{"id":"01KG6G849Z12C7BZGGQ2ZA0GK3","cid":"bafkreiadn2tqxatiqajyhcshewcylcfmhrqufcgjmrxbqu6l6ldl5gykie","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11900,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.157Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":11828,"text":"never-ending daily news, the same sort of thing forever, how pleasant to\r\nbe spirited back by a tale, by some veteran’s living voice and eloquent\r\ngestures, to a period that is no news at all, a time prior to those more\r\npronounced changes which have come over so few portions of that ancient\r\nand manifold world across the Atlantic, a world to which we are bound by\r\nunsunderable ties of genealogy.\r\n\r\nHighly, Major, didst thou relish that title whereby, as regards so many\r\nof us Americans, a rare son of New England with happiest simplicity\r\ndesignated that Elder England, from which his progenitor came--_Our Old\r\nName_. But if thy filial appreciation of the historic Past has something\r\nof Nathaniel Hawthorne in it, the medium, Dean, through which thou\r\nrecallest it, viewing it as through an irradiated vapour, this is not\r\nwithout a touch of _our incomparable friend_, the Marquis. He, as well\r\nthou knowest, never is so happy, never so blissfully serene, as when\r\nwandering in a haze along that enchanted beach.\r\n\r\nAmong all thy over-sea reminiscences not the least entertaining to us\r\njuniors is thy liberal version of that famous _Afternoon in Naples_. In\r\nthe wee hours, more especially if inspired by the beaming presence of M.\r\nde Grandvin, how affluent hast thou been on that theme; how vivid in\r\ndescription; and, for the rest, how frolic, pathetic, indignant,\r\nphilosophic; and throughout how catholic and humane. But shall such a\r\nrecital be confined to the small group of the convivially elect,\r\nbrothers of the _Burgundy_? Savours that not a little of the exclusive?\r\nHave a care, Dean. With even more than is implied in that term, one not\r\nlightly to be applied in a democracy, thou hast, unbeknown to thee,\r\nperhaps, been reproached.\r\n\r\nWhen General Grant, a bigot for his friends--and thou wert one of his\r\nmilitary family in the field--when he, as President, nominated thee\r\nconsul at that very Naples thou so entertainest us with, what whisper,\r\ndoubtless started by some rival applicant, what ridiculous whisper, was\r\nit buzzed in the lobbies, that in spite even of Grant’s nomination,\r\nstranded thee unconfirmed by the Senate? But ‘Pshaw!’ thou exclaimest,\r\namused at the enthusiasm of sophomores, when, ending thy Neapolitan\r\nromance we contendingly fire away with:--\r\n\r\n‘Bravissimo!’\r\n\r\n‘Encore!’\r\n\r\n‘Write it out, Major!’\r\n\r\n‘Put it in verse!’\r\n\r\n‘Good, it will immortalise thee!’\r\n\r\n‘And consider, Dean, the glory redounding to the Club!’\r\n\r\nTo all which thy expression ‘Pshaw!’ and the politely proffered\r\nsnuff-box by way of an added parry, and little more do we get from thee,\r\nO Dean of the Burgundians!\r\n\r\nWell, Major, what thou in thy impatience of pen-drudgery and\r\nindifference to any reputation except that old-fashioned one of being a\r\nman of honour; what thou, for these reasons, perchance, never couldst be\r\npersuaded to undertake, I, even I, unsolicited have had the temerity to\r\nessay.\r\n\r\nAnd in so doing I have adopted thy earlier rendering of _That Afternoon\r\nin Naples_ ere yet thou begannest to exclaim, ‘I don’t know what the\r\ndogs is the reason, but I can’t remember anything’; that version seeming\r\nto me akin to what engravers call the first proofs, less free from the\r\nblur that ensues after repeated impressions from the plate. Moreover,\r\nnot unmindful of the enthusiastic injunction, ‘Put it in verse,’ I have\r\nafter a fashion done accordingly. As to the interspersed ballads and\r\nditties--at the which, peradventure, thou mayest stare even as Rip van\r\nWinkle, after his resurrection, did at his son--I do assure thee, Dean,\r\nthey are essentially but thoughts and conceits of thine own, the product\r\nof seeds which planted and spontaneously developing in me, eventually\r\neffloresced into rhyme.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6RG13WHMX37KHEWTF2ZK","peer_type":"frontmatter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G84A57ZHSDVHW0V3V4AX5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6G849Z8PVGD0A5JFG5NCKD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.319Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:32.790Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}