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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
48
"I
am
sorry,
madam,"
I
said
finally,
"but
I
have
grown
adamant
to
criticism.
I
have
done
my
work
as
well
as
it
lies
in
me
to
do
it.
It
is
the
part
of
sanity
to
throw
it
aside
without
compunction.
A
work
must
prove
itself.
Shoo!"
I
said
this
with
such
conclusiveness
and
vigour
that
the
critical
old
hen
departed
hastily
with
ruffled
feathers.
So
I
sat
there
in
the
glorious
perfection
of
the
forenoon,
the
great
day
open
around
me,
a
few
small
clouds
abroad
in
the
highest
sky,
and
all
the
earth
radiant
with
sunshine.
The
last
snow
of
winter
was
gone,
the
sap
ran
in
the
trees,
the
cows
fed
further
afield.
When
the
eye
of
the
axe
was
sufficiently
expanded
by
the
heat
I
drew
it
quickly
from
the
fire
and
drove
home
the
helve
which
I
had
already
whittled
down
to
the
exact
size.
I
had
a
hickory
wedge
prepared,
and
it
was
the
work
of
ten
seconds
to
drive
it
into
the
cleft
at
the
lower
end
of
the
helve
until
the
eye
of
the
axe
was
completely
and
perfectly
filled.
Upon
cooling
the
steel
shrunk
upon
the
wood,
clasping
it
with
such
firmness
that
nothing
short
of
fire
could
ever
dislodge
it.
Then,
carefully,
with
knife
and
sandpaper
I
polished
off
the
wood
around
the
steel
of
the
axe
until
I
had
made
as
good
a
job
of
it
as
lay
within
my
power.
So
I
carried
the
axe
to
my
log-pile.
I
swung
it
above
my
head
and
the
feel
of
it
was
good
in
my
hands.
The
blade
struck
deep
into
the
oak
wood.
And
I
said
to
myself
with
satisfaction:
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
