But to drop down from the universe to my own gnat's
buzz of an existence, I think I have told you everything
that might interest you of the first six months of
my venture. Towards the end of that time my little
brother Paul came down--and the best of companions he
is! He shares the discomforts of my little menage in
the cheeriest spirit, takes me out of my blacker humours,
goes long walks with me, is interested in all that
interests me (I always talk to him exactly as if he were
of my own age), and is quite ready to turn his hand to
anything, from boot-blacking to medicine-carrying. His
one dissipation is cutting out of paper, or buying in
lead (on the rare occasion when we find a surplus), an
army of little soldiers. I have brought a patient into
the consulting room, and found a torrent of cavalry,
infantry, and artillery pouring across the table. I have
been myself attacked as I sat silently writing, and have
looked up to find fringes of sharp-shooters pushing up
towards me, columns of infantry in reserve, a troop of
cavalry on my flank, while a battery of pea muzzle-
loaders on the ridge of my medical dictionary has raked
my whole position--with the round, smiling face of the
general behind it all. I don't know how many regiments
he has on a peace footing; but if serious trouble were
to break out, I am convinced that every sheet of
paper in the house would spring to arms.
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