ntes says, with the intention "of righting
every kind of wrong, and exposing himself to peril and danger, from
which in the issue he would obtain eternal renown and fame." In
likening myself to Cervantes' mad hero my purpose is quite other than
to push myself within the charmed circle of the chivalrous. What I wish
to do is to make plain that a man abnormally elated may be swayed
irresistably by his best instincts, and that while under the spell of
an exaltation, idealistic in degree, he may not only be willing, but
eager to assume risks and endure hardships which under normal
conditions he would assume reluctantly, if at all. In justice to
myself, however, I may remark that my plans for reform have never
assumed quixotic, and therefore, impracticable proportions. At no time
have I gone a-tilting at windmills. A pen rather than a lance has been
my weapon of offence and defence; for with its point I have felt sure
that I should one day prick the civic conscience into a compassionate
activity, and thus bring into a neglected field earnest men and women
who should act as champions for those afflicted thousands least able to
fight for themselves.

XIV

After being without relatives and friends for over two years I
naturally lost no time in trying again to get in touch with them;
though I did heed my conservator's request that I first give him two or
three days in which to acquaint intimates with the new turn my affairs
had taken.

During the latter part of that first week I wrote many letters, so
many, indeed, that I soon exhausted a liberal supply of stationery.
This had been placed at my disposal at the suggestion of my
conservator, who had wisely arranged that I should have whatever I
wanted, if expedient. It was now at my own suggestion that the
supervisor gave me large sheets of manila wrapping paper. These I
proceeded to cut into strips a foot wide. One such strip, four feet
long, would suffice for a mere _billet-doux_; but a real letter usually
required several such strips pasted together. More than once letters
twenty or thirty feet long were written; and on one occasion the
accumulation of two or three days of excessive productivity, when
spread upon the floor, reached from one end of the corridor to the
other--a distance of about one hundred feet. My hourly output was
something like twelve feet, with an average of one hundred and fifty
words to the foot. Under the pressure of elation one takes pride in