"You are not afraid of your health breaking down?"
"I have kept myself fit," replied the old soldier, "for the past twenty
years, in the hope that I might command in such a campaign as this."
The remark, "I have kept myself fit," is a keynote of his life. The puny
boy of the long ago was to survive this campaign with flying colors, and
to lend his counsel in the Great War of our own time. It was a long life
and full of service. In an address to a children's school, when a man of
eighty, he summed up his creed by saying:
"In the first place, don't be slack in anything that you are doing.
Whether it be work or play, do it with all your might. You will find
that this great Empire can only be maintained by the exercise of
self-denial, by training, by discipline, and by courage."
IMPORTANT DATES IN ROBERTS'S LIFE
1832. September 30. Frederick Roberts born.
1845. Entered Eton School.
1847. Entered military college at Sandhurst.
1852. Went as second-lieutenant of Bengal Artillery to India.
1857. Fought in the Mutiny, and won Victoria Cross.
1858. Returned to England on leave.
1859. Sent back to India, major.
1875. Quartermaster-general of Army of India.
1885. Commander-in-chief in India.
1891. Created a peer.
1895.
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