{"id":"01KG6YGB4RVFGNQHRZ9ES6PKBK","cid":"bafkreiedzn7hkwofhjx6hgqjyn5iy4o2sjpadtwwebm55whdccvimasd7i","type":"segment","properties":{"description":"# Inconveniences and the Wife's Proposition\n\n## Overview\nThis segment, titled \"Inconveniences and the Wife's Proposition,\" is a portion of the short story \"I and My Chimney.\" It details the narrator's family's complaints about the inconveniences caused by their large chimney and his wife's radical suggestion to remove it entirely. The segment spans lines 556 to 599 of the original text.\n\n## Context\nThis segment is part of the short story \"[I and My Chimney](arke:01KG6YFYGCYAYC9GHGT2Z086S9),\" a work by Herman Melville, collected within the \"[Melville](arke:01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF)\" collection. The text was extracted from the file \"[i_and_my_chimney.txt](arke:01KG6YDDFE1YJ2Q37Q9JT1AJVB)\". This segment follows the section detailing various guests' misadventures with the house's layout and precedes the discussion about consulting a master-mason.\n\n## Contents\nThe segment begins by recounting an anecdote about a stylish young gentleman who, while attempting to leave, accidentally backs into a dark pantry, mistaking it for an entryway. He emerges flustered, having inadvertently placed his gloves in a drawer of sugar. The narrator then generalizes this type of inconvenience, noting how guests can become bewildered navigating the house to find their rooms, likening it to a royal guest knocking at every door. The narrative culminates with the narrator's wife proposing the complete abolition of the chimney. The narrator vehemently rejects this idea, comparing the chimney to the \"backbone\" of the house and a monument that will outlast the structure itself.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:50.584Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Inconveniences and the Wife's Proposition","end_line":599,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:24.702Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Inconveniences and the Wife's Proposition","source_file":"01KG6YDDFE1YJ2Q37Q9JT1AJVB","start_line":556,"text":"and be aghast at the cellar yawning at his feet. Trying a third, he\r\nsurprises the housemaid at her work. In the end, no more relying on his\r\nown unaided efforts, he procures a trusty guide in some passing person,\r\nand in good time successfully emerges. Perhaps as curious a blunder as\r\nany, was that of a certain stylish young gentleman, a great exquisite,\r\nin whose judicious eyes my daughter Anna had found especial favor. He\r\ncalled upon the young lady one evening, and found her alone in the\r\ndining-room at her needlework. He stayed rather late; and after\r\nabundance of superfine discourse, all the while retaining his hat and\r\ncane, made his profuse adieus, and with repeated graceful bows\r\nproceeded to depart, after the fashion of courtiers from the Queen, and\r\nby so doing, opening a door at random, with one hand placed behind,\r\nvery effectually succeeded in backing himself into a dark pantry, where\r\nhe carefully shut himself up, wondering there was no light in the\r\nentry. After several strange noises as of a cat among the crockery, he\r\nreappeared through the same door, looking uncommonly crestfallen, and,\r\nwith a deeply embarrassed air, requested my daughter to designate at\r\nwhich of the nine he should find exit. When the mischievous Anna told\r\nme the story, she said it was surprising how unaffected and\r\nmatter-of-fact the young gentleman’s manner was after his reappearance.\r\nHe was more candid than ever, to be sure; having inadvertently thrust\r\nhis white kids into an open drawer of Havana sugar, under the\r\nimpression, probably, that being what they call “a sweet fellow,” his\r\nroute might possibly lie in that direction.\r\n\r\nAnother inconvenience resulting from the chimney is, the bewilderment\r\nof a guest in gaining his chamber, many strange doors lying between him\r\nand it. To direct him by finger-posts would look rather queer; and just\r\nas queer in him to be knocking at every door on his route, like\r\nLondon’s city 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\r\nchimneys out of houses, are not to be taken like frosted lead pipes\r\nfrom the ground. Besides,” added I, “the chimney is the one grand\r\npermanence of this abode. If undisturbed by innovators, then in future\r\nages, when all the house shall have crumbled from it, this chimney will\r\nstill survive—a Bunker Hill monument. No, no, wife, I can’t abolish my\r\nbackbone.”\r\n\r","title":"Inconveniences and the Wife's Proposition"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YFYGCYAYC9GHGT2Z086S9","peer_type":"short_story","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDFE1YJ2Q37Q9JT1AJVB","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YGAG0XF41PYX0D598Y7TN","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YGB4RPEMVS858YPW8EK44","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:25.528Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:50.812Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}