ”

“ I inquired.
"Shut up, Victor," said Pitman. "How much?" he asked, addressing the salesman.
"Let yer 'ave it for thirty bob, sir. Twenty pahnd turkey for thirty bob!"
"Right you are," said Pitman, handing across the basket. "Put it in here."
"Now we'll go and have another bottle of fizz," I remarked, as we turned away from the stall.
Pitman nodded his head. "The cold weather makes one frightfully thirsty, doesn't it?"
"Nearly as bad as the hot," I agreed.
"We must be careful not to have too much," said Pitman. ”

“ I have played upon it several times myself,” said Pitman. “The three-letter E was broken.”
“Don’t say anything more about pianos,” said Morris, with a strong shudder; “I’m not the man I used to be! This—this other man—let’s come to him, if I can only manage to follow. Who is he? Where can I get hold of him?”
“Ah, that’s the rub,” said Michael. ”

“ He was an enthusiastic spelling reformer, and adopted a phonetic system which he tried to bring into general use. Pitman was twice married, his first wife dying in 1857, and his second, whom he married in 1861, surviving him. In 1894 he was knighted, and on the 22nd of January 1897 he died at Bath. Sir Isaac Pitman popularized shorthand at a time when the advance of the newspaper press and modern business methods were making it a matter of great commercial importance. His system adapted itself readily to the needs of journalism, and its use revolutionized the work of reporting. ”

“ Have a care and don’t stave in Cleopatra’s head.”
But the sight of Pitman’s alacrity was infectious. The lawyer could sit still no longer. Tossing his cigar into the fire, he snatched the instrument from the unwilling hands of the artist, and fell to himself. Soon the sweat stood in beads upon his large, fair brow; his stylish trousers were defaced with iron rust, and the state of his chisel testified to misdirected energies.
A cask is not an easy thing to open, even when you set about it in the right way; when you set about it wrongly, the whole structure must be resolved into its elements. ”

“ Pitman: certainly, of old, he had been more open to the quotable than to the inexpressible, to charms than to charm. If she could try the quotable, however, and with such a grand result, on Mrs. Drack, she couldn't now on Murray—in respect to whom everything had changed. So that if he hadn't a sense for the subtler appeal, the appeal appreciable by people not vulgar, on which alone she could depend, what on earth would become of her? She could but yearningly hope, at any rate, as she made up her mind to write to him immediately at his club. It was a question of the right sensibility in him. ”

“ PITMAN, Sir HENRY ALFRED (1808–1908) , physician, born in London on 1 July 1808, was youngest of the seven children of Thomas Dix Pitman, a solicitor in Furnival's Inn, by his wife Ann Simmons, of a Worcester family. Educated privately, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827, where he graduated B.A. in 1832. After travelling abroad for a year he spent six months in the office of his brother-in-law, who was a solicitor, and thus obtained a training in business methods. He then turned to medicine, working first for a year at Cambridge and then at King's College and at St. ”

“ I had no right, I see, to resent expressions, wounding as they were, which were in no sense directed.”
“That’s all right,” cried Michael, getting on the cart. “Not a word more, Pitman. Very proper feeling on your part; no man of self-respect can stand by and hear his alias insulted.” ”

“ Pitman. All day, it is true, he was engaged in the work of education at a seminary for young ladies; but the evenings at least were his own, and these he would prolong far into the night, now dashing off “A landscape with waterfall” in oil, now a volunteer bust (“in marble,” as he would gently but proudly observe) of some public character, now stooping his chisel to a mere “nymph” (“for a gas-bracket on a stair, sir “) , or a life-size “Infant Samuel” for a religious nursery. Mr. ”

“ The packing-case came; that's sure enough, because it was about the biggest packing-case ever I clapped eyes on. And this Pitman he seemed a good deal cut up, and he had the superintendent out, and they got hold of the van man—him as took the packing-case. Well, sir,' continued Bill, with a smile, 'I never see a man in such a state; everybody about that van was mortal, bar the horses. Some gen'leman (as well as I could make out) had given the van man a sov; and so that was where the trouble come in, you see.'
'But what did he say?' gasped Morris. ”

“ That voyage to Gravesend was only one among many destined to work a revolution in female convict life.
Alterations, which were not always improvements, began to take place in the manner of receiving these women on board ship. The vessels were moored at Woolwich, and group by group the miserable complement of passengers arrived; in each case, however, controlled by male warders. Sometimes, a turnkey would bring his party on the outside of a stage-coach; another might bring a contingent in a smack, or coasting vessel ”

“ Could some system be set in operation which should afford opportunity for the thoughtless and unwary criminal, who has heedlessly fallen into temptation, to retrace his steps and attain once more the height whence he has fallen, it would be a boon to society. ”

“ I have seen several things in myself and others I never before remarked, but I have not tried to improve myself—have given way to my passions and let them have command over me, I have known my faults and not corrected them—and now I am determined I will once more try with redoubled ardour to overcome my wicked inclinations. ”

“ At Kinghorn, Fifeshire, a young laird had languished in a state of madness for six years in the prison there, and had at last committed suicide. Poor deranged human nature flew to death as a remedy against torture. ”

“ We know her mostly as a prison philanthropist; but while following her career in that path, it will be wise not to forget the way in which she was led. By slow and painful degrees she was drawn away from the circles of fashion in which once her soul delighted. Then her nature seemed so retiring, and the tone of her piety so mystical, while she dreaded nervously all approach to "religious enthusiasm," that a career of publicity, either in prisons, among rulers, or among the ministers of her own Society, seemed too far away to be ever realised in fact and deed. ”

“ It is an old adage that "nothing succeeds like success." Mrs. Fry and her prison-labours had become famous; not only famous, but the subjects of talk, both in society and out of it. Kings, Queens, statesmen, philanthropists, ladies of fashion, devotees of charity, authors and divines were all looking with more or less interest at the experiments made by the apostles of this new crusade against vice, misery, and crime. ”

“ In taking a view of this good woman's religious life and character, it will be helpful to see her as she appeared to herself—to enter into her own feelings at different periods of her life, and to listen to her heart-felt expressions of humility and perplexity. ”

“ I mourn to say I have seen the want of this bright honour, not only in school-boys, but in some of our highly-professing Society; and my belief is that it cannot be too strictly maintained, or too early begun. I like to see it in small things, and in great; for it marks the upright man. I may say that I abhor anything like being under-handed or double-dealing; but let us go on the right and noble principle of doing to others as we would have others do to us; therefore, in all transactions, small and great, maintain strictly the correct, upright, and most honourable practice. ”

“ I think doing so in moderation is pleasant and useful in society. It is among the things that produce the harmony of society; for the truth must not be spoken out at all times, at least not the whole truth. ”

“ Margaret Fuller will be remembered as one of the "Great Conversers," the "Prophet of the Woman Movement" in this country, and her Memoirs will be read with delight as among the tenderest specimens of biographical writing in our language. She was never an extremist. She considered woman neither man's rival nor his foe, but his complement. As she herself said, she believed that the development of one could not be affected without that of the other. Her words, so noble in tone, so moderate in spirit, so eloquent in utterance, should not be forgotten by her sisters. ”

“ In society there was a constant war going on between law and crime. Extirpation—not reform—was the end aimed at; the prison officials of that time looked upon a criminal as a helpless wretch, presenting fair game for plunder, torture, and tyranny. The records in Howard's journals and the annals of Mrs. Fry's labours, amply enlighten us as to the result of this state of things.
In Bedford gaol the dungeons for felons were eleven feet below the ground, always wet and slimy, and upon these floors the inmates had to sleep. ”

“ And, again, "I cannot in conscience take any step towards destroying the life of a fellow-creature whose crime against society affects my property only. I am in possession, like other men, of the feelings of common humanity, and to aid and abet in procuring the destruction of any man living would be to me extremely distressing and horrible." As a banker, Mr. Gurney felt that the punishment for forgery should be heavy and sharp, but less than death. ”