- description
- # 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.
## Overview
This 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.", is a textual segment extracted from the file `pierre.txt`. It is part of the larger collection `Melville Complete Works`. The section details the narrator's early impressions of people within a house, describing changes over time, departures, arrivals, and unsettling events.
## Context
This section is located within the larger section titled "[IV.](arke:01KG8AKSYXM1BVG8S0ESCFKM6F)". It follows the section "[My next memory which I think I can in some degree rely upon, was yet another house, also situated away from human haunts, in the heart of a not entirely silent country.](arke:01KG8AMR96H0Q1RHDEHZPGF5D0)" and precedes "[By-and-by, the house seemed to change again](arke:01KG8AMR90VR7BT29E7ECHHXWX)". The text originates from the file `pierre.txt`, which is part of the `Melville Complete Works` collection.
## Contents
The text describes the narrator's evolving perception of the inhabitants of a house over several years. Initially, the narrator recalls the people as they first appeared, but over time, the occupants changed, some departing and others exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior. The narrator recounts witnessing coffins being carried into and out of the house, the arrival of new occupants in carriages, and the forceful entry of a disheveled man. The section also describes transient visitors with a "remarkable aspect," who appeared composed but mentally wandering. The narrator expresses a deep aversion to a particular word, which is not explicitly stated but is implied to be related to the unsettling nature of the house and its inhabitants.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:50:13.680Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- 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.
- end_line
- 5377
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:47.195Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 5339
- text
- "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. But I stayed in that house for several years--five, six,
perhaps, seven years--and during that interval of my stay, all things
changed to me, because I learned more, though always dimly. Some of its
occupants departed; some changed from smiles to tears; some went moping
all the day; some grew as savages and outrageous, and were dragged
below by dumb-like men into deep places, that I knew nothing of, but
dismal sounds came through the lower floor, groans and clanking
fallings, as of iron in straw. Now and then, I saw coffins silently at
noon-day carried into the house, and in five minutes' time emerge again,
seemingly heavier than they entered; but I saw not who was in them.
Once, I saw an immense-sized coffin, endwise pushed through a lower
window by three men who did not speak; and watching, I saw it pushed out
again, and they drove off with it. But the numbers of those invisible
persons who thus departed from the house, were made good by other
invisible persons arriving in close carriages. Some in rags and tatters
came on foot, or rather were driven on foot. Once I heard horrible
outcries, and peeping from my window, saw a robust but squalid and
distorted man, seemingly a peasant, tied by cords with four long ends to
them, held behind by as many ignorant-looking men who with a lash drove
the wild squalid being that way toward the house. Then I heard answering
hand-clappings, shrieks, howls, laughter, blessings, prayers, oaths,
hymns, and all audible confusions issuing from all the chambers of the
house.
"Sometimes there entered the house--though only transiently, departing
within the hour they came--people of a then remarkable aspect to me.
They were very composed of countenance; did not laugh; did not groan;
did not weep; did not make strange faces; did not look endlessly
fatigued; were not strangely and fantastically dressed; in short, did
not at all resemble any people I had ever seen before, except a little
like some few of the persons of the house, who seemed to have authority
over the rest. These people of a remarkable aspect to me, I thought they
were strangely demented people;--composed of countenance, but wandering
of mind; soul-composed and bodily-wandering, and strangely demented
people.
- title
- 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.