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I don't have to tell you men how bad things areSome of you are in the Army for just that reasonBut I want to point out that we may have an important functionIf you read the papers you see where troops are being called out everywhereThere may be a great many changes, and your duty in such a case will be to obey the orders of the government as they come down through me
The plans, not quite defined, never put to paper, dissolve at lastBy 1934 Major Cummings is far more interested in foreign news
I tell you that Hitler is not a flash in the pan, he will argueHe has the germ of an idea, and moreover you've got to give him political creditHe plays on the German people with consummate skillThat Siegfried business is fundamental to them
In 1935 Cummings is remembered for making some innovations at the Infantry School in Fort Benning
In '36 he is considered the most promising field officer of the year at the War College in WashingtonAnd he makes a little ripple in Washington society, becomes friendly with a few congressmen, meets the most important hostess in townFor a while he is in danger of becoming military adviser to Washington Society

But always he is branching outThe confusions, the cross-impulses are concealed now, buried under the concentration with which he worksOn a thirty-day leave in the summer of '37 he pays a visit to his brother-in-law, who is vacationing in MaineThey have become very friendly during Cummings's tour of duty in Washington
On one of the afternoons in a sailboat:
You know, I've always disagreed with the family, EdwardThrough no fault of your own they've never entirely approved of youI think their backward attitude is a little distressing, but of course you understand it
I think I do, Minot(There is this other network of emotions and ambitions which recurs now and thenThe ineffable perfection of Boston, which had beckoned him, leaves him always curiously satisfied yet troubl