{"id":"01KG8AKTGTHN79JDBPVNF1WVBW","cid":"bafkreigtki73ascbagkpwvm3p2olsosqlomyq63f2wzhvezdyox42jbfwy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2207,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":2147,"text":"corn, meal, and water. With the _“kid,” a_ little tin cannikin was\r\npassed down with molasses. Then the Jackson that I spoke of before, put\r\nthe kid between his knees, and began to pour in the molasses, just like\r\nan old landlord mixing punch for a party. He scooped out a little hole\r\nin the middle of the mush, to hold the molasses; so it looked for all\r\nthe world like a little black pool in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia.\r\n\r\nThen they all formed a circle round the kid; and one after the other,\r\nwith great regularity, dipped their spoons into the mush, and after\r\nstirring them round a little in the molasses-pool, they swallowed down\r\ntheir mouthfuls, and smacked their lips over it, as if it tasted very\r\ngood; which I have no doubt it did; but not having any spoon, I wasn’t\r\nsure.\r\n\r\nI sat some time watching these proceedings, and wondering how polite\r\nthey were to each other; for, though there were a great many spoons to\r\nonly one dish, they never got entangled. At last, seeing that the mush\r\nwas getting thinner and thinner, and that it was getting low water, or\r\nrather low molasses in the little pool, I ran on deck, and after\r\nsearching about, returned with a bit of stick; and thinking I had as\r\ngood a right as any one else to the mush and molasses, I worked my way\r\ninto the circle, intending to make one of the party. So I shoved in my\r\nstick, and after twirling it about, was just managing to carry a little\r\n_burgoo_ toward my mouth, which had been for some time standing ready\r\nopen to receive it, when one of the sailors perceiving what I was\r\nabout, knocked the stick out of my hands, and asked me where I learned\r\nmy manners; Was that the way gentlemen eat in my country? Did they eat\r\ntheir victuals with splinters of wood, and couldn’t that wealthy\r\ngentleman my father afford to buy his gentlemanly son a spoon?\r\n\r\nAll the rest joined in, and pronounced me an ill-bred, coarse, and\r\nunmannerly youngster, who, if permitted to go on with such behavior as\r\nthat, would corrupt the whole crew, and make them no better than swine.\r\n\r\nAs I felt conscious that a stick was indeed a thing very unsuitable to\r\neat with, I did not say much to this, though it vexed me enough; but\r\nremembering that I had seen one of the steerage passengers with a pan\r\nand spoon in his hand eating his breakfast on the fore hatch, I now ran\r\non deck again, and to my great joy succeeded in borrowing his spoon,\r\nfor he had got through his meal, and down I came again, though at the\r\neleventh hour, and offered myself once more as a candidate.\r\n\r\nBut alas! there was little more of the Dismal Swamp left, and when I\r\nreached over to the opposite end of the kid, I received a rap on the\r\nknuckles from a spoon, and was told that I must help myself from my own\r\nside, for that was the rule. But _my_ side was scraped clean, so I got\r\nno _burgoo_ that morning.\r\n\r\nBut I made it up by eating some salt beef and biscuit, which I found to\r\nbe the invariable accompaniment of every meal; the sailors sitting\r\ncross-legged on their chests in a circle, and breaking the hard\r\nbiscuit, very sociably, over each other’s heads, which was very\r\nconvenient indeed, but gave me the headache, at least for the first\r\nfour or five days till I got used to it; and then I did not care much\r\nabout it, only it kept my hair full of crumbs; and I had forgot to\r\nbring a fine comb and brush, so I used to shake my hair out to windward\r\nover the bulwarks every evening.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ101JMR2CW116YE98Z9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKTGTCV63ABEFMSA5Y7RV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.922Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.654Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}