Customs of the Service
(Advice to those newly commissioned.)
by A.H.S.
Published at Aldershot, by Gale & Polden Ltd, 1939
CHAPTER VII
FINAL ADVICE
70. Do not be too proud to learn by asking questions.
This book cannot possibly cover every detail of a young officer's daily difficulties.
There is nothing derogatory to the inexperienced in seeking information from those more experienced.
71. At times you may feel that your progress is not as rapid as it should be; you may even think that you are being held back, in spite of every effort on your part to rise to greater heights. Do not be discouraged by such thoughts; remember that a really good man always comes out “on top.”
In such moments of doubt it may help if you remember the story of the District Commissioner who was investigating the disappearance of a missionary in an area thought to be occupied by cannibals.
He apparently arrived just after the “feast,” because after sitting in silence round their camp fire, his host turned as pale a shade of green as a native can, and left the circle. After a short absence he returned and made his first and only remark to the District Commissioner: “It is difficult to keep a good man down.”
72. Accept these laws without question. Many generations of those holding His Majesty's commission inaugurated them.
More experienced men than you have observed them through the ages.
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