JONATHAN
He said I had to study engineering or go to work in the factory next fall for good.
NATHANIEL
What do you want to do?
JONATHAN
I want to go to a fine prep school and then to college and then—
NATHANIEL
Then what?
JONATHAN
I want to be an actor!!
NATHANIEL
I see.
JONATHAN
Don't tell anybody.
NATHANIEL
I won't. That's pretty far from engineering, isn't it?
JONATHAN
Yes, sir. But everybody can't be alike. You and Uncle John aren't anything alike.
NATHANIEL
And we're brothers, too.
JONATHAN
Do you ever get all mixed up and don't know what to do?
NATHANIEL
Oh, yes. I think everybody does.
JONATHAN
What do you do then?
NATHANIEL
I do something very silly.
JONATHAN
Do you do silly things, too?
NATHANIEL
Yes. I'm afraid I do.
JONATHAN
What do you do when you get all mixed up?
NATHANIEL
I'll tell you—it might not work with everybody, you know—but it works with me.
JONATHAN
Yes, sir!
NATHANIEL
My mother used to sing me a song called—"There is a green hill far away." I always liked that song because it gave me a feeling of contentment and happiness. I imagined that I could see that hill with its pleasant green slopes and at its foot lay a little cottage all cool and pleasant and open to the winds. There were no locks and bolts to keep one out or to keep one in. I used to imagine that I was climbing that hill to the top of the world and when I reached the summit I could see—
JONATHAN (enthralled)
I know—the whole wide world.
NATHANIEL
Its very bigness made me happy in my imagination.... Then when I grew up and heavy troubles came to me I remembered the Green Hill Far Away and one day I found such a hill and I climbed it—clear to the top—and there below me lay the world—the whole wide world—and I told the world something then and felt the better for it.... Jonathan, there is nothing like a hilltop to make a man feel worth while.
JONATHAN
I know what you mean.... But I always want to jump when I look down from any place, do you?
NATHANIEL
I suppose everybody does.
JONATHAN
Uncle John thinks every boy ought to be alike.