{"id":"01KG8AN3V3YJ22THQ5XC8WS16S","cid":"bafkreic44asw6c3okojial32eq43jakehzrqti6zgkgvmzj3oudz4uuq3i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11212,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.921Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":11154,"text":"insinuation of the Law; which, with a singular affectation of benignity,\r\npronounced him an \"infant.\" His modesty obscured from him the\r\ncircumstance, that the greatest lettered celebrities of the time, had,\r\nby the divine power of genius, become full graduates in the University\r\nof Fame, while yet as legal minors forced to go to their mammas for\r\npennies wherewith to keep them in peanuts.\r\n\r\nNot seldom Pierre's social placidity was ruffled by polite entreaties\r\nfrom the young ladies that he would be pleased to grace their Albums\r\nwith some nice little song. We say that here his social placidity was\r\nruffled; for the true charm of agreeable parlor society is, that there\r\nyou lose your own sharp individuality and become delightfully merged in\r\nthat soft social Pantheism, as it were, that rosy melting of all into\r\none, ever prevailing in those drawing-rooms, which pacifically and\r\ndeliciously belie their own name; inasmuch as there no one draws the\r\nsword of his own individuality, but all such ugly weapons are left--as\r\nof old--with your hat and cane in the hall. It was very awkward to\r\ndecline the albums; but somehow it was still worse, and peculiarly\r\ndistasteful for Pierre to comply. With equal justice apparently, you\r\nmight either have called this his weakness or his idiosyncrasy. He\r\nsummoned all his suavity, and refused. And the refusal of\r\nPierre--according to Miss Angelica Amabilia of Ambleside--was sweeter\r\nthan the compliance of others. But then--prior to the proffer of her\r\nalbum--in a copse at Ambleside, Pierre in a gallant whim had in the\r\nlady's own presence voluntarily carved Miss Angelica's initials upon the\r\nbark of a beautiful maple. But all young ladies are not Miss Angelicas.\r\nBlandly denied in the parlor, they courted repulse in the study. In\r\nlovely envelopes they dispatched their albums to Pierre, not omitting\r\nto drop a little attar-of-rose in the palm of the domestic who carried\r\nthem. While now Pierre--pushed to the wall in his\r\ngallantry--shilly-shallied as to what he must do, the awaiting albums\r\nmultiplied upon him; and by-and-by monopolized an entire shelf in his\r\nchamber; so that while their combined ornate bindings fairly dazzled his\r\neyes, their excessive redolence all but made him to faint, though\r\nindeed, in moderation, he was very partial to perfumes. So that of\r\nreally chilly afternoons, he was still obliged to drop the upper sashes\r\na few inches.\r\n\r\nThe simplest of all things it is to write in a lady's album. But Cui\r\nBono? Is there such a dearth of printed reading, that the monkish times\r\nmust be revived, and ladies books be in manuscript? What could Pierre\r\nwrite of his own on Love or any thing else, that would surpass what\r\ndivine Hafiz wrote so many long centuries ago? Was there not Anacreon\r\ntoo, and Catullus, and Ovid--all translated, and readily accessible? And\r\nthen--bless all their souls!--had the dear creatures forgotten Tom\r\nMoore? But the handwriting, Pierre,--they want the sight of your hand.\r\nWell, thought Pierre, actual feeling is better than transmitted sight,\r\nany day. I will give them the actual feeling of my hand, as much as they\r\nwant. And lips are still better than hands. Let them send their sweet\r\nfaces to me, and I will kiss _lipographs_ upon them forever and a day.\r\nThis was a felicitous idea. He called Dates, and had the albums carried\r\ndown by the basket-full into the dining-room. He opened and spread them\r\nall out upon the extension-table there; then, modeling himself by the\r\nPope, when His Holiness collectively blesses long crates of rosaries--he\r\nwaved one devout kiss to the albums; and summoning three servants sent\r\nthe albums all home, with his best compliments, accompanied with a\r\nconfectioner's _kiss_ for each album, rolled up in the most ethereal\r\ntissue.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKTMJC7WS31CG5E4CDD06","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN3V3RVCX6NDSD9P6PH3M","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN3V33NRPX5DQ626TYMSC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:59.235Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:27.778Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}