DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, May-July 1917 | 1917-05-21 Robert M. Browning to Miss Mabel Williams Page 3

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Robert Morriss Browning correspondence to Mabel C. Williams, May-July 1917

1917-05-21 Robert M. Browning to Miss Mabel Williams Page 3

"proficiency" in the use of the sabre, rifle and bayonet, to become expert signalmen in semaphore, wig-wag, and ardois, and to know everything else that might be useful. Our company commander is just up from the border. He was in Percy Van Nortrand's regiment, I believe. He has seen bayonet fighting twice, having served in the Philippines, Cuba, and Alaska besides being a military observer in the Russo-japanese war. He is a real man, commanding the respect and admiration of everybody. He tells us that an officer's worst mistake so to try to be popular. The thing that matters least to him is what the men under him think of him. He says - "Be exacting and square and the men will eat out of your hand". The point is that he exacts more from himself than he does from us so we're all for him. His sarcasm or criticism gets across with a vengeance. He says - "I warn you once, that's now. Next time, out you go.". There haven't been any "next times" yet.
The students here are of pretty high average. There are more lawyers than anything else, the average age is twenty-six, almost all of them have had as much military experience as I've had, only an occasional man makes one wonder how he got by. When one remembers that only about one man in

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"proficiency" in the use of the sabre, rifle and bayonet, to become expert signalmen in semaphore, wig-wag, and ardois, and to know everything else that might be useful. Our company commander is just up from the border. He was in Percy Van Nortrand's regiment, I believe. He has seen bayonet fighting twice, having served in the Philippines, Cuba, and Alaska besides being a military observer in the Russo-japanese war. He is a real man, commanding the respect and admiration of everybody. He tells us that an officer's worst mistake so to try to be popular. The thing that matters least to him is what the men under him think of him. He says - "Be exacting and square and the men will eat out of your hand". The point is that he exacts more from himself than he does from us so we're all for him. His sarcasm or criticism gets across with a vengeance. He says - "I warn you once, that's now. Next time, out you go.". There haven't been any "next times" yet. The students here are of pretty high average. There are more lawyers than anything else, the average age is twenty-six, almost all of them have had as much military experience as I've had, only an occasional man makes one wonder how he got by. When one remembers that only about one man in