Jog on, jog on, the footpath way, And merrily hent the stile-a; A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a. _Winter’s Tale_, iv. 3. He will practise himself in firmly repressing all grumbling and cynicism, in assiduously performing all details of duty, and in constantly caring for the welfare of his men and horses. “Such independent persons,” says Emil Reich, “have long since learnt to stand adversity, to be, as the saying is, ‘good losers.’ This has given England her peculiar tone, her stamina, her power in adversity.”[75] With such all will go well, for war is the region of reality in which there is no place for shams; but woe betide the regiment where the senior officers set an example of cynicism, grumbling, neglect of duty, want of zeal; these faults become exaggerated in their subordinates till they result in the worst military crimes and in the disgrace of the regiment, by a state of indiscipline and neglect of duty which only the strongest measures can put right.[76] Whatever the value of a senior officer of cavalry from the point of view of courage, horsemanship, resolution, and bodily fitness for a campaign, there are other points to which he should devote attention. Von Bernhardi (p. 288 of _Cavalry in Future Wars_) says: A comprehensive military education, and at least a general grasp of the principles of higher strategy, are essentials for every reconnoitring officer. Now a field officer of cavalry may find himself at any time thrown on his own resources, perhaps cut off from his base, many miles from superior authority and with several squadrons at his disposal. His action, its direction and scope, and the information gained or missed may have the most marked effect on the course of the operations. Again, at any period in an engagement the moment for action may arise; will then an officer, who is not trained in peace-time to know his duty, and to act on his own initiative, have the nerve “to go in,” without waiting for the order which nearly always comes too late? Settled convictions as to his duty,[77] acquired by previous practice and study of similar situations in peace, will nerve him to a correct interpretation of his duty, which may or may not be to charge. He will remember what was said of so-and-so who did or did not “go in.” He must be able to await a favourable opportunity in cold-blooded calm; and the time for deliberation once over, he must possess the cool daring to throw relentlessly all his available forces into battle.[78] About the end of the Boer War an officer was heard to say: “I only learnt one thing at a garrison class which I attended. In a rearguard action my instructor told me to go lightly out of two positions and then let the enemy have it hot at the third one, when they came on with confidence and without discretion. That tip has been more useful to me than anything else I ever learnt, and has pulled me through again and again.”