And no
one pretends that the whole British Army is an army of "plaster saints,"
that every officer is the "little father" of his men, and all
relations ideal.
But what becomes evident, as one penetrates a little nearer to the great
organism, is a sense of passionate responsibility in all the finer minds
of the Army towards their men, a readiness to make any sacrifice for
them, a deep and abiding sense of their sufferings and dangers, of all
that they are giving to their country. How this comes out again and
again in the innumerable death-stories of British officers--those few
words that commemorate them in the daily newspapers! And how evident is
the profound response of the men to such a temper in their officers!
There is not a day's action in the field--I am but quoting the
eye-witnesses--that does not bring out such facts. Let a senior
officer--an "old and tried soldier"--speak. He is describing a walk over
a battlefield on the Ancre after one of our victories there
last November:
"It is a curious thing to walk over enemy trenches that I have watched
like a tiger for weeks and weeks.
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