{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/a-mass-meeting",
 "title": "A “Mass” Meeting",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "book_slug": "black-beetles-in-amber",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1892,
  "venue": "Black Beetles in Amber (1892)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
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  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
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  [
   {
    "text": "It was a solemn rite as e’er",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was seen by mortal man.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The celebrants, the people there,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were all Republican.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There Estee bent his grizzled head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And General Dimond, too,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And one⁠—’twas Reddick, someone said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though no one clearly knew.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I saw the priest, white-robed and tall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Assistant, Father Stow)⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He was the pious man men call",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dan Burns of Mexico.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ah, ’twas a high and holy rite",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As anyone could swear.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“What does it mean?” I asked a wight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who knelt apart in prayer.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“A mass for the repose,” he said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Of Colonel Markham’s”⁠—“What,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Is gallant Colonel Markham dead?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis sad, ’tis sad, God wot!”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“A mass”⁠—repeated he, and rose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To go and kneel among",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The worshipers⁠—“for the repose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Colonel Markham’s tongue.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}