‘All right, we’ll let you off, if you stand a drink.’
‘Sure! Come on, boys;’ and off we went to have another jolly hour at the canteen.
Tosher was a sport, and he kept us laughing all the night.
There’s nothing like the army—for jolly good fun!
CHAPTER XXI.
HISTORY AND ESPRIT DE CORPS.
‘It is a good thing, gentlemen, to cull the best from the past, and never to ignore it,’ said Captain Cheerall at another lecture. ‘If our fathers frequently blundered through, they did so heroically. No army is blessed with such high traditions, such records of chivalry and glory, as ours; yet, like all other armies, it has frequently failed. We do not claim to have been invincible. We have no desire to get out on the house-tops to boost our army. But we have a right to know and be proud of the battle honours on our flags.
‘This, you may think, is a new line of thought for me, the arch-priest of the present and the future. Well, my reason for reminding you is this: You are of the new faith, the new school, the New Army. Your success has been wonderful, and in another lecture I have paid tribute to your genius, courage, and patriotism. Now I want to remind you, not of past follies, but of past glories. Military history glows with our splendour. The small-minded person is very apt to remind us of our failures in America during the American War of Independence, our awful blunders in the Crimea, our shameful disorganisation in the early part of the South African War. Such accusations are true. But if you study these failures, get to know why we failed and where we might have scored, and thus increase your professional knowledge. Never be afraid to admit our errors, but take good care never to repeat them. This is a maxim you must ever bear in mind. Even in this war—at Loos, Neuve Chapelle, Cambrai, and Gaza—there are instances where the human machine went wrong, instances which afford you food for serious thought and reflection.