I watched the old man teach the boy the methods of melting and releasing the hot steel with the cutting torch. I admired that old man for his empirical knowledge there for a second. I smiled. Then pitied him for another second because his engineering knowledge just may be the sum of all experiences as witnessed by his trying life. He handed it down to the younger generation who would also grow old with it, to teach another. And thus the cycle of that man, in that class, moves on, into the future.