s not exactly delighted
with the hundred and one innovations that had been introduced into the
army at the accession of the young emperor. And now, feeling that he
could trust his acting adjutant implicitly, and that not a word of
misrepresentation or misconstruction would ever reach the ears of any
evil-disposed person, he freely unburdened his mind of the cares and
anxieties that weighed upon it.

Some of these confidential communications struck Reimers with
amazement. He had expected to find in Falkenhein an officer who would
entirely dissipate all the doubts that Guentz had awakened in his mind;
and now he discovered that this honoured superior also was filled with
the gravest views as to the thoroughness and efficiency of the
organisation of the German army. The more important of these
conversations he noted down each evening in the following manner:--

_June 2nd._

The colonel happened to talk about the supply of officers for the
German army. In his opinion, the best material to draw from is the
so-called "army nobility"--that is to say, those families (not
necessarily noble) members of which have in many successive generations
been German officers--German meaning Prussian, Saxon, Hanoverian,
&c.--(examples: the colonel himself, Wegstetten, and also my humble
self). These families are mostly of moderate means, and often
intermarry. That conscientious devotion to their calling as officers is
thus ingrained in their flesh and blood must be self-evident. It is
born in them; and by their simple, austere up-bringing, with their
profession ever in view, they become thoroughly imbued with it. But
there is a danger that in such a mental atmosphere their range of
observation may be so restricted that they cannot view the life of the
world around them with intelligence or comprehension. Therefore it
is of immense importance that the corps of German officers should
be strengthened by the infusion of fresh blood from the middle and
lower-middle classes, whose members, having been brought up and
educated according to modern ideas, are of great service to the other
officers in enlarging their range of view. They provide unprejudiced
minds and clear intellects capable of dealing with the more advanced
technical problems of modern warfare (Guentz, for instance).

The most! unsatisfactory material consists of those officers who, on
account of inherited wealth, look upon