Who is Howard Cushman from Letters of E. B. White and what is their importance?

Howard ("Cush") Cushman is one of E.B. White's closest pals from Cornell University. Like White, Cush nurtures vague literary ambitions and they sense in each other kindred spirits. After graduation in 1922, White goes to New York in search of work. He has a series of disappointing, dead-end jobs while living with a group of former Cornell students. One day, Cush shows up with the news he has flunked out of school. The two decide to hop into White's Model T roadster, named "Hotspur," and take off for unspecified western destinations, stopping in college towns where there are chapters of their fraternity, scrounging beds and meals at each stop. They plan to take work only when necessary, and E.B. packs up the roadster with a good supply of canned foods, camping gear and other survival rations. Their journey eventually takes them south then across the country and to Seattle, where they stop for a while as White takes a job as a reporter with The Seattle Times. White and Cush write ahead of their stops to let friends and relatives know they are coming and to ask for lodging. Throughout his life, White maintains correspondence with Cush and they offer each other job referrals, humorous anecdotes and little pearls of wisdom from their separate experiences.