Wanderlust

The narrator recounts youthful restless impulses that lead him to run away from school and seek adventure across the American South and at sea. Episodic memoirs describe working aboard ships, odd jobs on rural farms, long rides, brushes with danger and comic altercations, and improvised survival when penniless in port towns. Vivid vignettes emphasize self-reliance, wanderlust, and the unpredictable lessons of travel as the narrator moves between maritime passages, river towns, pine forests and sand hills, learning through practical experience.