{"id":"01KG6GKXW9PH1WV3WARSF0GHKC","cid":"bafkreiehko23d4kusagito72lyn6md7ld6srtirp4pqgpiykmyluw5szsm","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# The native American poor\n## Overview\nThis is a section titled \"The native American poor\" extracted from [billy_budd.txt](arke:01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR). It is part of the larger segment titled [POOR MAN’S PUDDING](arke:01KG6GK915Y7FT4DZ8F4AZT96R). The section discusses the unique suffering of Native American poor, attributing it to their pride and the social sensibilities influenced by American political principles.\n\n## Context\nThe section is extracted from the file [billy_budd.txt](arke:01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR), and is part of the [Test Collection](arke:01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H). It is preceded by the section [POOR MAN’S PUDDING](arke:01KG6GKXW75HFSDG7XY8DT06R3) and followed by [PICTURE SECOND\nRICH MAN’S CRUMBS](arke:01KG6GKXW95PTFY7EEY0J1N6X0), all of which are contained within the segment [POOR MAN’S PUDDING](arke:01KG6GK915Y7FT4DZ8F4AZT96R).\n\n## Contents\nThe section comprises a passage reflecting on the condition of impoverished Native Americans. It contrasts their suffering with that of European paupers, emphasizing the mental anguish caused by the disparity between the ideal of equality and the reality of poverty. The text also touches on the issue of poor ventilation in the homes of the poor, and critiques the assumptions made by the well-off regarding the habits of the impoverished. The section concludes with a reflection on the perspective of rich men on poor men.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:58.336Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"The native American poor","end_line":6313,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:54:42.784Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"The native American poor","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":6272,"text":"The native American poor never lose their delicacy or pride; hence,\r\nthough unreduced to the physical degradation of the European pauper,\r\nthey yet suffer more in mind than the poor of any other people in the\r\nworld. Those peculiar social sensibilities nourished by our own peculiar\r\npolitical principles, while they enhance the true dignity of a\r\nprosperous American, do but minister to the added wretchedness of the\r\nunfortunate; first, by prohibiting their acceptance of what little\r\nrandom relief charity may offer; and, second, by furnishing them with\r\nthe keenest appreciation of the smarting distinction between their ideal\r\nof universal equality and their grindstone experience of the practical\r\nmisery and infamy of poverty--a misery and infamy which is, ever has\r\nbeen, and ever will be, precisely the same in India, England, and\r\nAmerica.\r\n\r\nUnder pretence that my journey called me forthwith, I bade the dame\r\ngood-bye; shook her cold hand; looked my last into her blue, resigned\r\neye, and went out into the wet. But cheerless as it was, and damp, damp,\r\ndamp--the heavy atmosphere charged with all sorts of incipiencies--I yet\r\nbecame conscious, by the suddenness of the contrast, that the house air\r\nI had quitted was laden down with that peculiar deleterious quality, the\r\nheight of which--insufferable to some visitants--will be found in a\r\npoor-house ward.\r\n\r\nThis ill-ventilation in winter of the rooms of the poor--a thing, too,\r\nso stubbornly persisted in--is usually charged upon them as their\r\ndisgraceful neglect of the most simple means to health. But the instinct\r\nof the poor is wiser than we think. The air which ventilates, likewise\r\n_cools_. And to any shiverer, ill-ventilated warmth is better than\r\nwell-ventilated cold. Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity\r\nover humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits\r\nof the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.\r\n\r\n              •         •         •         •         •         •\r\n\r\n‘Blandmour,’ said I that evening, as after tea I sat on his comfortable\r\nsofa, before a blazing fire, with one of his two ruddy little children\r\non my knee, ‘you are not what may rightly be called a rich man; you have\r\na fair competence; no more. Is it not so? Well, then, I do not include\r\n_you_, when I say, that if ever a Rich Man speaks prosperously to me of\r\na Poor Man, I shall set it down as----I won’t mention the word.’\r\n\r\n\r","title":"The native American poor"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK915Y7FT4DZ8F4AZT96R","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GKXW75HFSDG7XY8DT06R3","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GKXW95PTFY7EEY0J1N6X0","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:54:42.953Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:58.509Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}