{"id":"01KG8AKANVXK3YJD0TZK04TFB9","cid":"bafkreifsvbzkksxvdci2fwn4i5kn33ymqz5ukzechn6xmxrav4fwqri5ee","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9515,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.726Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":9460,"text":"that was made up by his children's gift money (bright tenpenny pieces\r\nand new quarters, kept in their little money-boxes), and pawning his\r\nbest clothes, with those of his wife and children, so that all were\r\nsubjected to the hardship of staying away from church. And the old\r\nusurer, too, now beginning to be obstreperous, China Aster paid him his\r\ninterest and some other pressing debts with money got by, at last,\r\nmortgaging the candlery.\r\n\r\n\"When next interest-day came round for Orchis, not a penny could be\r\nraised. With much grief of heart, China Aster so informed Orchis' agent.\r\nMeantime, the note to the old usurer fell due, and nothing from China\r\nAster was ready to meet it; yet, as heaven sends its rain on the just\r\nand unjust alike, by a coincidence not unfavorable to the old farmer,\r\nthe well-to-do uncle, the tanner, having died, the usurer entered upon\r\npossession of such part of his property left by will to the wife of\r\nChina Aster. When still the next interest-day for Orchis came round, it\r\nfound China Aster worse off than ever; for, besides his other troubles,\r\nhe was now weak with sickness. Feebly dragging himself to Orchis' agent,\r\nhe met him in the street, told him just how it was; upon which the\r\nagent, with a grave enough face, said that he had instructions from his\r\nemployer not to crowd him about the interest at present, but to say to\r\nhim that about the time the note would mature, Orchis would have heavy\r\nliabilities to meet, and therefore the note must at that time be\r\ncertainly paid, and, of course, the back interest with it; and not only\r\nso, but, as Orchis had had to allow the interest for good part of the\r\ntime, he hoped that, for the back interest, China Aster would, in\r\nreciprocation, have no objections to allowing interest on the interest\r\nannually. To be sure, this was not the law; but, between friends who\r\naccommodate each other, it was the custom.\r\n\r\n\"Just then, Old Plain Talk with Old Prudence turned the corner, coming\r\nplump upon China Aster as the agent left him; and whether it was a\r\nsun-stroke, or whether they accidentally ran against him, or whether it\r\nwas his being so weak, or whether it was everything together, or how it\r\nwas exactly, there is no telling, but poor China Aster fell to the\r\nearth, and, striking his head sharply, was picked up senseless. It was a\r\nday in July; such a light and heat as only the midsummer banks of the\r\ninland Ohio know. China Aster was taken home on a door; lingered a few\r\ndays with a wandering mind, and kept wandering on, till at last, at dead\r\nof night, when nobody was aware, his spirit wandered away into the other\r\nworld.\r\n\r\n\"Old Plain Talk and Old Prudence, neither of whom ever omitted attending\r\nany funeral, which, indeed, was their chief exercise--these two were\r\namong the sincerest mourners who followed the remains of the son of\r\ntheir ancient friend to the grave.\r\n\r\n\"It is needless to tell of the executions that followed; how that the\r\ncandlery was sold by the mortgagee; how Orchis never got a penny for his\r\nloan; 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","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNPWB4PV4EMCJY73T33E","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAMTEK5HHQPD331VEBQ9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKANP5SMPN3E73SJGCRAT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.699Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.897Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}