{"id":"01KG6G84X66RND7BZMVTBHJ82X","cid":"bafkreiaszn2txgihqnzrqeu5xojph4bj4mxqqo7255m2uwwcwebauxsjvi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7160,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":7076,"text":"‘Ah? You would not think him an extraordinary genius, then?’\r\n\r\n‘Genius? What! such a short, fat fellow a genius! Genius, like Cassius,\r\nis lank.’\r\n\r\n‘Ah? But could you not fancy that Hautboy might formerly have had\r\ngenius, but luckily getting rid of it, at last fatted up?’\r\n\r\n‘For a genius to get rid of his genius is as impossible as for a man in\r\nthe galloping consumption to get rid of that.’\r\n\r\n‘Ah? You speak very decidedly.’\r\n\r\n‘Yes, Standard,’ cried I, increasing in spleen, ‘your cheery Hautboy,\r\nafter all, is no pattern, no lesson for you and me. With average\r\nabilities; opinions clear, because circumscribed; passions docile,\r\nbecause they are feeble; a temper hilarious, because he was born to\r\nit--how can your Hautboy be made a reasonable example to a heady fellow\r\nlike you, or an ambitious dreamer like me? Nothing tempts him beyond\r\ncommon limit; in himself he has nothing to restrain. By constitution he\r\nis exempted from all moral harm. Could ambition but prick him; had he\r\nbut once heard applause, or endured contempt, a very different man would\r\nyour Hautboy be. Acquiescent and calm from the cradle to the grave, he\r\nobviously slides through the crowd.’\r\n\r\n‘Ah?’\r\n\r\n‘Why do you say _ah_ to me so strangely whenever I speak?’\r\n\r\n‘Did you ever hear of Master Betty?’\r\n\r\n‘The great English prodigy, who long ago ousted the Siddons and the\r\nKembles from Drury Lane, and made the whole town run mad with\r\nacclamation?’\r\n\r\n‘The same,’ said Standard, once more inaudibly drumming on the slab.\r\n\r\nI looked at him perplexed. He seemed to be holding the master-key of our\r\ntheme in mysterious reserve; seemed to be throwing out his Master Betty,\r\ntoo, to puzzle me only the more.\r\n\r\n‘What under heaven can Master Betty, the great genius and prodigy, an\r\nEnglish boy twelve years old, have to do with the poor, commonplace\r\nplodder Hautboy, an American of forty?’\r\n\r\n‘Oh, nothing in the least. I don’t imagine that they ever saw each\r\nother. Besides, Master Betty must be dead and buried long ere this.’\r\n\r\n‘Then why cross the ocean, and rifle the grave to drag his remains into\r\nthis living discussion?’\r\n\r\n‘Absent-mindedness, I suppose. I humbly beg pardon. Proceed with your\r\nobservations on Hautboy. You think he never had genius, quite too\r\ncontented and happy, and fat for that--ah? You think him no pattern for\r\nmen in general? affording no lesson of value to neglected merit, genius\r\nignored, or impotent presumption rebuked?--all of which three amount to\r\nmuch the same thing. You admire his cheerfulness, while scorning his\r\ncommonplace soul. Poor Hautboy, how sad that your very cheerfulness\r\nshould, by a by-blow, bring you despite!’\r\n\r\n‘I don’t say I scorn him; you are unjust. I simply declare that he is no\r\npattern for me.’\r\n\r\nA sudden noise at my side attracted my ear. Turning, I saw Hautboy\r\nagain, who very blithely reseated himself on the chair he had left.\r\n\r\n‘I was behind time with my engagement,’ said Hautboy, ‘so thought I\r\nwould run back and rejoin you. But come, you have sat long enough here.\r\nLet us go to my rooms. It is only a five-minutes’ walk.’\r\n\r\n‘If you will promise to fiddle for us, we will,’ said Standard.\r\n\r\nFiddle! thought I--he’s a jigembob _fiddler_, then? No wonder genius\r\ndeclines to measure its pace to a fiddler’s bow. My spleen was very\r\nstrong on me now.\r\n\r\n‘I will gladly fiddle you your fill,’ replied Hautboy to Standard. ‘Come\r\non.’\r\n\r\nIn a few minutes we found ourselves in the fifth story of a sort of\r\nstorehouse, in a lateral street to Broadway. It was curiously furnished\r\nwith all sorts of odd furniture which seemed to have been obtained,\r\npiece by piece, at auctions of old-fashioned household stuff. But all\r\nwas charmingly clean and cosy.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6Q6157DSWZ3Z0MBGJV7M","peer_type":"article","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G84X60ACDQ237EXYCR6J2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6G84X68REWCEHTMXCDWJWA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.934Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:28.898Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}