Friday, November 17, 2006

(gone fishing)

I made it on the bevel.

  1. There is more surface for the nails to grip.
  2. There is twice the gripping-surface to each seam.
  3. The water will have to seep into it on a slant. Water moves easiest up and down and straight across.
  4. In a house people are upright two-thirds of the time. So the seams and joints are made up-and-down. Because the stress is up-and-down.
  5. In a bed where people lie down all the time, the joints and seams are made sideways, because the stress is sideways.
  6. Except.
  7. A body is not square like a cross-tie.
  8. Animal magnetism.
  9. The animal magnetism of a dead body makes the stress come slanting, so the seams and joints of a coffin are made on a bevel.
  10. You can see by an old grave that the earth sinks down on the bevel.
  11. While in a natural hole it sinks by the center, the stress being up-and-down.
  12. So I made it on the bevel.
  13. It makes a neater job.
--Cash Bundren