a
reference to the
short story, Extract from
Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven, written by
American author and humorist
Mark Twain (1835-1910). It tells of a
ship's
captain who, after being
dead for thirty years, visits heaven. The
captain gets a
comprehensive briefing on the rules and customs of heaven by an older inhabitant, Sandy McWilliams. The story goes on to tell of the
captain's adventures and experiences there, such as helping the choir, learning what his
wings are for and welcoming new arrivals (which number sixty thousand a
day). The story was written in 1868 but went unpublished for forty years.