This war is being fought out, not in great open battles, but in successive conflicts from the security of trenches in what "Papa Joffre" has called the "nibbling process." It is not simple work but such as calls for healthy bodies, trained minds, and steady nerves. Quick action is often necessary. Independence of thought, ingenuity and personal courage, combined with implicit obedience, make up the ideal soldier. The training through which a civilian must go, then, will be such as to develop these qualities. Every syllabus of training must be drawn up with this in view, and all the time the attention of the officers must be kept on the fact that the training must be such as to make soldiers who will be efficient in the kind of war that is being waged. Much that has been written in the text books for armies has had to be discarded as out of date. It is no exaggeration to say that the British knew very little about modern warfare when we went to France, in spite of the fact that we had, during this century, waged a war in South Africa, not to mention the numerous border engagements in India. We did not know the tremendously important part that artillery was to play; we knew practically nothing of the use of bombs; we had never made gas and did not know its constitution; and in the work of trench construction we were in the kindergarten class. Our enemy taught us many of these things and we learned them slowly. Now we have reached his standard and gone past him as the Tanks testify. But in pure frightfulness we can never compete with him and never intend to. Eight hours a day of hard but varied training was our rule with frequent evening lectures. Conditions were arranged as much like those on active service as possible, even to the use of "live" bombs. Men are very reluctant at first to handle these explosive little instruments of war, and they must be given confidence in themselves long before they reach the firing line. There they are used as freely as a mechanic uses a machine. It is said that one general who was training his men in the Midlands of England had a difficulty in getting them to keep their heads down. They could not see the necessity for it and always wanted to see all that was going on. Now in actual warfare the individual soldier is able to see very little of what is transpiring round about him, and he has to be content to come through with a whole head. Accordingly the General served out to a few trustworthy men a number of live, ball cartridges. During the manoeuvres the men who would put their heads up heard some of these missiles singing round their ears, and soon learned that it was unwise to be too curious. I am not sure that I would recommend this method--for were an accident to happen it would bring disgrace and dismissal to the officer who had employed it--but it is certainly an effective means.