tle book.

In telling a story it is always best to begin at the beginning. I shall
start by saying that I was born poor and without any opportunities,
therefore I ought to have been able to accomplish almost anything. The
reader will readily agree that the best inheritance that the average
American boy can have is indigence and lack of opportunity. For getting on
in the world and for carving out one's own little niche, nothing beats
having poverty-stricken, but sensible and respectable parents. Many a
fellow has been heard to deplore the lack of opportunities in his early
youth when, in reality, nothing stood in his way, unless it may have been
the rather unhandy handicap of being poor. Money may sometimes enable one
to get recognition in the hall of fame, and sometimes it is instrumental
in getting one's picture in the rogues' gallery.

So I consider myself fortunate in having been born well, except that I
inherited a neurosis instead of an estate. "Neurosis" and "neurotic" are
docile terms after you once form their acquaintance. They broke into my
vocabulary while I was yet at a tender age, and during all the intervening
years I have learned more and more about them, both from literary and
experimental standpoints.

A neurosis is a nervous symptom of some sort, and if you have a sufficient
number and variety of them you are a neurasthenic. If you ever get so that
you can move in neurasthenic circles, you will always be foolish about
your health and your physical and mental well-being. It is quite common
for us to ascribe all our defects to heredity. Poor old, overworked
heredity is the dumping-ground for the most of our laziness, perversity
and shortcomings! If we have a bad temper, a penchant for whiskey, or a
wryneck, heredity has the brunt to bear. We can always give our
imperfections a little veneering by saying that they were an inheritance.

Granting the significance of heredity as a factor in causing suffering, I
wish to emphasize the fact that we can inherit only tendencies, or the raw
material, as it were. We do the rest ourselves, and work out our
respective salvations either with or without fear and trembling. Quite
often improper training and adverse environment at an impressionable age
start us on the wrong track. And that brings me to the point.

With this seeming digression in order to prepare the reader's mind for
what is to follow, I return to my infancy--_in fancy_. At the age of
twenty-four hour