{"id":"01KG8AKANP5SMPN3E73SJGCRAT","cid":"bafkreia5uqw4k57ksowchmjwprbhlrrdktqfrctwcwsz2bbeuliatkyqdq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9570,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.726Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 10","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":9509,"text":"loan; and how, in the case of the poor widow, chastisement was tempered\r\nwith mercy; for, though she was left penniless, she was not left\r\nchildless. Yet, unmindful of the alleviation, a spirit of complaint, at\r\nwhat she impatiently called the bitterness of her lot and the hardness\r\nof the world, so preyed upon her, as ere long to hurry her from the\r\nobscurity of indigence to the deeper shades of the tomb.\r\n\r\n\"But though the straits in which China Aster had left his family had,\r\nbesides apparently dimming the world's regard, likewise seemed to dim\r\nits sense of the probity of its deceased head, and though this, as some\r\nthought, did not speak well for the world, yet it happened in this case,\r\nas in others, that, though the world may for a time seem insensible to\r\nthat merit which lies under a cloud, yet, sooner or later, it always\r\nrenders honor where honor is due; for, upon the death of the widow, the\r\nfreemen of Marietta, as a tribute of respect for China Aster, and an\r\nexpression of their conviction of his high moral worth, passed a\r\nresolution, that, until they attained maturity, his children should be\r\nconsidered the town's guests. No mere verbal compliment, like those of\r\nsome public bodies; for, on the same day, the orphans were officially\r\ninstalled in that hospitable edifice where their worthy grandfather, the\r\ntown's guest before them, had breathed his last breath.\r\n\r\n\"But sometimes honor maybe paid to the memory of an honest man, and\r\nstill his mound remain without a monument. Not so, however, with the\r\ncandle-maker. At an early day, Plain Talk had procured a plain stone,\r\nand was digesting in his mind what pithy word or two to place upon it,\r\nwhen there was discovered, in China Aster's otherwise empty wallet, an\r\nepitaph, written, probably, in one of those disconsolate hours, attended\r\nwith more or less mental aberration, perhaps, so frequent with him for\r\nsome months prior to his end. A memorandum on the back expressed the\r\nwish that it might be placed over his grave. Though with the sentiment\r\nof the epitaph Plain Talk did not disagree, he himself being at times of\r\na hypochondriac turn--at least, so many said--yet the language struck\r\nhim as too much drawn out; so, after consultation with Old Prudence, he\r\ndecided upon making use of the epitaph, yet not without verbal\r\nretrenchments. And though, when these were made, the thing still\r\nappeared wordy to him, nevertheless, thinking that, since a dead man was\r\nto be spoken about, it was but just to let him speak for himself,\r\nespecially when he spoke sincerely, and when, by so doing, the more\r\nsalutary lesson would be given, he had the retrenched inscription\r\nchiseled as follows upon the stone.\r\n\r\n  'HERE LIE\r\n  THE REMAINS OF\r\n  CHINA ASTER THE CANDLE-MAKER,\r\n  WHOSE CAREER\r\n  WAS AN EXAMPLE OF THE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE, AS FOUND\r\n  IN THE\r\n  SOBER PHILOSOPHY\r\n  OF\r\n  SOLOMON THE WISE;\r\n  FOR HE WAS RUINED BY ALLOWING HIMSELF TO BE PERSUADED,\r\n  AGAINST HIS BETTER SENSE,\r\n  INTO THE FREE INDULGENCE OF CONFIDENCE,\r\n  AND\r\n  AN ARDENTLY BRIGHT VIEW OF LIFE,\r\n  TO THE EXCLUSION\r\n  OF\r\n  THAT COUNSEL WHICH COMES BY HEEDING\r\n  THE\r\n  OPPOSITE VIEW.'\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 10"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWB4PV4EMCJY73T33E","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKANVXK3YJD0TZK04TFB9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKANVCERMGE08NPDQTD5M","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.694Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.855Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}