Prime Cut

My grandfather was a butcher in St Louis about the time Upton Sinclair published The Jungle. He told the story about how cattle started on the top floor of the slaughter house. In the summer the windows were open and carried a breeze in for the man that stood over the cattle chute with a massive sledge hammer. The cow's hind legs were shackled with a chain. After the hammer fell the cow was raised by the chain and moved to a lower floor to be processed.

Once the guy with the hammer missed his mark and the dazed shackled cow tried jumping out the window. The chain caught on the window sill and the cow dangled out the third floor window.

We have my grandfathers knives from the time he worked in a butcher shop. I wonder what my grandfather would say about technology and technicolor plastic knives from China. I can hear the rhythmic slap and ring of carbon steel, honing a fine edge.