{"id":"01KG8AK781WQ6A58MSN108MW3V","cid":"bafkreignyqwgquydgqg5k7dda6oxoazvnclj34bzaheprqdwf22jfuu55u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1257,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:56.335Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX","start_line":1212,"text":"by these grotesque forms, and hushed in the noonday repose of this\r\nHawthorne's spell, how aptly might the still fall of his ruddy thoughts\r\ninto your soul be symbolized by: \"In the stillest afternoon, if I\r\nlistened, the thump of a great apple was audible, falling without a\r\nbreath of wind, from the mere necessity of perfect ripeness.\" For no\r\nless ripe than ruddy are the apples of the thoughts and fancies in this\r\nsweet Man of Mosses.\r\n\r\n_Buds and Bird Voices._ What a delicious thing is that! \"Will the world\r\never be so decayed, that spring may not renew its greenness?\" And the\r\n_Fire Worship_. Was ever the hearth so glorified into an altar before?\r\nThe mere title of that piece is better than any common work in fifty\r\nfolio volumes. How exquisite is this: \"Nor did it lessen the charm of\r\nhis soft, familiar courtesy and helpfulness that the mighty spirit,\r\nwere opportunity offered him, would run riot through the peaceful\r\nhouse, wrap its inmates in his terrible embrace, and leave nothing of\r\nthem save their whitened bones. This possibility of mad destruction\r\nonly made his domestic kindness the more beautiful and touching. It\r\nwas so sweet of him, being endowed with such power, to dwell day after\r\nday, and one long lonesome night after another, on the dusky hearth,\r\nonly now and then betraying his wild nature by thrusting his red tongue\r\nout of the chimney-top! True, he had done much mischief in the world,\r\nand was pretty certain to do more; but his warm heart atoned for all.\r\nHe was kindly to the race of man; and they pardoned his characteristic\r\nimperfections.\"\r\n\r\nBut he has still other apples, not quite so ruddy, though full as\r\nripe:--apples, that have been left to wither on the tree, after the\r\npleasant autumn gathering is past. The sketch of _The Old Apple Dealer_\r\nis conceived in the subtlest spirit of sadness; he whose \"subdued\r\nand nerveless boyhood prefigured his abortive prime, which likewise\r\ncontained within itself the prophecy and image of his lean and torpid\r\nage.\" Such touches as are in this piece cannot proceed from any common\r\nheart. They argue such a depth of tenderness, such a boundless sympathy\r\nwith all forms of being, such an omnipresent love, that we must needs\r\nsay that this Hawthorne is here almost alone in his generation,--at\r\nleast, in the artistic manifestation of these things. Still more.\r\nSuch touches as these--and many, very many similar ones, all through\r\nhis chapters--furnish clues whereby we enter a little way into the\r\nintricate, profound heart where they originated. And we see that\r\nsuffering, some time or other and in some shape or other,--this only\r\ncan enable any man to depict it in others. All over him, Hawthorne's\r\nmelancholy rests like an Indian-summer, which, though bathing a whole\r\ncountry in one softness, still reveals the distinctive hue of every\r\ntowering hill and each far-winding vale.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJJHK56PS5G4VD1NXGJ7","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK781YWSCCYK0EXERQM8V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK781G1SDYESAJQX8GKHB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.185Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.291Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}