Character Page: James "Carey" Judson, Jr

James "Carey" Judson, Jr.

Appears In: Queer Judson

Carey Judson, the oldest son of the late Captain James "Jim-Carey" Judson, Jr., he is thirty-four years old. Brother to George Judson, brother-in-law to Cora Judson

Carey was favored by his father, who idolized his son and was determined that Carey should become a stockbroker. In the book he is decribed as:

"...he lifted a hand--long and thin like the rest of him..."

"...angularity of his figure, the every-which-wayness of his thck light brown hair..."

"...wide, pleasantly attractive mouth..."

"...eyes, which in their dreamy wistfulness, were curiously reminiscent of those of Abraham Lincoln..."

"...the smile lighted up his thin face in a surprisingly agreeable way..."

"...when he smiled he was really quite good looking..."

He is a shy, quiet and sensitive person, among his quirks is his tendancy to twist a lock of his hair whenever he is troubled or amused. Because of the failure of the banking firm, of which he was the junior partner, he is percieved as an irresponsible, lazy, incompetent dreamer by most of the townspeople. Carey has a sophisticated, dry sense of humor that is oftentimes self depricating. The failure of his firm has convinced him of his own worthlessness. He envies the birds, "he would change places with any one of them. As a man he was a complete failure, but as a gull--well he believed he might have been a pretty decent, perhaps even a successful gull." From his youth he was always far more interested in birds than in anything else, it had been his wish to become a naturalist or ornithologist, like his hero Professor John "Big Jack" Knight. One summer he accompanied the professor on an expedition to Labrador. He begged his father to allow him to pursue a scientific career, but his father stubornly insisted that Carey become a businessman, despite having no aptitude for business. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the birds along the coast, "...could have tagged each species of sea fowl with its ornithological name, could have told where it nested in the nesting season, how many and what sort of eggs were likely to be found in the hit-or-miss nests in the sand, how the fledglings were fed by the parents, everything concerning the birds, big or little..."

Carey has an air of absentmindness that appears to stem from boredom with the occupation that he was forced into. He shows that with something that interests him he is keen and meticulous and has an artistic bent. He is able to hand carve wooden bird "decoys" with such exactness and intricacy that his birds are able to fool a highly experienced hunter. He smokes a briar wood pipe, wears a "smart straw hat, and although his clothes are tailor made, "...his clothes managed not to fit him..." While in Boston he lived in bachelor apartments on Mount Vernon Street. His firm was in business for less than eight years. When the firm failed Carey asked his brother to superintend the sale of most of his (Carey's) personal effects including rare books, furniture, family heirlooms, real estate, and his half of the family home; the proceeds to be used to pay back investors. George bought out Cares share of the family home and kept their father's gold watch in trust for Carey.

George convinces Carey to move back home and come to work as a bookeeper in the family business, because George is worried about him. At first Carey refuses to even consider the idea, but after George makes an off-hand suggestion that Carey might one day begin to pay back the Wellmouth investors Carey agrees to the plan.