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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
90
At
another
time
he
said,
"If
I
am
a
tramp
at
all,
I
am
a
mental
tramp.
I
have
an
unanchored
mind."
It
seems
that
he
came
to
a
realisation
that
there
was
something
peculiar
about
him
at
a
very
early
age.
He
said
they
would
look
at
him
and
whisper
to
one
another
and
that
his
sayings
were
much
repeated,
often
in
his
hearing.
He
knew
that
he
was
considered
an
extraordinary
child:
they
baited
him
with
questions
that
they
might
laugh
at
his
quaint
replies.
He
said
that
as
early
as
he
could
remember
he
used
to
plan
situations
so
that
he
might
say
things
that
were
strange
and
even
shocking
in
a
child.
His
father
was
a
small
professor
in
a
small
college--a
"worm"
he
called
him
bitterly--"one
of
those
worms
that
bores
in
books
and
finally
dries
up
and
blows
off."
But
his
mother--he
said
she
was
an
angel.
I
recall
his
exact
expression
about
her
eyes
that
"when
she
looked
at
one
it
made
him
better."
He
spoke
of
her
with
a
softening
of
the
voice,
looking
often
at
Harriet.
He
talked
a
good
deal
about
his
mother,
trying
to
account
for
himself
through
her.
She
was
not
strong,
he
said,
and
very
sensitive
to
the
contact
of
either
friends
or
enemies--evidently
a
nervous,
high-strung
woman.
"You
have
known
such
people,"
he
said,
"everything
hurt
her."
He
said
she
"starved
to
death."
She
starved
for
affection
and
understanding.
One
of
the
first
things
he
recalled
of
his
boyhood
was
his
passionate
love
for
his
mother.
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