NATHANIEL If you follow John's advice, you'll be a rich man. JONATHAN I'd rather be poor. What would you do, Uncle Nathaniel? NATHANIEL I--why I'd--Oh, come now, Jonathan--you know John is the head of the Clay family and you and he must decide this question. JONATHAN Wouldn't you want to be what you want to be? NATHANIEL Perhaps I should. JONATHAN I don't see how anyone can decide what you want to be--no matter how old he is. NATHANIEL Have you ever talked to John? JONATHAN Oh, yes, sir. NATHANIEL What did he say? 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. NATHANIEL Many schools used to think that way. JONATHAN But boys don't all think the same. They're different just like men, only they don't know so much. NATHANIEL Perhaps not. JONATHAN Uncle John won't let me put on long pants until I'm fifteen. NATHANIEL He let me put them on when I was fifteen, too. JONATHAN