{"id":"01KG8AKZ9RGG1EQ6D36PM6E6DC","cid":"bafkreia4fk3iyh5h25xinpgnz7w4xmwt2etlmjg4c3wavs76iylaoce65i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11075,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":11015,"text":"Now, during the voyage, the treatment of the crew threw Harry more and\r\nmore upon myself for companionship; and few can keep constant company\r\nwith another, without revealing some, at least, of their secrets; for\r\nall of us yearn for sympathy, even if we do not for love; and to be\r\nintellectually alone is a thing only tolerable to genius, whose\r\ncherisher and inspirer is solitude.\r\n\r\nBut though my friend became more communicative concerning his past\r\ncareer than ever he had been before, yet he did not make plain many\r\nthings in his hitherto but partly divulged history, which I was very\r\ncurious to know; and especially he never made the remotest allusion to\r\naught connected with our trip to London; while the oath of secrecy by\r\nwhich he had bound me held my curiosity on that point a captive.\r\nHowever, as it was, Harry made many very interesting disclosures; and\r\nif he did not gratify me more in that respect, he atoned for it in a\r\nmeasure, by dwelling upon the future, and the prospects, such as they\r\nwere, which the future held out to him.\r\n\r\nHe confessed that he had no money but a few shillings left from the\r\nexpenses of our return from London; that only by selling some more of\r\nhis clothing, could he pay for his first week’s board in New York; and\r\nthat he was altogether without any regular profession or business, upon\r\nwhich, by his own exertions, he could securely rely for support. And\r\nyet, he told me that he was determined never again to return to\r\nEngland; and that somewhere in America he must work out his temporal\r\nfelicity.\r\n\r\n“I have forgotten England,” he said, “and never more mean to think of\r\nit; so tell me, Wellingborough, what am I to do in America?”\r\n\r\nIt was a puzzling question, and full of grief to me, who, young though\r\nI was, had been well rubbed, curried, and ground down to fine powder in\r\nthe hopper of an evil fortune, and who therefore could sympathize with\r\none in similar circumstances. For though we may look grave and behave\r\nkindly and considerately to a friend in calamity; yet, if we have never\r\nactually experienced something like the woe that weighs him down, we\r\ncan not with the best grace proffer our sympathy. And perhaps there is\r\nno true sympathy but between equals; and it may be, that we should\r\ndistrust that man’s sincerity, who stoops to condole with us.\r\n\r\nSo Harry and I, two friendless wanderers, beguiled many a long watch by\r\ntalking over our common affairs. But inefficient, as a benefactor, as I\r\ncertainly was; still, being an American, and returning to my home; even\r\nas he was a stranger, and hurrying from his; therefore, I stood toward\r\nhim in the attitude of the prospective doer of the honors of my\r\ncountry; I accounted him the nation’s guest. Hence, I esteemed it more\r\nbefitting, that I should rather talk with him, than he with me: that\r\n_his_ prospects and plans should engage our attention, in preference to\r\nmy own.\r\n\r\nNow, seeing that Harry was so brave a songster, and could sing such\r\nbewitching airs: I suggested whether his musical talents could not be\r\nturned to account. The thought struck him most favorably—“Gad, my boy,\r\nyou have hit it, you have,” and then he went on to mention, that in\r\nsome places in England, it was customary for two or three young men of\r\nhighly respectable families, of undoubted antiquity, but unfortunately\r\nin lamentably decayed circumstances, and thread-bare coats—it was\r\ncustomary for two or three young gentlemen, so situated, to obtain\r\ntheir livelihood by their voices: coining their silvery songs into\r\nsilvery shillings.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT5SDHGB7VJ4ZTE6NX8P","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYGVR5QVF0N4G93HRBH1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKZ9HRY1A5EVF0W50X5QD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.816Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.514Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}