{"id":"01KG8AK9DRS1HZ0NQHHAB0G50M","cid":"bafkreiher4psni4hl5ylbp7ggvjfhtdwhucmcelktzcl2ntgxivs3fk7ri","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2462,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:56.336Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX","start_line":2392,"text":"They call it a wax nose; very good; not for me to tweak the nose of my\r\nsuperior.\" But at last the man who has a mortgage on the house dropped\r\nme a note, reminding me that, if my chimney was allowed to stand in\r\nthat invalid condition, my policy of insurance would be void. This was\r\na sort of hint not to be neglected. All the world over, the picturesque\r\nyields to the pocketesque. The mortgagor cared not, but the mortgagee\r\ndid.\r\n\r\nSo another operation was performed. The wax nose was taken off, and a\r\nnew one fitted on. Unfortunately for the expression--being put up by\r\na squint-eyed mason, who, at the time, had a bad stitch in the same\r\nside--the new nose stands a little awry, in the same direction.\r\n\r\nOf one thing, however, I am proud. The horizontal dimensions of the new\r\npart are unreduced.\r\n\r\nLarge as the chimney appears upon the roof, that is nothing to its\r\nspaciousness below. At its base in the cellar, it is precisely twelve\r\nfeet square; and hence covers precisely one hundred and forty-four\r\nsuperficial feet. What an appropriation of terra firma for a chimney,\r\nand what a huge load for this earth! In fact, it was only because I\r\nand my chimney formed no part of his ancient burden, that that stout\r\npeddler, Atlas of old, was enabled to stand up so bravely under his\r\npack. The dimensions given may, perhaps, seem fabulous. But, like those\r\nstones at Gilgal, which Joshua set up for a memorial of having passed\r\nover Jordan, does not my chimney remain, even unto this day?\r\n\r\nVery often I go down into my cellar, and attentively survey that vast\r\nsquare of masonry. I stand long, and ponder over, and wonder at it. It\r\nhas a druidical look, away down in the umbrageous cellar there whose\r\nnumerous vaulted passages, and far glens of gloom, resemble the dark,\r\ndamp depths of primeval woods. So strongly did this conceit steal\r\nover me, so deeply was I penetrated with wonder at the chimney, that\r\none day--when I was a little out of my mind, I now think--getting a\r\nspade from the garden, I set to work, digging round the foundation,\r\nespecially at the corners thereof, obscurely prompted by dreams of\r\nstriking upon some old, earthen-worn memorial of that by-gone day,\r\nwhen, into all this gloom, the light of heaven entered, as the masons\r\nlaid the foundation-stones, peradventure sweltering under an August\r\nsun, or pelted by a March storm. Plying my blunted spade, how vexed was\r\nI by that ungracious interruption of a neighbor who, calling to see me\r\nupon some business, and being informed that I was below said I need not\r\nbe troubled to come up, but he would go down to me; and so, without\r\nceremony, and without my having been forewarned, suddenly discovered\r\nme, digging in my cellar.\r\n\r\n\"Gold digging, sir?\"\r\n\r\n\"Nay, sir,\" answered I, starting, \"I was merely--ahem!--merely--I say I\r\nwas merely digging--round my chimney.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah, loosening the soil, to make it grow. Your chimney, sir, you regard\r\nas too small, I suppose; needing further development, especially at the\r\ntop?\"\r\n\r\n\"Sir!\" said I, throwing down the spade, \"do not be personal. I and my\r\nchimney--\"\r\n\r\n\"Personal?\"\r\n\r\n\"Sir, I look upon this chimney less as a pile of masonry than as\r\na personage. It is the king of the house. I am but a suffered and\r\ninferior subject.\"\r\n\r\nIn fact, I would permit no gibes to be cast at either myself or my\r\nchimney; and never again did my visitor refer to it in my hearing,\r\nwithout coupling some compliment with the mention. It well deserves a\r\nrespectful consideration. There it stands, solitary and alone--not a\r\ncouncil--of ten flues, but, like his sacred majesty of Russia, a unit\r\nof an autocrat.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJJM9B1B6R0AVRGKYSED","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK9DYMGYCWB7MJT8HVPPZ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK9DJHZGTGN4VH2BDXXKA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:59.416Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:06.734Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}