{"id":"01KG8AMR90VR7BT29E7ECHHXWX","cid":"bafkreibn574wpvl57t52ozolyu2ifofgnlpg55j6qu4lngbhxegfpkbgy4","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# By-and-by, the house seemed to change again\n\n## Overview\nThis section, titled \"By-and-by, the house seemed to change again,\" is an extracted text segment from the larger work contained within the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It spans lines 5378 to 5430 of its source file.\n\n## Context\nThis section is part of a larger textual unit, [IV.](arke:01KG8AKSYXM1BVG8S0ESCFKM6F), and was extracted from the digital text file [pierre.txt](arke:01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A). It follows the section titled [I have spoken of the second or rather the third spot in my memory of the past, as it first appeared to me; I mean, I have spoken of the people in the house, according to my very earliest recallable impression of them.](arke:01KG8AMR90EA1Z18WSCR40KHF2) and precedes the section [It came to pass, at last, that there was a contention about me in the house](arke:01KG8AMR90ETF797NH56MEWZEV). The text describes a shift in the narrator's perception of a particular \"house\" and its inhabitants.\n\n## Contents\nThe section details the narrator's observations of the \"house\" and its occupants, who are described as pale, some with white hair despite being young. They exhibit various behaviors, including vacant roaming, silent gazing, crouching, moaning, and repetitive speech. Some discuss theological concepts like \"Hell, Eternity, and God,\" while others argue without conviction. The narrator recounts a rare instance of collective laughter among the inhabitants. The text concludes with the narrator's refusal to name the \"house,\" emphasizing its \"unendurable\" nature and the \"dreaminess\" and \"bewilderingness\" that persist from their time there.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:50:13.393Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"By-and-by, the house seemed to change again","end_line":5430,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.195Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"By-and-by, the house seemed to change again","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":5378,"text":"\"By-and-by, the house seemed to change again, or else my mind took in\r\nmore, and modified its first impressions. I was lodged up-stairs in a\r\nlittle room; there was hardly any furniture in the room; sometimes I\r\nwished to go out of it; but the door was locked. Sometimes the people\r\ncame and took me out of the room, into a much larger and very long room,\r\nand here I would collectively see many of the other people of the house,\r\nwho seemed likewise brought from distant and separate chambers. In this\r\nlong room they would vacantly roam about, and talk vacant talk to each\r\nother. Some would stand in the middle of the room gazing steadily on the\r\nfloor for hours together, and never stirred, but only breathed and gazed\r\nupon the floor. Some would sit crouching in the corner, and sit\r\ncrouching there, and only breathe and crouch in the corners. Some kept\r\ntheir hands tight on their hearts, and went slowly promenading up and\r\ndown, moaning and moaning to themselves. One would say to another--\"Feel\r\nof it--here, put thy hand in the break.\" Another would mutter--\"Broken,\r\nbroken, broken\"--and would mutter nothing but that one word broken. But\r\nmost of them were dumb, and could not, or would not speak, or had\r\nforgotten how to speak. They were nearly all pale people. Some had hair\r\nwhite as snow, and yet were quite young people. Some were always talking\r\nabout Hell, Eternity, and God; and some of all things as fixedly\r\ndecreed; others would say nay to this, and then they would argue, but\r\nwithout much conviction either way. But once nearly all the people\r\npresent--even the dumb moping people, and the sluggish persons crouching\r\nin the corners--nearly all of them laughed once, when after a whole\r\nday's loud babbling, two of these predestinarian opponents, said each to\r\nthe other--'Thou hast convinced me, friend; but we are quits; for so\r\nalso, have I convinced thee, the other way; now then, let's argue it all\r\nover again; for still, though mutually converted, we are still at odds.'\r\nSome harangued the wall; some apostrophized the air; some hissed at the\r\nair; some lolled their tongues out at the air; some struck the air; some\r\nmade motions, as if wrestling with the air, and fell out of the arms of\r\nthe air, panting from the invisible hug.\r\n\r\n\"Now, as in the former thing, thou must, ere this, have suspected what\r\nmanner of place this second or third house was, that I then lived in.\r\nBut do not speak the word to me. That word has never passed my lips;\r\neven now, when I hear the word, I run from it; when I see it printed in\r\na book, I run from the book. The word is wholly unendurable to me. Who\r\nbrought me to the house; how I came there, I do not know. I lived a long\r\ntime in the house; that alone I know; I say I know, but still I am\r\nuncertain; still Pierre, still the--oh the dreaminess, the\r\nbewilderingness--it never entirely leaves me. Let me be still again.\"\r\n\r\nShe leaned away from him; she put her small hard hand to her forehead;\r\nthen moved it down, very slowly, but still hardly over her eyes, and\r\nkept it there, making no other sign, and still as death. Then she moved\r\nand continued her vague tale of terribleness.\r\n\r\n\"I must be shorter; I did not mean to turn off into the mere\r\noffshootings of my story, here and there; but the dreaminess I speak of\r\nleads me sometimes; and I, as impotent then, obey the dreamy prompting.\r\nBear with me; now I will be briefer.\"\r\n\r","title":"By-and-by, the house seemed to change again"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKSYXM1BVG8S0ESCFKM6F","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMR90EA1Z18WSCR40KHF2","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMR90ETF797NH56MEWZEV","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:47.392Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:50:13.586Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}