The quiet atmosphere of
Flemish ease and burgomaster comfort has completely vanished.
The building hums with activity, as does the whole town. A
fleet of motor cars is ready for instant action. Officers and
orderlies hurry constantly to and fro. There is an occasional
British uniform, a naval airman's armored car, and above all
the noise of this bustle, though lower in tone, the sound of
guns in the distance from Ypres.
The director of all this activity is General Foch. There in
the north he is putting his theories of war to the test with
as much success as he did at the outbreak of hostilities in
Lorraine and later in the centre during the battle of the
Marne. Although born with the brain of a mathematician,
General Foch's ideas upon war are by no means purely
scientific. He refuses, indeed, to regard war, and more
especially modern war, as an exact science. The developments
of science have, indeed, but increased the mental and moral
effort required of each participant, and it is only in the
passions aroused in each man by the conflict of conception of
life that the combatant finds the strength of will to
withstand the horrors of modern warfare.
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