{"id":"01KG8AMXWR17EKFC91J95FFRJ4","cid":"bafkreif6ikexedhqulbxjgk5vhojtephgygdilr7txglvefwmzj6oklrde","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":590,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.918Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":537,"text":"fond and foolish in Pierre; and if you tell me that this sort of thing\r\nin him showed him no sterling Democrat, and that a truly noble man\r\nshould never brag of any arm but his own; then I beg you to consider\r\nagain that this Pierre was but a youngster as yet. And believe me you\r\nwill pronounce Pierre a thoroughgoing Democrat in time; perhaps a little\r\ntoo Radical altogether to your fancy.\r\n\r\nIn conclusion, do not blame me if I here make repetition, and do\r\nverbally quote my own words in saying that _it had been the choice fate\r\nof Pierre to have been born and bred in the country_. For to a noble\r\nAmerican youth this indeed--more than in any other land--this indeed is\r\na most rare and choice lot. For it is to be observed, that while in\r\nother countries, the finest families boast of the country as their home;\r\nthe more prominent among us, proudly cite the city as their seat. Too\r\noften the American that himself makes his fortune, builds him a great\r\nmetropolitan house, in the most metropolitan street of the most\r\nmetropolitan town. Whereas a European of the same sort would thereupon\r\nmigrate into the country. That herein the European hath the better of\r\nit, no poet, no philosopher, and no aristocrat will deny. For the\r\ncountry is not only the most poetical and philosophical, but it is the\r\nmost aristocratic part of this earth, for it is the most venerable, and\r\nnumerous bards have ennobled it by many fine titles. Whereas the town is\r\nthe more plebeian portion: which, besides many other things, is plainly\r\nevinced by the dirty unwashed face perpetually worn by the town; but the\r\ncountry, like any Queen, is ever attended by scrupulous lady's maids in\r\nthe guise of the seasons, and the town hath but one dress of brick\r\nturned up with stone; but the country hath a brave dress for every week\r\nin the year; sometimes she changes her dress twenty-four times in the\r\ntwenty-four hours; and the country weareth her sun by day as a diamond\r\non a Queen's brow; and the stars by night as necklaces of gold beads;\r\nwhereas the town's sun is smoky paste, and no diamond, and the town's\r\nstars are pinchbeck and not gold.\r\n\r\nIn the country then Nature planted our Pierre; because Nature intended a\r\nrare and original development in Pierre. Never mind if hereby she proved\r\nambiguous to him in the end; nevertheless, in the beginning she did\r\nbravely. She blew her wind-clarion from the blue hills, and Pierre\r\nneighed out lyrical thoughts, as at the trumpet-blast, a war-horse paws\r\nhimself into a lyric of foam. She whispered through her deep groves at\r\neve, and gentle whispers of humanness, and sweet whispers of love, ran\r\nthrough Pierre's thought-veins, musical as water over pebbles. She\r\nlifted her spangled crest of a thickly-starred night, and forth at that\r\nglimpse of their divine Captain and Lord, ten thousand mailed thoughts\r\nof heroicness started up in Pierre's soul, and glared round for some\r\ninsulted good cause to defend.\r\n\r\nSo the country was a glorious benediction to young Pierre; we shall see\r\nif that blessing pass from him as did the divine blessing from the\r\nHebrews; we shall yet see again, I say, whether Fate hath not just a\r\nlittle bit of a word or two to say in this world; we shall see whether\r\nthis wee little bit scrap of latinity be very far out of the way--_Nemo\r\ncontra Deum nisi Deus ipse._\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKK0KMK3N0M6TS3T54NMH","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXWR5MPNG2WP9PAKQSFY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.144Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:01.172Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}