{"id":"01KG8AKVQ80HQ4FBPPY001GH2Z","cid":"bafkreifuqh6wftm5wg3q64izgvxundnwq655o7lmeor6b2u6dvphmwl7hq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7827,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":7768,"text":"of striking a judge on the bench, as to lay violent hand upon their\r\nholy hides.\r\n\r\nIt is wonderful what loads their majesties will condescend to draw. The\r\ntruck is a large square platform, on four low wheels; and upon this the\r\nlumpers pile bale after bale of cotton, as if they were filling a large\r\nwarehouse, and yet a procession of three of these horses will\r\ntranquilly walk away with the whole.\r\n\r\nThe truckmen themselves are almost as singular a race as their animals.\r\nLike the Judiciary in England, they wear gowns,—not of the same cut and\r\ncolor though,—which reach below their knees; and from the racket they\r\nmake on the pavements with their hob-nailed brogans, you would think\r\nthey patronized the same shoemaker with their horses. I never could get\r\nany thing out of these truckmen. They are a reserved, sober-sided set,\r\nwho, with all possible solemnity, march at the head of their animals;\r\nnow and then gently advising them to sheer to the right or the left, in\r\norder to avoid some passing vehicle. Then spending so much of their\r\nlives in the high-bred company of their horses, seems to have mended\r\ntheir manners and improved their taste, besides imparting to them\r\nsomething of the dignity of their animals; but it has also given to\r\nthem a sort of refined and uncomplaining aversion to human society.\r\n\r\nThere are many strange stories told of the truck-horse. Among others is\r\nthe following: There was a parrot, that from having long been suspended\r\nin its cage from a low window fronting a dock, had learned to converse\r\npretty fluently in the language of the stevedores and truckmen. One day\r\na truckman left his vehicle standing on the quay, with its back to the\r\nwater. It was noon, when an interval of silence falls upon the docks;\r\nand Poll, seeing herself face to face with the horse, and having a mind\r\nfor a chat, cried out to him, _“Back! back! back!”_\r\n\r\nBackward went the horse, precipitating himself and truck into the\r\nwater.\r\n\r\nBrunswick Dock, to the west of Prince’s, is one of the most interesting\r\nto be seen. Here lie the various black steamers (so unlike the American\r\nboats, since they have to navigate the boisterous Narrow Seas) plying\r\nto all parts of the three kingdoms. Here you see vast quantities of\r\nproduce, imported from starving Ireland; here you see the decks turned\r\ninto pens for oxen and sheep; and often, side by side with these\r\ninclosures, Irish deck-passengers, thick as they can stand, seemingly\r\npenned in just like the cattle. It was the beginning of July when the\r\nHighlander arrived in port; and the Irish laborers were daily coming\r\nover by thousands, to help harvest the English crops.\r\n\r\nOne morning, going into the town, I heard a tramp, as of a drove of\r\nbuffaloes, behind me; and turning round, beheld the entire middle of\r\nthe street filled by a great crowd of these men, who had just emerged\r\nfrom Brunswick Dock gates, arrayed in long-tailed coats of hoddin-gray,\r\ncorduroy knee-breeches, and shod with shoes that raised a mighty dust.\r\nFlourishing their Donnybrook shillelahs, they looked like an irruption\r\nof barbarians. They were marching straight out of town into the\r\ncountry; and perhaps out of consideration for the finances of the\r\ncorporation, took the middle of the street, to save the side-walks.\r\n\r\n“Sing _Langolee, and the Lakes of Killarney,”_ cried one fellow,\r\ntossing his stick into the air, as he danced in his brogans at the head\r\nof the rabble. And so they went! capering on, merry as pipers.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS9YSMC19A4WTN12TSZ1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKTZV3YHN8RHHW2Q4KD42","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVQ075REDKTQ4PG03J4N","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.152Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.585Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}