{"id":"01KG8AMXVFKEZPZ6DVWCWE0E69","cid":"bafkreifkcb2hajonw42k5s4n4n3cvpvuxthjnqe6y2wjq3o4lnijqde6wq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11500,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.924Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":11443,"text":"it; how to construct any temple? Youth must wholly quit, then, the\r\nquarry, for awhile; and not only go forth, and get tools to use in the\r\nquarry, but must go and thoroughly study architecture. Now the\r\nquarry-discoverer is long before the stone-cutter; and the stone-cutter\r\nis long before the architect; and the architect is long before the\r\ntemple; for the temple is the crown of the world.\r\n\r\nYes; Pierre was not only very unarchitectural at that time, but Pierre\r\nwas very young, indeed, at that time. And it is often to be observed,\r\nthat as in digging for precious metals in the mines, much earthy rubbish\r\nhas first to be troublesomely handled and thrown out; so, in digging in\r\none's soul for the fine gold of genius, much dullness and common-place\r\nis first brought to light. Happy would it be, if the man possessed in\r\nhimself some receptacle for his own rubbish of this sort: but he is like\r\nthe occupant of a dwelling, whose refuse can not be clapped into his own\r\ncellar, but must be deposited in the street before his own door, for the\r\npublic functionaries to take care of. No common-place is ever\r\neffectually got rid of, except by essentially emptying one's self of it\r\ninto a book; for once trapped in a book, then the book can be put into\r\nthe fire, and all will be well. But they are not always put into the\r\nfire; and this accounts for the vast majority of miserable books over\r\nthose of positive merit. Nor will any thoroughly sincere man, who is an\r\nauthor, ever be rash in precisely defining the period, when he has\r\ncompletely ridded himself of his rubbish, and come to the latent gold in\r\nhis mine. It holds true, in every case, that the wiser a man is, the\r\nmore misgivings he has on certain points.\r\n\r\nIt is well enough known, that the best productions of the best human\r\nintellects, are generally regarded by those intellects as mere immature\r\nfreshman exercises, wholly worthless in themselves, except as\r\ninitiatives for entering the great University of God after death.\r\nCertain it is, that if any inferences can be drawn from observations of\r\nthe familiar lives of men of the greatest mark, their finest things,\r\nthose which become the foolish glory of the world, are not only very\r\npoor and inconsiderable to themselves, but often positively distasteful;\r\nthey would rather not have the book in the room. In minds comparatively\r\ninferior as compared with the above, these surmising considerations so\r\nsadden and unfit, that they become careless of what they write; go to\r\ntheir desks with discontent, and only remain there--victims to headache,\r\nand pain in the back--by the hard constraint of some social necessity.\r\nEqually paltry and despicable to them, are the works thus composed; born\r\nof unwillingness and the bill of the baker; the rickety offspring of a\r\nparent, careless of life herself, and reckless of the germ-life she\r\ncontains. Let not the short-sighted world for a moment imagine, that any\r\nvanity lurks in such minds; only hired to appear on the stage, not\r\nvoluntarily claiming the public attention; their utmost life-redness and\r\nglow is but rouge, washed off in private with bitterest tears; their\r\nlaugh only rings because it is hollow; and the answering laugh is no\r\nlaughter to them.\r\n\r\nThere is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness; we become sad in the\r\nfirst place by having nothing stirring to do; we continue in it, because\r\nwe have found a snug sofa at last. Even so, it may possibly be, that\r\narrived at this quiet retrospective little episode in the career of my\r\nhero--this shallowly expansive embayed Tappan Zee of my otherwise\r\ndeep-heady Hudson--I too begin to loungingly expand, and wax harmlessly\r\nsad and sentimental.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTDSB3ER53PCEAPSR7B2","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXVBMRAAHPB5S4PNKRTD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXVF4EKSRPT27V450WTJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.103Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:28.054Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}