An Imperfect Fool

(Funds from undisclosed sources have been appropriated for a Courtney Courtney Peabody memorial prize for scholarship to be awarded annually to the graduating senior considered "most fully endowed with those qualities best exemplified by Courtney Courtney Peabody '35." The gift of fifty dollars will be for books, no single volume of which may cost over ten cents.--ED.)

A body splattered with black, sticky mud lay off the road near San Stephano on a tiny West Indian isle--flabby, middle-aged, and wet from an afternoon thunder-storm. Courtney Courtney Peabody had drowned in the rain. A half-finished letter found in his hotel room contained his last recorded words: "Gee, mom, it's hot as hell down here. When can I come home?" The letter, like Courtney's life, must remain uncompleted.

Courtney's Harvard career has left a residue of memories among his contemporaries. His classmate Rudyard Ginsberg remarked that "Courtney was by far the most stupid graduate I knew" and further conjectured that "there were few less intelligent among those who failed." That Courtney ever arrived at Harvard has remained a source of awe and wonder. His parents deny that he was an imposter; the Admissions Committee rejects the rumor that a letter of acceptance was sent him by mistake. The Deans in general refuse to be approached on "the Peabody matter."

Courtney was a continuous inspiration, a font of comfort and reassurance to all about him, as he occupied the exposed position at the very bottom of his class. Everyone enjoyed him. One of his roommates remembers that "Courtney slept most of the time, except when he played cards. He was swell. His mother sent him brownies." Another recalls, "He seldom gave anyone trouble. You see, he talked only on infrequent occasions, and then not very well."

Courtney led an active social life. He seemed to like girls and they reciprocated. "He was somewhat simple," one of his 'girls' remembers, "but awfully sweet. He seemed very much like my little brother." It is reported that Courtney often entertained party gatherings for hours with his antics. He served a year as president of the Young Republicans for Landon and thereafter retired from politics. For four years he took dancing lessons, but his instructor merely remembers that he was "clumsy as a yak."

Courtney tried various athletics. He once took out a wherry (possibly on a bet) which struck a beer bottle, and sank under Eliot Bridge. A collie dragged him to safety. Courtney possessed unusual empathy with animals and was often warned about the pets he would keep in his room. His roommates minded only the baby albatross Courtney found off Cape Ann ("It seemed like such bad luck, at least potentially,") but the administration had less leniency.

The world's reaction to Courtney's death was best expressed when several of his old classmates gathered at the funeral and afterward purchased a bronze plaque with the simple inscription: "I could have better spared a better man." The prize happily insures us that his name shall not be forgotten.