{"id":"01KG6YGYW9AMXPCNCW0G6WAZBP","cid":"bafkreie7ouac76435sc4djfyhqs4ka2w7z4lqsyioder6v26ydgwnh6ium","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":184,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":138,"text":"which the slates were laid. The roof shedding the water four ways from\r\na high point in the centre, the space beneath was much like that of\r\na general's marquee--only midway broken by a labyrinth of timbers,\r\nfor braces, from which waved innumerable cobwebs, that, of a summer's\r\nnoon, shone like Bagdad tissues and gauzes. On every hand, some strange\r\ninsect was seen, flying, or running, or creeping, on rafter and floor.\r\n\r\nUnder the apex of the roof was a rude, narrow, decrepit step-ladder,\r\nsomething like a Gothic pulpit-stairway, leading to a pulpit-like\r\nplatform, from which a still narrower ladder--a sort of Jacob's\r\nladder--led somewhat higher to the lofty scuttle. The slide of this\r\nscuttle was about two feet square, all in one piece, furnishing a\r\nmassive frame for a single small pane of glass, inserted into it like\r\na bull's-eye. The light of the garret came from this sole source,\r\nfiltrated through a dense curtain of cobwebs. Indeed, the whole stairs,\r\nand platform, and ladder, were festooned, and carpeted, and canopied\r\nwith cobwebs; which, in funereal accumulations, hung, too, from the\r\ngroined, murky ceiling, like the Carolina moss in the cypress forest.\r\nIn these cobwebs, swung, as in aerial catacombs, myriads of all tribes\r\nof mummied insects.\r\n\r\nClimbing the stairs to the platform, and pausing there, to recover my\r\nbreath, a curious scene was presented. The sun was about half-way up.\r\nPiercing the little sky-light, it slopingly bored a rainbowed tunnel\r\nclear across the darkness of the garret. Here, millions of butterfly\r\nmoles were swarming. Against the sky-light itself, with a cymbal-like\r\nbuzzing, thousands of insects clustered in a golden mob.\r\n\r\nWishing to shed a clearer light through the place, I sought to\r\nwithdraw the scuttle-slide. But no sign of latch or hasp was visible.\r\nOnly after long peering, did I discover a little padlock, imbedded,\r\nlike an oyster at the bottom of the sea, amid matted masses of weedy\r\nwebs, chrysalides, and insectivorous eggs. Brushing these away, I found\r\nit locked. With a crooked nail, I tried to pick the lock, when scores\r\nof small ants and flies, half-torpid, crawled forth from the keyhole,\r\nand, feeling the warmth of the sun in the pane, began frisking around\r\nme. Others appeared. Presently, I was overrun by them. As if incensed\r\nat this invasion of their retreat, countless bands darted up from\r\nbelow, beating about my head, like hornets. At last, with a sudden\r\njerk, 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","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGAW3P706T2A4K9155RNZ","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YGYW61EEPP7247JRGMFAY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YGYW8JQKG3FTB1Q0GR9AD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.737Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:52.495Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}