{"id":"01KG6YH0PGC4Z3PKS3856HTN0P","cid":"bafkreiaqpddkafcz3juatvlwzb4azwwo7chzvquaznbdpllujby5na6cum","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2137,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 20","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":2071,"text":"he kept himself informed of European affairs and the last literature,\r\nforeign and domestic. And of this, when encouragement was given, he\r\nwould largely talk. But encouragement was not always given. At certain\r\nhouses, and not a few, Jimmy would drop in about ten minutes before the\r\ntea-hour, and drop out again about ten minutes after it; well knowing\r\nthat his further presence was not indispensable to the contentment or\r\nfelicity of his host.\r\n\r\nHow forlorn it was to see him so heartily drinking the generous tea,\r\ncup after cup, and eating the flavorous bread and butter, piece after\r\npiece, when, owing to the lateness of the dinner hour with the rest,\r\nand the abundance of that one grand meal with them, no one besides\r\nJimmy touched the bread and butter, or exceeded a single cup of\r\nSouchong. And knowing all this very well, poor Jimmy would try to hide\r\nhis hunger, and yet gratify it too, by striving hard to carry on a\r\nsprightly conversation with his hostess, and throwing in the eagerest\r\nmouthfuls with a sort of absent-minded air, as if he ate merely for\r\ncustom's sake, and not starvation's.\r\n\r\nPoor, poor Jimmy--God guard us all--poor Jimmy Rose!\r\n\r\nNeither did Jimmy give up his courtly ways. Whenever there were ladies\r\nat the table, sure were they of some fine word; though, indeed,\r\ntoward the close of Jimmy's life, the young ladies rather thought\r\nhis compliments somewhat musty, smacking of cocked hats and small\r\nclothes--nay, of old pawnbrokers' shoulder-lace and sword belts. For\r\nthere still lingered in Jimmy's address a subdued sort of martial air;\r\nhe having in his palmy days been, among other things, a general of the\r\nState militia. There seems a fatality in these militia generalships.\r\nAlas! I can recall more than two or three gentlemen who from militia\r\ngenerals became paupers. I am afraid to think why this is so. Is it\r\nthat this military learning in a man of an unmilitary heart--that is,\r\na gentle, peaceable heart--is an indication of some weak love of vain\r\ndisplay? But ten to one it is not so. At any rate, it is unhandsome, if\r\nnot unchristian, in the happy, too much to moralize on those who are\r\nnot so.\r\n\r\nSo numerous were the houses that Jimmy visited, or so cautious was he\r\nin timing his less welcome calls, that at certain mansions he only\r\ndropped in about once a year or so. And annually upon seeing at that\r\nhouse the blooming Miss Frances or Miss Arabella, he would profoundly\r\nbow in his forlorn old coat, and with his soft, white hand take hers in\r\ngallant-wise, saying, \"Ah, Miss Arabella, these jewels here are bright\r\nupon these fingers; but brighter would they look were it not for those\r\nstill brighter diamonds of your eyes!\"\r\n\r\nThough in thy own need thou hadst no pence to give the poor, thou,\r\nJimmy, still hadst alms to give the rich. For not the beggar chattering\r\nat the corner pines more after bread than the vain heart after\r\ncompliment. The rich in their craving glut, as the poor in their\r\ncraving want, we have with us always. So, I suppose, thought Jimmy Rose.\r\n\r\nBut all women are not vain, or if a little grain that way inclined,\r\nmore than redeem it all with goodness. Such was the sweet girl that\r\nclosed poor Jimmy's eyes. The only daughter of an opulent alderman, she\r\nknew Jimmy well, and saw to him in his declining days. During his last\r\nsickness, with her own hands she carried him jellies and blanc-mange;\r\nmade tea for him in his attic, and turned the poor old gentleman in his\r\nbed. And well hadst thou deserved it, Jimmy, at that fair creature's\r\nhands; well merited to have the old eyes closed by woman's fairy\r\nfingers, who through life, in riches and in poverty, was still woman's\r\nsworn champion and devotee.\r\n\r\nI hardly know that I should mention here one little incident connected\r\nwith this young lady's ministrations, and poor Jimmy's reception of\r\nthem. But it is harm to neither; I will tell it.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 20"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGBGJFFWM00TFQS297SSV","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH01NV1D3WKG320P3JP8K","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH0PGBF0RYCW7ZVA497CQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:47.600Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:53.603Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}