{"id":"01KG6YGAFV1FE50SWTEB7V0NZ4","cid":"bafkreifl2xwynjvlxlr4ez2zzxcrtsmrokg6unke4wyvgmygactgjewuxa","type":"segment","properties":{"description":"# Interruption and Confrontation with a Neighbor\n\n## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)\nThis text segment is extracted from the short story \"[I and My Chimney](arke:01KG6YFYGCYAYC9GHGT2Z086S9)\" by Herman Melville. It is a portion of the text extracted from the source file \"[i_and_my_chimney.txt](arke:01KG6YDDFE1YJ2Q37Q9JT1AJVB)\" and focuses on a specific scene within the story. The segment was extracted on January 30, 2026, and is part of the \"Melville\" collection ([arke:01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF]).\n\n## Context - Background and provenance from related entities\nThis segment follows \"[The Chimney's Magnitude and the Narrator's Contemplation](arke:01KG6YGAFVENYSHGFMBF29WRZF)\" and precedes \"[Further Defense and Centrality of the Chimney](arke:01KG6YGAFVRR4WP0W362SK4TTD)\" within the short story. The story is part of a larger collection of Melville's works. The text was extracted from a plain text file.\n\n## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details\nThe segment describes an encounter where the narrator is digging around the foundation of his house, prompted by dreams. A neighbor interrupts him, leading to a conversation about the narrator's chimney. The neighbor's remarks are perceived as personal, and the narrator defends his chimney, portraying it as a central and important element of his house, even as a \"king.\"\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:50.986Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Interruption and Confrontation with a Neighbor","end_line":284,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:24.702Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Interruption and Confrontation with a Neighbor","source_file":"01KG6YDDFE1YJ2Q37Q9JT1AJVB","start_line":254,"text":"day—when I was a little out of my mind, I now think—getting a spade\r\nfrom the garden, I set to work, digging round the foundation,\r\nespecially at the corners thereof, obscurely prompted by dreams of\r\nstriking upon some old, earthen-worn memorial of that by-gone day,\r\nwhen, into all this gloom, the light of heaven entered, as the masons\r\nlaid the foundation-stones, peradventure sweltering under an August\r\nsun, or pelted by a March storm. Plying my blunted spade, how vexed was\r\nI by that ungracious interruption of a neighbor who, calling to see me\r\nupon some business, and being informed that I was below said I need not\r\nbe troubled to come up, but he would go down to me; and so, without\r\nceremony, and without my having been forewarned, suddenly discovered\r\nme, digging in my cellar.\r\n\r\n“Gold digging, sir?”\r\n\r\n“Nay, sir,” answered I, starting, “I was merely—ahem!—merely—I say I\r\nwas merely digging-round my chimney.”\r\n\r\n“Ah, loosening the soil, to make it grow. Your chimney, sir, you regard\r\nas too small, I suppose; needing further development, especially at the\r\ntop?”\r\n\r\n“Sir!” said I, throwing down the spade, “do not be personal. I and my\r\nchimney—”\r\n\r\n“Personal?”\r\n\r\n“Sir, I look upon this chimney less as a pile of masonry than as a\r\npersonage. It is the king of the house. I am but a suffered and\r\ninferior subject.”\r\n\r","title":"Interruption and Confrontation with a Neighbor"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YFYGCYAYC9GHGT2Z086S9","peer_type":"short_story","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDFE1YJ2Q37Q9JT1AJVB","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YGAFVENYSHGFMBF29WRZF","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YGAFVRR4WP0W362SK4TTD","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:24.859Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:51.168Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}