DIFFICULTIES, OVERCOMING
The difficulties encountered by the Prussians on their march from Havre, by St. Lambert, to the field of Waterloo would have put the endurance of any troops to the test. The roads were ankle-deep from the heavy rains, and the defiles of St. Lambert turned into a regular swamp, almost impassable for men and horses; still worse for the guns and tumbrels of ammunition. These were very numerous and far from being well horsed, sinking at intervals up to the axle-trees. The horses’ floundering caused a stoppage, and the most robust soldiers in endeavoring to extricate the guns and ammunition wagons would drop down, overcome by the fatigue of their exertions, and declare “they could not get on.” “But we must get on,” replied their veteran commander, who seemed to multiply himself, and might be seen at different points along the line of march, exciting his men to exertion by words of encouragement. “I have promised Wellington to be up,” said Blücher, “and up we must get. Surely you will not make me forfeit my word. Exert yourselves a little more, and victory is certain.”—Edward Cotton, “A Voice from Waterloo.”
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See [Illiteracy].
DIFFICULTIES, SOCIAL
The only way to get De Quincey to a dinner-party was to send an able-bodied man to find him and bring him by force. Occasionally he revenged himself by making a stay of several weeks, so that the difficulty of getting him into a friend’s house was forgotten in the more appalling difficulty of how to get him out again.—W. J. Dawson, “The Makers of English Prose.”
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Difficulty Aiding Achievement—See [Adversity Helping Genius].
Dilemma—See [Simple-mindedness].
Dimensions—See [Upward Look].