In the late South African War one might sum up the situation in a few words: our regular soldiers had need to be more like colonials, and our colonials more like regular soldiers. Some of our soldiers lost their way a mile from camp; our colonials never did this, but their views of military discipline were curiously lax. Our soldiers were the victims of routine, and it cost them their lives often enough; our colonials could hardly be trusted to lay sufficient stress on an order to carry it out, but they were never at a loss for an expedient. Both looked after their own interests at the expense of the enemy, or even their own side.[106] Both were very brave; both fought and scouted cunningly; but it came first and naturally to the colonial, who gave his enemy credit for slimness, and had a more cultivated imagination and better appreciation of the value of ground. In rearguards both “stuck it out,” if anything, too long, rather than give the enemy an idea that they could be hustled. It is suggested that instruction should never stop short of the actual and practical. Few educated people are able to understand how very little words convey to the ordinary untrained intelligence, and for how short a time, even if understood, theory is retained in the mind.[107] Anything which is worth learning must be learnt as a well-known amateur billiard player and game shot taught himself. In billiards he first placed the balls again and again till he could make the difficult cannon; he then went on till he could make it twenty times running. Similarly, in regard to a difficult kind of shot, he went to a shooting school and had clay pigeons shot out in a particular way; at length having hit, he went on till he practically could not miss. THEORY