We've got a big war on,
pretty well the whole world in it, and I thought perhaps
a few pointers from a man like you--"
But at this point the attendant touched me on the shoulder.
"Your time is up," he said.
I was about to offer to pay at once for two minutes more
when a better idea struck me. Talk with Napoleon? I'd do
better than that. I'd call a whole War Council of great
spirits, lay the war crisis before them and get the
biggest brains that the world ever produced to work on
how to win the war.
Who should I have? Let me see! Napoleon himself, of
course. I'd bring him back. And for the sea business,
the submarine problem, I'd have Nelson. George Washington,
naturally, for the American end; for politics, say, good
old Ben Franklin, the wisest old head that ever walked
on American legs, and witty too; yes, Franklin certainly,
if only for his wit to keep the council from getting
gloomy; Lincoln--honest old Abe--him certainly I must
have. Those and perhaps a few others.
I reckoned that a consultation at ten dollars apiece with
spirits of that class was cheap to the verge of the
ludicrous. Their advice ought to be worth millions--yes,
billions--to the cause.
The agency got them for me without trouble.
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