{"id":"01KG6YH19FS605YQ51M9V48QRJ","cid":"bafkreienlyig6fcorrf76a7izcx2j6kfimbj2luyy74nbhhi7urrx5zukm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2821,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":2743,"text":"and, with a deeply embarrassed air, requested my daughter to designate\r\nat which of the nine he should find exit. When the mischievous Anna\r\ntold me 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\r\nthrust his 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\r\nhim and it. To direct him by fingerposts would look rather queer; and\r\njust as 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\nSo said I then. But who is sure of himself, especially an old man,\r\nwith both wife and daughters ever at his elbow and ear? In time, I\r\nwas persuaded to think a little better of it; in short, to take the\r\nmatter into preliminary consideration. At length it came to pass that a\r\nmaster-mason--a rough sort of architect--one Mr. Scribe, was summoned\r\nto a conference. I formally introduced him to my chimney. A previous\r\nintroduction from my wife had introduced him to myself. He had been\r\nnot a little employed by that lady, in preparing plans and estimates\r\nfor some of her extensive operations in drainage. Having, with much\r\nado, exhorted from my spouse the promise that she would leave us to\r\nan unmolested survey, I began by leading Mr. Scribe down to the root\r\nof the matter, in the cellar. Lamp in hand, I descended; for though\r\nup-stairs it was noon, below it was night.\r\n\r\nWe seemed in the pyramids; and I, with one hand holding my lamp over\r\nhead, and with the other pointing out, in the obscurity, the hoar mass\r\nof the chimney, seemed some Arab guide, showing the cobwebbed mausoleum\r\nof the great god Apis.\r\n\r\n\"This is a most remarkable structure, sir,\" said the master-mason,\r\nafter long contemplating it in silence, \"a most remarkable structure,\r\nsir.\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes,\" said I complacently, \"every one says so.\"\r\n\r\n\"But large as it appears above the roof, I would not have inferred the\r\nmagnitude of this foundation, sir,\" eyeing it critically.\r\n\r\nThen taking out his rule, he measured it.\r\n\r\n\"Twelve feet square; one hundred and forty-four square feet! Sir, this\r\nhouse would appear to have been built simply for the accommodation of\r\nyour chimney.\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, my chimney and me. Tell me candidly, now,\" I added, \"would you\r\nhave such a famous chimney abolished?\"\r\n\r\n\"I wouldn't have it in a house of mine, sir, for a gift,\" was the\r\nreply. \"It's a losing affair altogether, sir. Do you know, sir, that\r\nin retaining this chimney, you are losing, not only one hundred and\r\nforty-four square feet of good ground, but likewise a considerable\r\ninterest upon a considerable principal?\"\r\n\r\n\"How?\"\r\n\r\n\"Look, sir!\" said he, taking a bit of red chalk from his pocket, and\r\nfiguring against a whitewashed wall, \"twenty times eight is so and so;\r\nthen forty-two times thirty-nine is so and so--ain't it, sir? Well, add\r\nthose together, and subtract this here, then that makes so and so,\"\r\nstill chalking away.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGBGPFPH23W72RDZNFT0X","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH19AQEWW8E8THBD7V4CZ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH19AK8NEY3C6CGKMJ3JD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:48.207Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:53.905Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}