quite eminent people still alive whose names I've never
heard, and when it comes to dead people there are probably millions,
scattered up and down through history books, whom I know nothing about.
They may all be quite famous in their own localities and may thoroughly
deserve statues. It's not their fault that I know nothing about them."

"But we don't any of us know anything about this General. I don't. Doyle
doesn't. You don't. Why on earth should we put up a statue to him?"

"Why shouldn't we allow that American--Billing or whatever his name is--to
put up a statue if he likes? He wants to. Why shouldn't he?"

"Why should he put it up here?" said the Major. "What brings him to
Ballymoy?"

"I expect," said Dr. O'Grady--"mind, I don't know for certain--but I
expect that he's come to the wrong place, mixed up Ballymoy with some
other town, with the town in which Regan was really born. This General
of his was evidently a pretty big pot in his way, and if he had been
born in Ballymoy some of us would have heard of him."

"In that case," said the Major, "we ought to tell Billing of his
mistake."

"Certainly not. In the first place that would be a very unkind thing to
do. Nobody likes being told of their mistakes, especially when they're
as full of bounce and self-confidence as this fellow Billing. It's
not right to be maliciously and wantonly unkind, Major, even to dumb
animals; and I can't imagine anything more cruel than to tell Billing
that he's made a mistake. In the next place, why on earth should we
miss the chance of getting a statue in Ballymoy? We haven't got one
at present, and a good statue--we'll get quite a respectable one for
Billing's L100, even if we don't subscribe a penny ourselves--will be a
great ornament to the town. You may not care for statues, Major, but all
really cultivated people love them. Look at Dublin! It's a city with two
universities in it, and the consequence is that it's simply spotted all
over with statues. Look at ancient Athens, the most cultured city the
world has ever seen. The number of statues the Athenians had would
surprise you. Why shouldn't we have one? It'll do us all good."

"I call it a fraud," said the Major. "It's getting money out of this
fool of an American under false pretences. If this General of his wasn't
born here----"

"Now do you suppose, Major, that the General himself, the original John
Regan, cares a pin where his statue is?"

"Of course he doesn't. T