The Older Ways

They called him a ‘Luddite,’ because he shied away from power tools, preferring instead to maintain the older ways of the square, the handsaw, nails and hammer. For eight weeks straight, eight hours a day, he measured, he cut, he pounded – placing each nail with precise care.

He’d heard their remarks, the teasing, the laughter, as neighbors quickly grew their fence lines as his slowly progressed. But once he finished, he smiled, satisfied his work would hold.

And over the years, many of those fences came and went, the man died, yet his craftsmanship, like a marbled monument, still stands.