{"id":"01KG2TRZ03G7QHVERC8XQ67F3P","cid":"bafkreibci73otwpryhz4xnebpkjxdjvbbdlmr7u65afpwoqi7mqrwcrhma","type":"scene","properties":{"description":"# Tom and Huck's Visit to Muff Potter  \n## Overview  \nThis entity is a **scene** from Mark Twain’s novel *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer*, titled \"Tom and Huck's Visit to Muff Potter.\" It spans lines 5924 to 5950 of the source text file [tom_sawyer.txt](arke:01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8) and is part of [CHAPTER XXIII](arke:01KG2TRBP1EAQE80237ZPQXRC9). Extracted on January 28, 2026, the scene depicts a pivotal emotional moment in which Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn visit Muff Potter in jail, where he is being held for a murder they know he did not commit.\n\n## Context  \nThe scene occurs during the unfolding murder trial that dominates village conversation, as detailed in the surrounding chapter. It follows a conversation between Tom and Huck in which they reaffirm their secrecy about witnessing Injun Joe commit the crime, reflecting their internal conflict and fear. This visit to Muff Potter takes place amid growing public condemnation of the accused, setting the stage for Tom’s eventual moral decision to testify. The scene is positioned between [Tom and Huck's Conversation](arke:01KG2TRZ0QJEF857SVS3EX88RC) and [Tom's Troubled Night](arke:01KG2TRYZKEBYXHJ2YY4HMHKH6), forming a narrative arc centered on guilt, loyalty, and the burden of withheld truth.\n\n## Contents  \nThe scene portrays Tom and Huck delivering tobacco and matches to Muff Potter through the jail cell grating. Potter, deeply moved by their kindness, contrasts their loyalty with the town’s abandonment of him. He reflects on his past kindnesses to the boys—mending kites, showing them fishing spots—and expresses gratitude, unaware of their secret knowledge. His words intensify the boys’ guilt, as they feel “cowardly and treacherous” for not speaking up. Potter laments his fate, attributing his crime to drunkenness, and warns the boys never to drink lest they end up like him. In a poignant moment, he asks them to stand close so he can see their “good friendly faces,” even touching them through the bars, acknowledging the comfort their presence brings in his isolation.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-28T17:38:32.132Z","description_model":"Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507","description_title":"Tom and Huck's Visit to Muff Potter","end_line":5950,"extracted_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:15.779Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Tom and Huck's Visit to Muff Potter","source_file":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","start_line":5924,"text":"The boys did as they had often done before—went to the cell grating and\r\ngave Potter some tobacco and matches. He was on the ground floor and\r\nthere were no guards.\r\n\r\nHis gratitude for their gifts had always smote their consciences\r\nbefore—it cut deeper than ever, this time. They felt cowardly and\r\ntreacherous to the last degree when Potter said:\r\n\r\n“You’ve been mighty good to me, boys—better’n anybody else in this town.\r\nAnd I don’t forget it, I don’t. Often I says to myself, says I, ‘I used\r\nto mend all the boys’ kites and things, and show ’em where the good\r\nfishin’ places was, and befriend ’em what I could, and now they’ve\r\nall forgot old Muff when he’s in trouble; but Tom don’t, and Huck\r\ndon’t—_they_ don’t forget him,’ says I, ‘and I don’t forget them.’ Well,\r\nboys, I done an awful thing—drunk and crazy at the time—that’s the only\r\nway I account for it—and now I got to swing for it, and it’s right.\r\nRight, and _best_, too, I reckon—hope so, anyway. Well, we won’t talk\r\nabout that. I don’t want to make _you_ feel bad; you’ve befriended me.\r\nBut what I want to say, is, don’t _you_ ever get drunk—then you won’t\r\never get here. Stand a litter furder west—so—that’s it; it’s a prime\r\ncomfort to see faces that’s friendly when a body’s in such a muck\r\nof trouble, and there don’t none come here but yourn. Good friendly\r\nfaces—good friendly faces. Git up on one another’s backs and let me\r\ntouch ’em. That’s it. Shake hands—yourn’ll come through the bars, but\r\nmine’s too big. Little hands, and weak—but they’ve helped Muff Potter a\r\npower, and they’d help him more if they could.”\r\n\r","title":"Tom and Huck's Visit to Muff Potter"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG2TRBP1EAQE80237ZPQXRC9","peer_label":"CHAPTER XXIII","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG2T4RHC4E1XKJ12BJRXE8E8","peer_label":"tom_sawyer.txt","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_label":"Test Collection","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG2TRZ0QJEF857SVS3EX88RC","peer_label":"Tom and Huck's Conversation","peer_type":"scene","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG2TRYZKEBYXHJ2YY4HMHKH6","peer_label":"Tom's Troubled Night","peer_type":"scene","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-28T17:35:16.247Z","ts":"2026-01-28T17:38:32.466Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}