I heard a good deal about him before I saw him . He was called `` queer '' , but Stillwater folks seemed to be very fond of him . He and his sister , Tamzine , lived together ; she , so my garrulous landlady informed me , had not been sound of mind at times for many years ; but she was all right now , only odd and quiet . Abel had gone to college for a year when he was young , but had given it up when Tamzine `` went crazy '' . There was no one else to look after her . Abel had settled down to it with apparent content : at least he had never complained . `` Always took things easy , Abel did , '' said Mrs. Campbell . `` Never seemed to worry over disappointments and trials as most folks do . Seems to me that as long as Abel Armstrong can stride up and down in that garden of his , reciting poetry and speeches , or talking to that yaller cat of his as if it was a human , he does n't care much how the world wags on . He never had much git-up-and-git . His father was a hustler , but the family did n't take after him . They all favoured the mother 's people -- sorter shiftless and dreamy . ` Taint the way to git on in this world . '' No , good and worthy Mrs. Campbell . It was not the way to get on in your world ; but there are other worlds where getting on is estimated by different standards , and Abel Armstrong lived in one of these -- a world far beyond the ken of the thrifty Stillwater farmers and fishers . Something of this I had sensed , even before I saw him ; and that night in his garden , under a sky of smoky red , blossoming into stars above the harbour , I found a friend whose personality and philosophy were to calm and harmonize and enrich my whole existence . This sketch is my grateful tribute to one of the rarest and finest souls God ever clothed with clay . He was a tall man , somewhat ungainly of figure and homely of face . But his large , deep eyes of velvety nut-brown were very beautiful and marvellously bright and clear for a man of his age . He wore a little pointed , well-cared-for beard , innocent of gray ; but his hair was grizzled , and altogether he had the appearance of a man who had passed through many sorrows which had marked his body as well as his soul .
Looking at him , I doubted Mrs. Campbell 's conclusion XXXXX he had not `` minded '' giving up college .
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