ll
at mathematics, but I wouldn't see it. I made up my mind to go to
Cornell for the course on engineering. I worked like a slave for two
years to get ready and just succeeded in getting in.

"Then toward the middle of Freshman year I realized that I was becoming
a quite absurdly solemn young grind. There were over a hundred girls in
college but I had made barely any friends. And so I firmly resolved to
be gay. I made a regular business of it and worked my way into clubs and
dances, hunting for the girls I liked and scheming to make them like me
too. By May I was way behind in my work. I tried to make up, I began
cramming every night until one or two in the morning. And I passed my
examinations--but that summer I broke down. My father had to drop his
work and take me abroad for an operation, and by the time we got back he
had lost nearly six months of his time. I decided that as an engineer I
was a dismal failure. I'd much better give my father a chance.

"So when he took up this work in New York I spent all my time on our new
apartment. I loved fussing with it, I shopped like a bee, and this kept
me busy all Autumn. Besides I was going about with Sue. She had managed
me long ago at school and I was glad to let her now, for I was hunting
for new ideas. But Sue put me on so many committees that by Spring my
nerves were in shreds, and again for weeks I was flat on my back.

"One evening then--when my father came home and sat down by my
bedside--it came over me all of a sudden--the wonderful quiet strength
in his hand, in the look of his eyes.

"'Where have you been?' I asked him.

"'Down on the harbor,' he told me. Since eight in the morning he'd been
in a launch exploring it all. I shut my eyes--my wretched eyelids
quivering--and I made him describe the whole day's trip while I tried to
see it all in my mind. Soon I was feeling deliciously quiet. 'I'm going
down there too,' I thought.

"By the next evening I had the idea for this boat. When I told him he
was delighted, and we both grew excited over the plans--which he drew by
my bed, I made him draw dozens. At last it was built and lay at its
dock, and I packed all I needed into a trunk and we came down in a taxi.
It was a lovely May afternoon and we had a beautiful ride up the Hudson.
And from then on through the Summer I hardly went ashore at all, I knew
if I did it would spoil it all.

"Every night we slept on board in those two cozy little bunks. I learned
to