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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
107
Since
I
came
home,
I've
looked
up
the
passage;
and
it
is
a
wonderful
one.
Dante
heard
wailings
and
groans
and
terrible
things
said
in
many
tongues.
Yet
these
were
not
the
souls
of
the
wicked.
They
were
only
those
"who
had
lived
without
praise
or
blame,
thinking
of
nothing
but
themselves."
"Heaven
would
not
dull
its
brightness
with
those,
nor
would
lower
hell
receive
them."
"And
what
is
it,"
asked
Dante,
"that
makes
them
so
grievously
suffer?"
"Hopelessness
of
death,"
said
Virgil,
"Their
blind
existence
here,
and
immemorable
former
life,
make
them
so
wretched
that
they
envy
every
other
lot.
Mercy
and
Justice
alike
disdain
them.
Let
us
speak
of
them
no
more.
Look,
and
pass!"
But
Mr.
Purdy,
in
spite
of
his
timidity,
was
a
man
of
much
persistence.
"They
tell
me,"
he
said,
"when
they
try
to
prove
the
reasonableness
of
hell,
that
unless
you
show
sinners
how
they're
goin'
to
be
tormented,
they'd
never
repent.
Now,
I
say
that
if
a
man
has
to
be
scared
into
religion,
his
religion
ain't
much
good."
"There,"
I
said,
"I
agree
with
you
completely."
His
face
lighted
up,
and
he
continued
eagerly:
"And
I
tell
'em:
You
just
go
ahead
and
try
for
heaven;
don't
pay
any
attention
to
all
this
talk
about
everlasting
punishment."
"Good
advice!"
I
said.
It
had
begun
to
grow
dark.
The
brown
cow
was
quiet
at
last.
We
could
hear
small
faint
sounds
from
the
calf.
I
started
slowly
through
the
bracken.
Mr.
Purdy
hung
at
my
elbow,
stumbling
sideways
as
he
walked,
but
continuing
to
talk
eagerly.
So
we
came
to
the
place
where
the
calf
lay.
I
spoke
in
a
low
voice:
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
