{"id":"01KG8AKYGQ2KNQSBEC2DCPM5TW","cid":"bafkreiatmcrvhkflaqljcn2o7tp2y3xo2eevfdfr3o7tsxm77nkmpekgqq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10706,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":10638,"text":"At last, upon her coming forward one morning, Max the Dutchman accosted\r\nher, saying he was sorry for it, but if she went between the\r\nknight-heads again with her book, the crew would throw it overboard for\r\nher.\r\n\r\nNow, although contrasted in character, there existed a great warmth of\r\naffection between the two families of twins, which upon this occasion\r\nwas curiously manifested.\r\n\r\nNotwithstanding the rebuke and threat of the sailor, the widow silently\r\noccupied her old place; and with her children clustering round her,\r\nbegan her low, muttered reading, standing right in the extreme bows of\r\nthe ship, and slightly leaning over them, as if addressing the\r\nmultitudinous waves from a floating pulpit. Presently Max came behind\r\nher, snatched the book from her hands, and threw it overboard. The\r\nwidow gave a wail, and her boys set up a cry. Their cousins, then\r\nducking in the water close by, at once saw the cause of the cry; and\r\nspringing from the tub, like so many dogs, seized Max by the legs,\r\nbiting and striking at him: which, the before timid little O’Briens no\r\nsooner perceived, than they, too, threw themselves on the enemy, and\r\nthe amazed seaman found himself baited like a bull by all six boys.\r\n\r\nAnd here it gives me joy to record one good thing on the part of the\r\nmate. He saw the fray, and its beginning; and rushing forward, told Max\r\nthat he would harm the boys at his peril; while he cheered them on, as\r\nif rejoiced at their giving the fellow such a tussle. At last Max,\r\nsorely scratched, bit, pinched, and every way aggravated, though of\r\ncourse without a serious bruise, cried out “enough!” and the assailants\r\nwere ordered to quit him; but though the three O’Briens obeyed, the\r\nthree O’Regans hung on to him like leeches, and had to be dragged off.\r\n\r\n“There now, you rascal,” cried the mate, “throw overboard another\r\nBible, and I’ll send you after it without a bowline.”\r\n\r\nThis event gave additional celebrity to the twins throughout the\r\nvessel. That morning all six were invited to the quarter-deck, and\r\nreviewed by the cabin-passengers, the ladies manifesting particular\r\ninterest in them, as they always do concerning twins, which some of\r\nthem show in public parks and gardens, by stopping to look at them, and\r\nquestioning their nurses.\r\n\r\n“And were you all born at one time?” asked an old lady, letting her eye\r\nrun in wonder along the even file of white heads.\r\n\r\n“Indeed, an’ we were,” said Teddy; “wasn’t we, mother?”\r\n\r\nMany more questions were asked and answered, when a collection was\r\ntaken up for their benefit among these magnanimous cabin-passengers,\r\nwhich resulted in starting all six boys in the world with a penny\r\napiece.\r\n\r\nI never could look at these little fellows without an inexplicable\r\nfeeling coming over me; and though there was nothing so very remarkable\r\nor unprecedented about them, except the singular coincidence of two\r\nsisters simultaneously making the world such a generous present; yet,\r\nthe mere fact of there being twins always seemed curious; in fact, to\r\nme at least, all twins are prodigies; and still I hardly know why this\r\nshould be; for all of us in our own persons furnish numerous examples\r\nof the same phenomenon. Are not our thumbs twins? A regular Castor and\r\nPollux? And all of our fingers? Are not our arms, hands, legs, feet,\r\neyes, ears, all twins; born at one birth, and as much alike as they\r\npossibly can be?\r\n\r\nCan it be, that the Greek grammarians invented their dual number for\r\nthe particular benefit of twins?\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT51J4PXNP87MVVCGB87","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYGVM49CM45ME7TSXKAW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.015Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.068Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}