I FALL IN AGAIN WITH THE REVEREND JOHN LAPUTA Once, as a boy, I had earnestly desired to go into the army, and had hopes of rising to be a great general.

Now that I know myself better, I do not think I would have been much good at a general's work.

I would have shirked the loneliness of it, the isolation of responsibility.

But I think I would have done well in a subaltern command, for I had a great notion of carrying out orders, and a certain zest in the mere act of obedience.

Three days before I had been as nervous as a kitten because I was alone and it was 'up to me,' as Americans say, to decide on the next step.