Whenever a party was given, guests would comment incessantly about how much fun they were having. The Elwood family, for instance, who were once invited over to a gathering at the Seymours’, were said to have talked about it almost at every dinner for years. Guests were truly enchanted.
It wasn’t for nothing that little Weylin grew up in this magical, eccentric and artistic environment. The loss of his father had awaken in the 11-year-old boy a strong need of stepping out of his house to get some work, but he didn’t really know what to do. He started looking for jobs down in the market, where he was usually rejected for being just a kid. The marketeers were very suspicious of little boys; some liked to steal their goods. One time he got a chance helping a friend of his father. He was a barber, which Weylin didn’t like much; he found it boring, and instead of growing in inspiration and strength to help his mother, he was getting depressed.
One day, when he was just about to quit, he was once again listening to the typical men conversation that takes place at a barber shop, which of course is about women. This frequent client, Mr. Roy Albany, was mulling over how hard it was for him to meet the ideal lady to fall in love with and get married to. Weylin, who grew up as an only child surrounded by joyous gatherings, knew he had a special talent to observe women’s interest in men. He knew the way they felt, the way they peeped at men while analyzing them when they didn’t notice. Despite being just a kid, he understood the adults’ psychology quite well as to couples and enjoyment. He used to say that when people are comfortable at a social gathering, they produce a certain vibe that contains an extremely subtle information about themselves, to which even kids can be sensitive and many times get it better than grown ups, instinctively. Altogether with this special skill was the street knowledge Weylin had cultivated running around in the markets, old bars, hangouts and all the people he had met so far at his young age.
Drawing: T. Horner, 1836.