{"id":"01KG6GMQ55CSSBNBPRPP9H806X","cid":"bafkreidihcksjutkjorcvg3hmwhtbfevq6zx22lrmbvomiup7kesbtvpli","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9466,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.883Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 12","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":9389,"text":"with a deeply embarrassed air, requested my daughter to designate at\r\nwhich of the nine he should find exit. When the mischievous Anna told me\r\nthe story, she said it was surprising how unaffected and matter-of-fact\r\nthe young gentleman’s manner was after his reappearance. He was more\r\ncandid than ever, to be sure; having inadvertently thrust his white kids\r\ninto an open drawer of Havana sugar, under the impression, probably,\r\nthat being what they call ‘a sweet fellow,’ his route might possibly lie\r\nin that direction.\r\n\r\nAnother inconvenience resulting from the chimney is, the bewilderment of\r\na guest in gaining his chamber, many strange doors lying between him and\r\nit. To direct him by finger-posts would look rather queer; and just as\r\nqueer in him to be knocking at every door on his route, like London’s\r\ncity guest, the King, at Temple Bar.\r\n\r\nNow, of all these things and many, many more, my family continually\r\ncomplained. At last my wife came out with her sweeping proposition--_in\r\ntoto_ to abolish the chimney.\r\n\r\n‘What!’ said I, ‘abolish the chimney? To take out the backbone of\r\nanything, wife, is a hazardous affair. Spines out of backs, and chimneys\r\nout of houses, are not to be taken like frosted lead-pipes from the\r\nground. Besides,’ added I, ‘the chimney is the one grand permanence of\r\nthis abode. If undisturbed by innovators, then in future ages, when all\r\nthe house shall have crumbled from it, this chimney will still\r\nsurvive--a Bunker Hill monument. No, no, wife, I can’t abolish my\r\nbackbone.’\r\n\r\nSo said I then. But who is sure of himself, especially an old man, with\r\nboth wife and daughters ever at his elbow and ear? In time, I was\r\npersuaded to think a little better of it; in short, to take the matter\r\ninto preliminary consideration. At length it came to pass that a master\r\nmason--a rough sort of architect--one Mr. Scribe, was summoned to a\r\nconference. I formally introduced him to my chimney. A previous\r\nintroduction from my wife had introduced him to myself. He had been not\r\na little employed by that lady, in preparing plans and estimates for\r\nsome of her extensive operations in drainage. Having, with much ado,\r\nextorted from my spouse the promise that she would leave us to an\r\nunmolested survey, I began by leading Mr. Scribe down to the root of the\r\nmatter, in the cellar. Lamp in hand, I descended; for though upstairs it\r\nwas noon, below it was night.\r\n\r\nWe seemed in the pyramids; and I, with one hand holding my lamp over\r\nhead, and with the other pointing out, in the obscurity, the hoar mass\r\nof the chimney, seemed some Arab guide, showing the cobwebbed mausoleum\r\nof the great god Apis.\r\n\r\n‘This is a most remarkable structure, sir,’ said the master mason, after\r\nlong contemplating it in silence, ‘a most remarkable structure, sir.’\r\n\r\n‘Yes,’ said I, complacently, ‘everyone says so.’\r\n\r\n‘But large as it appears above the roof, I would not have inferred the\r\nmagnitude of this foundation, sir,’ eyeing it critically.\r\n\r\nThen taking out his rule, he measured it.\r\n\r\n‘Twelve feet square; one hundred and forty-four square feet! Sir, this\r\nhouse would appear to have been built simply for the accommodation of\r\nyour chimney.’\r\n\r\n‘Yes, my chimney and me. Tell me candidly, now,’ I added, ‘would you\r\nhave such a famous chimney abolished?’\r\n\r\n‘I wouldn’t have it in a house of mine, sir, for a gift,’ was the reply.\r\n‘It’s a losing affair altogether, sir. Do you know, sir, that in\r\nretaining this chimney, you are losing, not only one hundred and\r\nforty-four square feet of good ground, but likewise a considerable\r\ninterest upon a considerable principal?’\r\n\r\n‘How?’\r\n\r\n‘Look, sir,’ said he, taking a bit of red chalk from his pocket, and\r\nfiguring against a whitewashed wall, ‘twenty times eight is so and so;\r\nthen forty-two times thirty-nine is so and so--ain’t it, sir? Well, add\r\nthose together, and subtract this here, then that makes so and so,’\r\nstill chalking away.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 12"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GKZ3MPDDZB30GXGTJ7ATV","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMQ53AE50X0WXRFFZT6MD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMQ55MYQ1G67D00NZP5K3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:08.837Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:20.350Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}