{"id":"01KG8AKS806H71SAJ5SCFCQHP3","cid":"bafkreieykt57ncl6wj3ayj3w6rnyw4ljqpj7oqu45cts2huybyu76liqjm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6231,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":6172,"text":"Guide-Book, Wellingborough, that will never lead you astray, if you but\r\nfollow it aright; and some noble monuments that remain, though the\r\npyramids crumble.\r\n\r\nBut though I rose from the door-step a sadder and a wiser boy, and\r\nthough my guide-book had been stripped of its reputation for\r\ninfallibility, I did not treat with contumely or disdain, those sacred\r\npages which had once been a beacon to my sire.\r\n\r\nNo.—Poor old guide-book, thought I, tenderly stroking its back, and\r\nsmoothing the dog-ears with reverence; I will not use you with despite,\r\nold Morocco! and you will yet prove a trusty conductor through many old\r\nstreets in the old parts of this town; even if you are at fault, now\r\nand then, concerning a Riddough’s Hotel, or some other forgotten thing\r\nof the past. As I fondly glanced over the leaves, like one who loves\r\nmore than he chides, my eye lighted upon a passage concerning _“The Old\r\nDock,”_ which much aroused my curiosity. I determined to see the place\r\nwithout delay: and walking on, in what I presumed to be the right\r\ndirection, at last found myself before a spacious and splendid pile of\r\nsculptured brown stone; and entering the porch, perceived from\r\nincontrovertible tokens that it must be the Custom-house. After\r\nadmiring it awhile, I took out my guide-book again; and what was my\r\namazement at discovering that, according to its authority, I was\r\nentirely mistaken with regard to this Custom-house; for precisely where\r\nI stood, _“The Old Dock”_ must be standing, and reading on concerning\r\nit, I met with this very apposite passage:—_“The first idea that\r\nstrikes the stranger in coming to this dock, is the singularity of so\r\ngreat a number of ships afloat in the very heart of the town, without\r\ndiscovering any connection with the sea.”_\r\n\r\nHere, now, was a poser! Old Morocco confessed that there was a good\r\ndeal of “singularity” about the thing; nor did he pretend to deny that\r\nit was, without question, amazing, that this fabulous dock should seem\r\nto have no _connection with the sea!_ However, the same author went on\r\nto say, that the _“astonished stranger must suspend his wonder for\r\nawhile, and turn to the left.”_ But, right or left, no place answering\r\nto the description was to be seen.\r\n\r\nThis was too confounding altogether, and not to be easily accounted\r\nfor, even by making ordinary allowances for the growth and general\r\nimprovement of the town in the course of years. So, guide-book in hand,\r\nI accosted a policeman standing by, and begged him to tell me whether\r\nhe was acquainted with any place in that neighborhood called the _“Old\r\nDock.”_ The man looked at me wonderingly at first, and then seeing I\r\nwas apparently sane, and quite civil into the bargain, he whipped his\r\nwell-polished boot with his rattan, pulled up his silver-laced\r\ncoat-collar, and initiated me into a knowledge of the following facts.\r\n\r\nIt seems that in this place originally stood the _“pool,”_ from which\r\nthe town borrows a part of its name, and which originally wound round\r\nthe greater part of the old settlements; that this pool was made into\r\nthe “Old Dock,” for the benefit of the shipping; but that, years ago,\r\nit had been filled up, and furnished the site for the Custom-house\r\nbefore me.\r\n\r\nI now eyed the spot with a feeling somewhat akin to the Eastern\r\ntraveler standing on the brink of the Dead Sea. For here the doom of\r\nGomorrah seemed reversed, and a lake had been converted into\r\nsubstantial stone and mortar.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRKE76XA8GX60MNS3NKC","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKS80XW36ZWMV9YF981MB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKS804FEXF6H52MHE38AN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.616Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.134Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}