{"id":"01KG6YGYW8JQKG3FTB1Q0GR9AD","cid":"bafkreibelcc7mmqdkju7eil2nef36klsuwbgtlipy3hixncpadfclk7mti","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":238,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":177,"text":"jerk, I burst open the scuttle. And ah! what a change. As from the\r\ngloom of the grave and the companionship of worms, men shall at last\r\nrapturously rise into the living greenness and glory-immortal, so, from\r\nmy cobwebbed old garret, I thrust forth my head into the balmy air, and\r\nfound myself hailed by the verdant tops of great trees, growing in the\r\nlittle garden below--trees, whose leaves soared high above my topmost\r\nslate.\r\n\r\nRefreshed by this outlook, I turned inward to behold the garret, now\r\nunwontedly lit up. Such humped masses of obsolete furniture. An old\r\nescritoire, from whose pigeon-holes sprang mice, and from whose secret\r\ndrawers came subterranean squeakings, as from chipmunks' holes in the\r\nwoods; and broken-down old chairs, with strange carvings, which seemed\r\nfit to seat a conclave of conjurors. And a rusty, iron-bound chest,\r\nlidless, and packed full of mildewed old documents; one of which, with\r\na faded red ink-blot at the end, looked as if it might have been the\r\noriginal bond that Doctor Faust gave to Mephistopheles. And, finally,\r\nin the least lighted corner of all, where was a profuse litter of\r\nindescribable old rubbish--among which was a broken telescope, and a\r\ncelestial globe staved in--stood the little old table, one hoofed foot,\r\nlike that of the Evil One, dimly revealed through the cobwebs. What\r\na thick dust, half paste, had settled upon the old vials and flasks;\r\nhow their once liquid contents had caked, and how strangely looked the\r\nmouldy old book in the middle--Cotton Mather's _Magnalia_.\r\n\r\nTable and book I removed below, and had the dislocations of the one and\r\nthe tatters of the other repaired. I resolved to surround this sad\r\nlittle hermit of a table, so long banished from genial neighborhood,\r\nwith all the kindly influences of warm urns, warm fires, and warm\r\nhearts, little dreaming what all this warm nursing would hatch.\r\n\r\nI was pleased by the discovery that the table was not of the ordinary\r\nmahogany, but of apple-tree-wood, which age had darkened nearly to\r\nwalnut. It struck me as being an appropriate piece of furniture for\r\nour cedar-parlor--so called, from its being, after the old fashion,\r\nwainscoted with that wood. The table's round slab, or orb, was so\r\ncontrived as to be readily changed from a horizontal to a perpendicular\r\nposition; so that, when not in use, it could be snugly placed in a\r\ncorner. For myself, wife, and two daughters, I thought it would make\r\na nice little breakfast and tea-table. It was just the thing for a\r\nwhist-table, too. And I also pleased myself with the idea that it would\r\nmake a famous reading-table.\r\n\r\nIn these fancies, my wife, for one, took little interest. She\r\ndisrelished the idea of so unfashionable and indigent-looking a\r\nstranger as the table intruding into the polished society of more\r\nprosperous furniture. But when, after seeking its fortune at the\r\ncabinet-maker's, the table came home, varnished over, bright as a\r\nguinea, no one exceeded my wife in a gracious reception of it. It was\r\nadvanced to an honorable position in the cedar-parlor.\r\n\r\nBut, as for my daughter Julia, she never got over her strange emotions\r\nupon first accidentally encountering the table. Unfortunately, it was\r\njust as I was in the act of bringing it down from the garret. Holding\r\nit by the slab, I was carrying it before me, one cobwebbed hoof thrust\r\nout, which weird object at a turn of the stairs, suddenly touched my\r\ngirl, as she was ascending; whereupon, turning, and seeing no living\r\ncreature--for I was quite hidden behind my shield--seeing nothing\r\nindeed, but the apparition of the Evil One's foot, as it seemed, she\r\ncried out, and there is no knowing what might have followed, had I not\r\nimmediately spoken.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGAW3P706T2A4K9155RNZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YGYW9AMXPCNCW0G6WAZBP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YGYW9406R1AWQ17SFZ00E","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.736Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:52.514Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}