Over There by Arnold Bennett
page 72 of 99 (72%)
page 72 of 99 (72%)
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They were all admirably housed, and their outward circumstances
showed a marked similarity. The most memorable thing about them was their unending industry. "You have a beautiful garden," I said to one General. "Yes," he said. "I have never been into it." He told me that he rose at six and went to bed at midnight. As soon as coffee is over after dinner, and before cigars are over, the General will say: "I don't wish to seem inhospitable, but------" And a few minutes later you may see a large lighted limousine moving off into the night, bearing Staff officers to their offices for the evening seance of work which ends at twelve o'clock or thereabouts. The complexity and volume of work which goes on at even a Divisional Headquarters, having dominion over about twenty thousand full-grown males, may be imagined; and that the bulk of such work is of a business nature, including much tiresome routine, is certain. Of the strictly military labours of Headquarters, that which most agreeably strikes the civilian is the photography and the map- work. I saw thousands of maps. I inspected thick files of maps all showing the same square of country under different military conditions at different dates. And I learnt that special maps are regularly circulated among all field officers. |
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