{"id":"01KG6GMS08F1GWVT8KMS32PF1N","cid":"bafkreiea3qgyfgkklqv42s2pxnmv4xdyzg3o2r2t2w64ymcbzdjcc7bmy4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4976,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.879Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":4919,"text":"solemn disposition; that he was of the mind of Solomon; that he lived\r\ncalmly, decorously, temperately; and though a very poor man, was,\r\nnevertheless, a highly respectable one. At times I imagined that he\r\nmight even be an elder or deacon of some small country church. I thought\r\nit would not be a bad plan to run this excellent man for President of\r\nthe United States. He would prove a great reformer of abuses.\r\n\r\nHis name was Merrymusk. I had often thought how jolly a name for so\r\nunjolly a wight. I inquired of people whether they knew Merrymusk. But\r\nit was some time before I learned much about him. He was by birth a\r\nMarylander, it appeared, who had long lived in the country round about;\r\na wandering man; until within some ten years ago, a thriftless man,\r\nthough perfectly innocent of crime; a man who would work hard a month\r\nwith surprising soberness, and then spend all his wages in one riotous\r\nnight. In youth he had been a sailor, and run away from his ship at\r\nBatavia, where he caught the fever, and came nigh dying. But he rallied,\r\nreshipped, landed home, found all his friends dead, and struck for the\r\nNorthern interior, where he had since tarried. Nine years back he had\r\nmarried a wife, and now had four children. His wife was become a perfect\r\ninvalid; one child had the white-swelling, and the rest were rickety. He\r\nand his family lived in a shanty on a lonely barren patch nigh the\r\nrailroad-track, where it passed close to the base of a mountain. He had\r\nbought a fine cow to have plenty of wholesome milk for his children; but\r\nthe cow died during an accouchement, and he could not afford to buy\r\nanother. Still, his family never suffered for lack of food. He worked\r\nhard and brought it to them.\r\n\r\nNow, as I said before, having long previously sawed my wood, this\r\nMerrymusk came for his pay.\r\n\r\n‘My friend,’ said I, ‘do you know of any gentleman hereabouts who owns\r\nan extraordinary cock?’\r\n\r\nThe twinkle glittered quite plain in the wood-sawyer’s eye.\r\n\r\n‘I know of no _gentleman_,’ he replied, ‘who has what might well be\r\ncalled an extraordinary cock.’\r\n\r\nOh, thought I, this Merrymusk is not the man to enlighten me. I am\r\nafraid I shall never discover this extraordinary cock.\r\n\r\nNot having the full change to pay Merrymusk, I gave him his due, as nigh\r\nas I could make it, and told him that in a day or two I would take a\r\nwalk and visit his place, and hand him the remainder. Accordingly one\r\nfine morning I sallied forth upon the errand. I had much ado finding the\r\nbest road to the shanty. No one seemed to know where it was exactly. It\r\nlay in a very lonely part of the country, a densely-wooded mountain on\r\none side (which I call October Mountain, on account of its bannered\r\naspect in that month), and a thicketed swamp on the other, the railroad\r\ncutting the swamp. Straight as a die the railroad cut it; many times a\r\nday tantalising the wretched shanty with the sight of all the beauty,\r\nrank, fashion, health, trunks, silver and gold, dry-goods and groceries,\r\nbrides and grooms, happy wives and husbands, flying by the lonely\r\ndoor--no time to stop--flash! here they are--and there they go!--out of\r\nsight at both ends--as if that part of the world were only made to fly\r\nover, and not to settle upon. And this was about all the shanty saw of\r\nwhat people call ‘life.’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK910Q5DQ0F8Y8A2E4V1N","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMS08B9V49J6NQSN5KR0T","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMS0DDWPNWCY9BQ85N6M1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:10.728Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:16.893Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}