{"id":"01KG6YH01NYRCYMK5C8ST016ZT","cid":"bafkreich262arvyowca4drvrnn64k74glaqale4ckkmwzqvn4hfznwpl6q","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1843,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 15","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":1784,"text":"nothing had been altered. The cellars were full of great grim, arched\r\nbins of blackened brick, looking like the ancient tombs of Templars,\r\nwhile overhead were shown the first-floor timbers, huge, square, and\r\nmassive, all red oak, and through long eld, of a rich and Indian color.\r\nSo large were those timbers, and so thickly ranked, that to walk in\r\nthose capacious cellars was much like walking along a line-of-battle\r\nship's gun-deck.\r\n\r\nAll the rooms in each story remained just as they stood ninety years\r\nago with all their heavy-moulded, wooden cornices, paneled wainscots,\r\nand carved and inaccessible mantels of queer horticultural and\r\nzoological devices. Dim with longevity, the very covering of the walls\r\nstill preserved the patterns of the times of Louis XVI. In the largest\r\nparlor (the drawing-room, my daughters called it, in distinction\r\nfrom two smaller parlors, though I did not think the distinction\r\nindispensable) the paper hangings were in the most gaudy style.\r\nInstantly we knew such paper could only have come from Paris--genuine\r\nVersailles paper--the sort of paper that might have hung in Marie\r\nAntoinette's boudoir. It was of great diamond lozenges, divided by\r\nmassive festoons of roses (onions, Biddy the girl said they were,\r\nbut my wife soon changed Biddy's mind on that head); and in those\r\nlozenges, one and all, as in an over-arbored garden-cage, sat a grand\r\nseries of gorgeous illustrations of the natural history of the most\r\nimposing Parisian-looking birds; parrots, macaws, and peacocks, but\r\nmostly peacocks. Real Prince Esterhazies of birds; all rubies, diamonds\r\nand Orders of the Golden Fleece. But, alas! the north side of this\r\nold apartment presented a strange look; half mossy and half mildew;\r\nsomething as ancient forest trees on their north sides, to which\r\nparticular side the moss most clings, and where, they say, internal\r\ndecay first strikes. In short, the original resplendence of the\r\npeacocks had been sadly dimmed on that north side of the room, owing\r\nto a small leak in the eaves, from which the rain had slowly trickled\r\nits way down the wall, clean down to the first floor. This leak the\r\nirreverent tenants, at that period occupying the premises, did not see\r\nfit to stop, or rather, did not think it worth their while, seeing that\r\nthey only kept their fuel and dried their clothes in the parlor of the\r\npeacocks. Hence many of the glowing birds seemed as if they had their\r\nprincely plumage bedraggled in a dusty shower. Most mournfully their\r\nstarry trains were blurred. Yet so patiently and so pleasantly, nay,\r\nhere and there so ruddily did they seem to hide their bitter doom, so\r\nmuch of real elegance still lingered in their shapes, and so full, too,\r\nseemed they of a sweet engaging pensiveness, meditating all day long,\r\nfor years and years, among their faded bowers, that though my family\r\nrepeatedly adjured me (especially my wife, who, I fear, was too young\r\nfor me) to destroy the whole hen-roost, as Biddy called it, and cover\r\nthe walls with a beautiful, nice, genteel, cream-colored paper, despite\r\nall entreaties, I could not be prevailed upon, however submissive in\r\nother things.\r\n\r\nBut chiefly would I permit no violation of the old parlor of the\r\npeacocks or room of roses (I call it by both names) on account of its\r\nlong association in my mind with one of the original proprietors of\r\nthe mansion--the gentle Jimmy Rose.\r\n\r\nPoor Jimmy Rose!\r\n\r\nHe was among my earliest acquaintances. It is not many years since he\r\ndied; and I and two other tottering old fellows took hack, and in sole\r\nprocession followed him to his grave.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 15"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGBGJFFWM00TFQS297SSV","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH01NMNY0CXBJ5P0Z0001","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH01NSQKA8XMD71675XG1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:46.933Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:53.149Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}