Vypracoval se samostudiem, nevěnoval se vědecké kariéře. Ale vláda ocenila hloubku jeho vědomostí a učinila jej knihovníkem psychiatrické kliniky v Meridianu, kde se stal velmi uznávaným chovancem.
He was a self-educated man, Didn't have a career as such, but the government did recognize the breadth of his readin' by makin' him librarian of the state nervous hospital in Meridian, where he was a distinguished inmate,