{"id":"01KG8AMXVN6KCTAD4RVQ7B75V8","cid":"bafkreiemmak3yo6bcrvpc56dnsqm42nqtdmnfoggulqalosjwk6zty4p44","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11703,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.924Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 9","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":11641,"text":"people who deal in Transcendentals. On the contrary, we seem to see that\r\nthe Utilitarians,--the every-day world's people themselves, far\r\ntranscend those inferior Transcendentalists by their own\r\nincomprehensible worldly maxims. And--what is vastly more--with the one\r\nparty, their Transcendentals are but theoretic and inactive, and\r\ntherefore harmless; whereas with the other, they are actually clothed in\r\nliving deeds.\r\n\r\nThe highly graveling doctrine and practice of the world, above cited,\r\nhad in some small degree been manifested in the case of Pierre. He\r\nprospectively possessed the fee of several hundred farms scattered over\r\npart of two adjoining counties; and now the proprietor of that popular\r\nperiodical, the Gazelle Magazine, sent him several additional dollars\r\nfor his sonnets. That proprietor (though in sooth, he never read the\r\nsonnets, but referred them to his professional adviser; and was so\r\nignorant, that, for a long time previous to the periodical's actually\r\nbeing started, he insisted upon spelling the Gazelle with a _g_ for the\r\n_z_, as thus: _Gagelle_; maintaining, that in the Gazelle connection,\r\nthe _z_ was a mere impostor, and that the _g_ was soft; for he was a\r\njudge of softness, and could speak from experience); that proprietor was\r\nundoubtedly a Transcendentalist; for did he not act upon the\r\nTranscendental doctrine previously set forth?\r\n\r\nNow, the dollars derived from his ditties, these Pierre had always\r\ninvested in cigars; so that the puffs which indirectly brought him his\r\ndollars were again returned, but as perfumed puffs; perfumed with the\r\nsweet leaf of Havanna. So that this highly-celebrated and world-renowned\r\nPierre--the great author--whose likeness the world had never seen (for\r\nhad he not repeatedly refused the world his likeness?), this famous\r\npoet, and philosopher, author of \"_The Tropical Summer: a Sonnet_;\"\r\nagainst whose very life several desperadoes were darkly plotting (for\r\nhad not the biographers sworn they would have it!); this towering\r\ncelebrity--there he would sit smoking, and smoking, mild and\r\nself-festooned as a vapory mountain. It was very involuntarily and\r\nsatisfactorily reciprocal. His cigars were lighted in two ways: lighted\r\nby the sale of his sonnets, and lighted by the printed sonnets\r\nthemselves.\r\n\r\nFor even at that early time in his authorial life, Pierre, however vain\r\nof his fame, was not at all proud of his paper. Not only did he make\r\nallumettes of his sonnets when published, but was very careless about\r\nhis discarded manuscripts; they were to be found lying all round the\r\nhouse; gave a great deal of trouble to the housemaids in sweeping; went\r\nfor kindlings to the fires; and were forever flitting out of the\r\nwindows, and under the door-sills, into the faces of people passing the\r\nmanorial mansion. In this reckless, indifferent way of his, Pierre\r\nhimself was a sort of publisher. It is true his more familiar admirers\r\noften earnestly remonstrated with him, against this irreverence to the\r\nprimitive vestments of his immortal productions; saying, that whatever\r\nhad once felt the nib of his mighty pen, was thenceforth sacred as the\r\nlips which had but once saluted the great toe of the Pope. But hardened\r\nas he was to these friendly censurings, Pierre never forbade that ardent\r\nappreciation of \"The Tear,\" who, finding a small fragment of the\r\noriginal manuscript containing a dot (_tear_), over an _i_ (_eye_),\r\nesteemed the significant event providential; and begged the\r\ndistinguished favor of being permitted to have it for a brooch; and\r\nousted a cameo-head of Homer, to replace it with the more invaluable\r\ngem. He became inconsolable, when being caught in a rain, the dot\r\n(_tear_) disappeared from over the _i_ (_eye_); so that the strangeness\r\nand wonderfulness of the sonnet was still conspicuous; in that though\r\nthe least fragment of it could weep in a drought, yet did it become all\r\ntearless in a shower.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 9"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTDSB3ER53PCEAPSR7B2","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXVFYPXSHSXYE35MYMMP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXVP78ZY7VYJ8AEYEFHM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.109Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:28.582Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}