Simplification is the goal to be striven for in pistol shooting as it is in sculpture.
I saw two men, as I was writing the above, mowing a field.
One, an elderly man, was working in the conventional manner, cutting short deep swaths with a half blunt scythe set at the wrong angle to the handle, working in a cramped position.
The other, a young man, was examining his scythe.
He altered the blade at an acuter angle to the handle and gave it a twist sideways so that the cutting edge should lie horizontal when in use.
Then he sharpened the blade as carefully as he would strop a razor.
Putting himself into a firm position so that he could swing from the hips as an athlete about to throw the discus would, he made long clean sweeps with his scythe, taking a short depth, but this with a clean cut, and the cut grass thrown clear to the side, his return being only just clear of the grass, like a good sculler feathering.
At the least sign of bad cutting, he re-sharpened the scythe.
Although I know nothing of mowing, I could see at once that this was an artist and a workman at his job, and one who used his brains and took a pride in doing good work.
I asked if he was not the champion mower of the district. I was answered “not at all—he is only the carpenter.”