CASE HISTORIES 37 



He attended school from five to eighteen, graduating from 

 the eighth grade after repeating it. School was too hard for him 

 he said, and he used to play truant a good deal, going off in the 

 woods with his dog, gun and fishpole. He was always reticent 

 and a great home boy, and didn't play with other boys much 

 when his brothers were away. 



Until his next older brother and he were ten and eight 

 respectively their mother slept between them in the same bed, 

 and she remembered that they used to be jealous and each one 

 wanted her to face him and turn her back on the other. The 

 brother then slept apart, but the patient slept with her until well 

 after puberty. It was noticed that he became more bashful and 

 shy after puberty. He sucked his fingers till he was twelve. 



The excitable father scolded the mother a good deal and this 

 upset the boy who made faces at the father behind his back. 

 The father said his other sons used to oppose his will at times, 

 but that the patient rarely stood up for himself. Once, however, 

 he refused to hitch up a team when ordered to, and the father 

 chased him off the place with a revolver. He was slow and 

 awkward, and the brothers nicknamed him "clum," short for 

 clumsy. They had been forced to go to work about the age of 

 fifteen and felt bitter over their limited education. They insisted 

 that the patient be given a better chance and advised him not to 

 go to work till he was twenty-one. 



The brothers were very affectionate among themselves. One 

 of the older ones took the patient as his buddy, gave him candy 

 and other presents, and looked after him in general. He used 

 to caress this brother's head and hair. All of them kissed each 

 other even yet. When one of them visited him in this hospital 

 he called him Honey and kissed him. The father said the boys 

 were fond of wrestling with each other on a bed and the victor 

 kissed the vanquished one repeatedly. 



After quitting school at eighteen he went to the city and lived 

 with one of his brothers, and got a job in a parcel check room, 

 studying stenography at night school. He lost that job soon, and 

 then got one as telegraph messenger boy but gave that up because 

 it was too hard. One night he implored his brother to protect 



