Chippings with a Chisel (From "Twice Told Tales")

In the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, a wanderer finds himself drawn to the island’s quiet graveyard, where weather‑worn stones stand beside newly carved slabs. He befriends an elderly stone‑carver, a man who has traveled from the mainland in search of work and now spends his days shaping marble and slate for grieving families. The narrator’s walks among the varied monuments reveal a clash of imported, ornate memorials and simple, hand‑crafted markers that speak more plainly of love and loss.

The carver, a gentle soul with a childlike curiosity, treats each inscription as a modest tribute, carving initials, verses, and occasional errors that the elements cannot erase. Though his trade seems macabre, his cheerful demeanor and blunt, homespun wisdom turn the grim task into a lively exchange about memory and mortality. As they converse, the listener is invited into a world where the act of naming the dead becomes a quiet meditation on the living.