I made it on the bevel.

• There is more surface for the nails to grip.
• There is twice the gripping-surface to each seam.
• The water will have to seep into it on a slant. Water moves easiest up and down or straight across.
• 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.
• In a bed where people lie down all the time, the joints and seams are made sideways, because the stress is sideways.
• Except.
• A body is not square like a crosstie.
• Animal magnetism.
• The animal magnetism of a dead body makes the stress come slanting, so the seams and joints of a coffin are made on the bevel.
• You can see by an old grave that the earth sinks down on the bevel.
• While in a natural hole it sinks by the center, the stress being up-and-down.
• So I made it on the bevel.
• It makes a neater job.

(_As I Lay Dying_ by William Faulkner. Because Faulkner likes lists too.

P.S. This chapter was about building a coffin for the character's mother.)