Anybody who has ever been with an American regiment in action knows exactly how the man who wrote that felt. The American who has never had the experience Mr. Bass describes above has missed one way of realizing the majesty of the power of the republic whereof he is privileged to be a citizen. For if there is one national trait which more than any other explains the greatness of our country, it is the instinct for organization, the fondness for self-multiplication to the nth power by intelligent co-operation with one's fellows to a common end. Especially is the experience in question inspiring where the example of the field officers is particularly appropriate to the occasion. Take for instance the following, concerning the conduct of Major J. Franklin Bell in this advance on Caloocan, from the report of Major Kobbe, Commanding the Artillery: As the right cleared the head of the ravine, I could see Maj. J. F. Bell * * * leading a company of Montana troops in front of the right * * * advancing, firing, toward intrenchments * * *. He was on a black horse to the last * * * leading and cheering the men. His work was most gallant and * * * especially cheering to me. [203] No mere scribe can magnify General Bell's matchless efficiency in action, but it is certainly inspiring to contemplate. There are no "fuss and feathers" about him. Yet his power, proven on many a field in the Philippines, to kindle martial ardor by example, suggests the ubiquitous "Helmet of Navarre" of Lord Macaulay's poem. A little later correspondent Bass develops what he meant by "by and by you will be sorry." You see it is not comfortable business, this of hustling about among the dead and dying. In the excitement, you are so liable to step on the face of some poor devil you knew well, maybe a once warm friend. In this connection Mr. Bass says: "There is this difference between the manner in which American and Filipino soldiers die. The American falls in a heap and dies hard; the Filipino stretches himself out, and when dead is always found in some easy attitude, generally with his head on his arms. They die the way a wild animal dies--in just such a position as one finds a deer or an antelope which one has shot in the woods."