{"id":"01KG8AK9ZYA0X5W7TNWYBWSX8Q","cid":"bafkreifibyd6t3ml7xo5pszt6peeibktp5ntrkf5cuppb5pycy53ydt4lu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9118,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.725Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":9060,"text":"CHAPTER XL.\r\n\r\nIN WHICH THE STORY OF CHINA ASTER IS AT SECOND-HAND TOLD BY ONE WHO,\r\nWHILE NOT DISAPPROVING THE MORAL, DISCLAIMS THE SPIRIT OF THE STYLE.\r\n\r\n\r\n\"China Aster was a young candle-maker of Marietta, at the mouth of the\r\nMuskingum--one whose trade would seem a kind of subordinate branch of\r\nthat parent craft and mystery of the hosts of heaven, to be the means,\r\neffectively or otherwise, of shedding some light through the darkness of\r\na planet benighted. But he made little money by the business. Much ado\r\nhad poor China Aster and his family to live; he could, if he chose,\r\nlight up from his stores a whole street, but not so easily could he\r\nlight up with prosperity the hearts of his household.\r\n\r\n\"Now, China Aster, it so happened, had a friend, Orchis, a shoemaker;\r\none whose calling it is to defend the understandings of men from naked\r\ncontact with the substance of things: a very useful vocation, and which,\r\nspite of all the wiseacres may prophesy, will hardly go out of fashion\r\nso long as rocks are hard and flints will gall. All at once, by a\r\ncapital prize in a lottery, this useful shoemaker was raised from a\r\nbench to a sofa. A small nabob was the shoemaker now, and the\r\nunderstandings of men, let them shift for themselves. Not that Orchis\r\nwas, by prosperity, elated into heartlessness. Not at all. Because, in\r\nhis fine apparel, strolling one morning into the candlery, and gayly\r\nswitching about at the candle-boxes with his gold-headed cane--while\r\npoor China Aster, with his greasy paper cap and leather apron, was\r\nselling one candle for one penny to a poor orange-woman, who, with the\r\npatronizing coolness of a liberal customer, required it to be carefully\r\nrolled up and tied in a half sheet of paper--lively Orchis, the woman\r\nbeing gone, discontinued his gay switchings and said: 'This is poor\r\nbusiness for you, friend China Aster; your capital is too small. You\r\nmust drop this vile tallow and hold up pure spermaceti to the world. I\r\ntell you what it is, you shall have one thousand dollars to extend with.\r\nIn fact, you must make money, China Aster. I don't like to see your\r\nlittle boy paddling about without shoes, as he does.'\r\n\r\n\"'Heaven bless your goodness, friend Orchis,' replied the candle-maker,\r\n'but don't take it illy if I call to mind the word of my uncle, the\r\nblacksmith, who, when a loan was offered him, declined it, saying: \"To\r\nply my own hammer, light though it be, I think best, rather than piece\r\nit out heavier by welding to it a bit off a neighbor's hammer, though\r\nthat may have some weight to spare; otherwise, were the borrowed bit\r\nsuddenly wanted again, it might not split off at the welding, but too\r\nmuch to one side or the other.\"'\r\n\r\n\"'Nonsense, friend China Aster, don't be so honest; your boy is\r\nbarefoot. Besides, a rich man lose by a poor man? Or a friend be the\r\nworse by a friend? China Aster, I am afraid that, in leaning over into\r\nyour vats here, this, morning, you have spilled out your wisdom. Hush! I\r\nwon't hear any more. Where's your desk? Oh, here.' With that, Orchis\r\ndashed off a check on his bank, and off-handedly presenting it, said:\r\n'There, friend China Aster, is your one thousand dollars; when you make\r\nit ten thousand, as you soon enough will (for experience, the only true\r\nknowledge, teaches me that, for every one, good luck is in store), then,\r\nChina Aster, why, then you can return me the money or not, just as you\r\nplease. But, in any event, give yourself no concern, for I shall never\r\ndemand payment.'\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWB4PV4EMCJY73T33E","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMPFBDZ4F4QB4M7R9Y8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:59.998Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.100Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}