{"id":"01KG8AKB8PDH3D6DAE1SFSXEXD","cid":"bafkreihir5rxxagabubipasyl6pijkwguirvxoi2za6we4mlbewkkluoyi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3968,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":3887,"text":"\r\n\"No,\" choked the other.\r\n\r\n\"Very good. Merry time to you, little May Queen.\"\r\n\r\nAnd so, as if he would intrude his cure upon no one, moved pleasantly\r\noff, again crying his wares, nor now at last without result. A\r\nnew-comer, not from the shore, but another part of the boat, a sickly\r\nyoung man, after some questions, purchased a bottle. Upon this, others\r\nof the company began a little to wake up as it were; the scales of\r\nindifference or prejudice fell from their eyes; now, at last, they\r\nseemed to have an inkling that here was something not undesirable which\r\nmight be had for the buying.\r\n\r\nBut while, ten times more briskly bland than ever, the herb-doctor was\r\ndriving his benevolent trade, accompanying each sale with added praises\r\nof the thing traded, all at once the dusk giant, seated at some\r\ndistance, unexpectedly raised his voice with--\r\n\r\n\"What was that you last said?\"\r\n\r\nThe question was put distinctly, yet resonantly, as when a great\r\nclock-bell--stunning admonisher--strikes one; and the stroke, though\r\nsingle, comes bedded in the belfry clamor.\r\n\r\nAll proceedings were suspended. Hands held forth for the specific were\r\nwithdrawn, while every eye turned towards the direction whence the\r\nquestion came. But, no way abashed, the herb-doctor, elevating his voice\r\nwith even more than wonted self-possession, replied--\r\n\r\n\"I was saying what, since you wish it, I cheerfully repeat, that the\r\nSamaritan Pain Dissuader, which I here hold in my hand, will either cure\r\nor ease any pain you please, within ten minutes after its application.\"\r\n\r\n\"Does it produce insensibility?\"\r\n\r\n\"By no means. Not the least of its merits is, that it is not an opiate.\r\nIt kills pain without killing feeling.\"\r\n\r\n\"You lie! Some pains cannot be eased but by producing insensibility, and\r\ncannot be cured but by producing death.\"\r\n\r\nBeyond this the dusk giant said nothing; neither, for impairing the\r\nother's market, did there appear much need to. After eying the rude\r\nspeaker a moment with an expression of mingled admiration and\r\nconsternation, the company silently exchanged glances of mutual sympathy\r\nunder unwelcome conviction. Those who had purchased looked sheepish or\r\nashamed; and a cynical-looking little man, with a thin flaggy beard, and\r\na countenance ever wearing the rudiments of a grin, seated alone in a\r\ncorner commanding a good view of the scene, held a rusty hat before his\r\nface.\r\n\r\nBut, again, the herb-doctor, without noticing the retort, overbearing\r\nthough it was, began his panegyrics anew, and in a tone more assured\r\nthan before, going so far now as to say that his specific was sometimes\r\nalmost as effective in cases of mental suffering as in cases of\r\nphysical; or rather, to be more precise, in cases when, through\r\nsympathy, the two sorts of pain coöperated into a climax of both--in\r\nsuch cases, he said, the specific had done very well. He cited an\r\nexample: Only three bottles, faithfully taken, cured a Louisiana widow\r\n(for three weeks sleepless in a darkened chamber) of neuralgic sorrow\r\nfor the loss of husband and child, swept off in one night by the last\r\nepidemic. For the truth of this, a printed voucher was produced, duly\r\nsigned.\r\n\r\nWhile he was reading it aloud, a sudden side-blow all but felled him.\r\n\r\nIt was the giant, who, with a countenance lividly epileptic with\r\nhypochondriac mania, exclaimed--\r\n\r\n\"Profane fiddler on heart-strings! Snake!\"\r\n\r\nMore he would have added, but, convulsed, could not; so, without another\r\nword, taking up the child, who had followed him, went with a rocking\r\npace out of the cabin.\r\n\r\n\"Regardless of decency, and lost to humanity!\" exclaimed the\r\nherb-doctor, with much ado recovering himself. Then, after a pause,\r\nduring which he examined his bruise, not omitting to apply externally a\r\nlittle of his specific, and with some success, as it would seem, plained\r\nto himself:\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFVZYVM98TXA69BQQT4","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKBZ8J82E5Q1GTRMMW5SX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:01.302Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.076Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}