{"id":"01KG8AMDKXRKCF5CXEAQPAJCJZ","cid":"bafkreibtwqgqah7iqgcqnzosuopcwtwnl63evqauyywlspknb6kmt42t2i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6425,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":6359,"text":"military guard at his heels, and unostentatiously taking his seat by\r\nthe side of the meanest citizen in a public conveyance; while this is\r\nthe case, there still lingers in American men-of-war all the stilted\r\netiquette and childish parade of the old-fashioned Spanish court of\r\nMadrid. Indeed, so far as the things that meet the eye are concerned,\r\nan American Commodore is by far a greater man than the President of\r\ntwenty millions of freemen.\r\n\r\nBut we plain people ashore might very willingly be content to leave\r\nthese commodores in the unmolested possession of their gilded penny\r\nwhistles, rattles, and gewgaws, since they seem to take so much\r\npleasure in them, were it not that all this is attended by consequences\r\nto their subordinates in the last degree to be deplored.\r\n\r\nWhile hardly any one will question that a naval officer should be\r\nsurrounded by circumstances calculated to impart a requisite dignity to\r\nhis position, it is not the less certain that, by the excessive pomp he\r\nat present maintains, there is naturally and unavoidably generated a\r\nfeeling of servility and debasement in the hearts of most of the seamen\r\nwho continually behold a fellow-mortal flourishing over their heads\r\nlike the archangel Michael with a thousand wings. And as, in degree,\r\nthis same pomp is observed toward their inferiors by all the grades of\r\ncommissioned officers, even down to a midshipman, the evil is\r\nproportionately multiplied.\r\n\r\nIt would not at all diminish a proper respect for the officers, and\r\nsubordination to their authority among the seamen, were all this idle\r\nparade—only ministering to the arrogance of the officers, without at\r\nall benefiting the state—completely done away. But to do so, we voters\r\nand lawgivers ourselves must be no respecters of persons.\r\n\r\nThat saying about _levelling upward, and not downward_, may seem very\r\nfine to those who cannot see its self-involved absurdity. But the truth\r\nis, that, to gain the true level, in some things, we _must_ cut\r\ndownward; for how can you make every sailor a commodore? or how raise\r\nthe valleys, without filling them up with the superfluous tops of the\r\nhills?\r\n\r\nSome discreet, but democratic, legislation in this matter is much to be\r\ndesired. And by bringing down naval officers, in these things at least,\r\nwithout affecting their legitimate dignity and authority, we shall\r\ncorrespondingly elevate the common sailor, without relaxing the\r\nsubordination, in which he should by all means be retained.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER XLI.\r\nA MAN-OF-WAR LIBRARY.\r\n\r\n\r\nNowhere does time pass more heavily than with most men-of-war’s-men on\r\nboard their craft in harbour.\r\n\r\nOne of my principal antidotes against _ennui_ in Rio, was reading.\r\nThere was a public library on board, paid for by government, and\r\nintrusted to the custody of one of the marine corporals, a little,\r\ndried-up man, of a somewhat literary turn. He had once been a clerk in\r\na post-office ashore; and, having been long accustomed to hand over\r\nletters when called for, he was now just the man to hand over books. He\r\nkept them in a large cask on the berth-deck, and, when seeking a\r\nparticular volume, had to capsize it like a barrel of potatoes. This\r\nmade him very cross and irritable, as most all librarians are. Who had\r\nthe selection of these books, I do not know, but some of them must have\r\nbeen selected by our Chaplain, who so pranced on Coleridge’s “_High\r\nGerman horse_.”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRBSW74J1CDMY5QE20AV","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKXZ8YGGSZR6RQR0WEP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMDKS1MYQNQDGRRHF2SAR","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.477Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.997Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}