CASE HISTORIES 3 



college was situated. It was graduation time in June, and one of 

 the professors and a student got on the train. I hid myself from 

 them, jealous, disappointed and ashamed. I staid all summer 

 at my sister's trying to get a job but couldn't. I had to earn 

 money so I went to New York and got work as dishwasher in 

 a summer hotel. It was terribly hard. In a week I quit and 

 returned to my sister's where I attended a state normal school 

 with free tuition and got my A.B. 



"The next year I taught in a small school for boys and was 

 able to repay part of the debt to my uncles. I got on fairly 

 well but I didn't want to stay. I returned to my sister's and 

 studied for an A.M. I worried over lack of money, and studied 

 also for civil service examinations, neglecting my post-graduate 

 work. I flunked some courses and quit in May. One of the 

 teachers said I would have gotten my A.M. if I hadn't dreamed 

 so much." 



The ensuing year and a half was one long succession of jobs 

 lasting anywhere from one week to six months. He worked as 

 busboy in restaurants, translated Russian, canvassed for a maga- 

 zine and a sewing machine company, sold life insurance and 

 clerked in a store, earning just enough to live on. Half a year 

 after the United States entered the war he enlisted in a naval 

 aviation school. " I flunked my exams. They were too tech- 

 nical ; I don't know mechanics. Then they transferred me to 

 duty as a seaman in the same camp. I had to leave my class 

 just as at college. Life was very unpleasant. A scholar hates 

 to flunk." 



Not even as seaman could he give satisfaction. He became 

 absorbed in his own thoughts and did not seem to comprehend 

 his duties, and often was seen smiling to himself without ap- 

 parent reason. He was sent to a psychopathic ward for obser- 

 vation. There he lay in the sun for hours at a time. He did 

 not resent this detention and said he had been nervous and needed 

 a rest. There was nothing the matter with his mind, he declared, 

 he could think and remember as well as ever. As he made no 

 improvement he was transferred to St. Elizabeths, where he 

 stayed in bed for several weeks and had to be tube fed for two 



