{"id":"01KG8AM8ERDXE311RADGT6QJNV","cid":"bafkreica476be66jxyqohjtzyur5kcuerotieaelw25djpw44g5cy4mieu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10118,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.985Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":10073,"text":"the slates were laid. The roof shedding the water four ways from a high\r\npoint in the centre, the space beneath was much like that of a general’s\r\nmarquee--only midway broken by a labyrinth of timbers, for braces, from\r\nwhich waved innumerable cobwebs, that, of a summer’s noon, shone like\r\nBagdad tissues and gauzes. On every hand, some strange insect was seen,\r\nflying, or running, or creeping, on rafter and floor.\r\n\r\nUnder the apex of the roof was a rude, narrow, decrepit step-ladder,\r\nsomething like a Gothic pulpit-stairway, leading to a pulpit-like\r\nplatform, from which a still narrower ladder--a sort of Jacob’s\r\nladder--led somewhat higher to the lofty scuttle. The slide of this\r\nscuttle was about two feet square, all in one piece, furnishing a\r\nmassive frame for a single small pane of glass, inserted into it like a\r\nbull’s-eye. The light of the garret came from this sole source,\r\nfiltrated through a dense curtain of cobwebs. Indeed, the whole stairs,\r\nand platform, and ladder, were festooned, and carpeted, and canopied\r\nwith cobwebs; which, in funereal accumulations, hung, too, from the\r\ngroined, murky ceiling, like the Carolina moss in the cypress forest. In\r\nthese cobwebs swung, as in aerial catacombs, myriads of all tribes of\r\nmummied insects.\r\n\r\nClimbing the stairs to the platform, and pausing there, to recover my\r\nbreath, a curious scene was presented. The sun was about half-way up.\r\nPiercing the little skylight, it slopingly bored a rainbowed tunnel\r\nclear across the darkness of the garret. Here, millions of butterfly\r\nmoles were swarming. Against the skylight itself, with a cymbal-like\r\nbuzzing, thousands of insects clustered in a golden mob.\r\n\r\nWishing to shed a clearer light through the place, I sought to withdraw\r\nthe scuttle-slide. But no sign of latch or hasp was visible. Only after\r\nlong peering, did I discover a little padlock, imbedded, like an oyster\r\nat the bottom of the sea, amid matted masses of weedy webs, chrysalides,\r\nand insectivorous eggs. Brushing these away, I found it locked. With a\r\ncrooked nail, I tried to pick the lock, when scores of small ants and\r\nflies, half-torpid, crawled forth from the keyhole, and, feeling the\r\nwarmth of the sun in the pane, began frisking around me. Others\r\nappeared. Presently I was overrun by them. As if incensed at this\r\ninvasion of their retreat, countless bands darted up from below, beating\r\nabout my head, like hornets. At last, with a sudden jerk, I burst open\r\nthe scuttle. And ah! what a change. As from the gloom of the grave and\r\nthe companionship of worms, men shall at last rapturously rise into the\r\nliving greenness and glory-immortal, so, from my cobwebbed old garret, I\r\nthrust forth my head into the balmy air, and found myself hailed by the\r\nverdant tops of great trees, growing in the little garden below--trees,\r\nwhose leaves soared high above my topmost slate.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWBY79C0S3A47JYVRQW7","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8ERZH6Z3XAMNERASSEG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8F04XN35EAJJ90H1EBZ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.192Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:44.412Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}