The hurrahs rang out, the band struck up a fanfare, and then the song, "Ich hatte einen Kamraden, einen bessern fandst du nicht."
"I am to have that as well," thought George, and a feeling of bitterness rose within him. "Lies and hypocrisy to the very end."
The colonel drew him into the conversation, but, while George was apparently listening to a description of an incident in the war, his thoughts were far away. He looked at his comrades who from joy at getting rid of him had drunk more than was good for them, and many of whom would soon be completely intoxicated. And suddenly a feeling of joy which he could not prevent came over him that in future he would no longer belong to a profession, the majority of whose members had not yet learned to work and to take life seriously; and who had not yet grasped the real nature of its task--that of educating the German youth.
_Wyman & Sons Ltd., Printers, London and Reading._
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life in a German Crack Regiment, by Wolf Ernst Hugo Emil Baudissin