come about that some day something will be found which will prevent
a complete and incurable mental breakdown...."

Thus did I, as revealed by these rather crude, unrevised quotations,
somewhat prophetically, if extravagantly, box the compass that later
guided the ship of my hopes (not one of my phantom ships) into a safe
channel, and later into a safe harbor.

By way of mental diversion during these creative days at the Yale Club,
I wrote personal letters to intimate friends. One of these produced a
result unlooked for. There were about it compromising earmarks which
the friend to whom it was sent recognized. In it I said that I intended
to approach a certain man of wealth and influence who lived in New
York, with a view to securing some action that would lead to reform.
That was enough. My friend showed the letter to my brother--the one who
had acted as my conservator. He knew at once that I was in an excited
mental condition. But he could not very well judge the degree of the
excitement; for when I had last talked with him a week earlier, I had
not discussed my larger plans. Business affairs and my hope for
business advancement had then alone interested me.

I talked with President Hadley on Friday; Saturday I went to New York;
Sunday and Monday I spent at the Yale Club, writing; Tuesday, this
telltale letter fell under the prescient eye of my brother. On that day
he at once got in touch with me by telephone. We briefly discussed the
situation. He did not intimate that he believed me to be in elation. He
simply urged me not to attempt to interest anyone in my project until I
had first returned to New Haven and talked with him. Now I had already
gone so far as to invite my employers to dine with me that very night
at the Yale Club for the purpose of informing them of my plans. This I
did, believing it to be only fair that they should know what I intended
to do, so that they might dispense with my services should they feel
that my plans would in any way impair my usefulness as an employe. Of
this dinner engagement, therefore, I told my brother. But so
insistently did he urge me to defer any such conference as I proposed
until I had talked with him that, although it was too late to break the
dinner engagement, I agreed to avoid, if possible, any reference to my
project. I also agreed to return home the next day.

That night my guests honored me as agreed. For an hour or two we
discussed business conditions and affai