It must, however, he added that this is a kind of culture that can only be acquired by diligent observation and carefully improved experience.

"To be a good blacksmith," said General Trochu in a recent publication, "one must have forged all his life: to be a good administrator one should have passed his whole life in the study and practice of business." It was characteristic of Sir Walter Scott to entertain the highest respect for able men of business; and he professed that he did not consider any amount of literary distinction as entitled to be spoken of in the same breath with a mastery in the higher departments of practical life--least of all with a first-rate captain.
The great commander leaves nothing to chance, but provides for every contingency.

He condescends to apparently trivial details.

Thus, when Wellington was at the head of his army in Spain, he directed the precise manner in which the soldiers were to cook their provisions.

When in India, he specified the exact speed at which the bullocks were to be driven; every detail in equipment was carefully arranged beforehand.