this disorder," he said sententiously, "it is
easy to suppose that men can restore the needed order."

And the forts and barracks went up in record time.

"We never expected to see that job done," reports one soldier. "The
thing was so old that it had cobwebs over it. When Joffre took hold it
went up by magic."

They concocted another saying about him, down in that distant island,
which was:

"There goes old man System!"

At another time an officer remarked: "Joffre wants what he wants when he
wants it--and furthermore he knows why he wants it!"

In 1901, at the century's turn, and when he was rounding out his half
century, his long-delayed promotions began to arrive. He was made
Brigadier General, and thenceforth began to forge rapidly to the front.
One reason for his slow advancement was that he was no politician or
time-server. He never pushed himself forward. And so much of his work
was done in remote provinces that the General Staff hardly knew him at
all. We remember, too, that he had made no friends at school, who would
follow his career, or speak a good word for him in official ears.

When he did at last receive recognition it was upon absolute merit. But
when he reached the General Staff, the remark was frequently heard: "Who
is this Joffre? We never heard of him."

It was not long, however, before he made his presence felt in Paris
official circles. They came to depend more and more upon this stocky,
hard-headed Gascon and his opinions. He never minced words and he went
to the root of the matter.

In 1911, when the need was universally felt, of a thorough reorganization
of the French army--a much-needed house-cleaning--they cast about for
some man big enough for the job. In a conference General Pau, a warm
adherent of Joffre, shook his single good fist in the faces of the Staff
officers, and exclaimed: "There is only one man who can do the job!"

So they sent for Joffre and made him chief of the General Staff, with
full power to reorganize. It was well for France that they did so, and
fortunate that he had three full years to work before the blow fell, and
the invaders were again at their gates.

"No German could be more thorough than Joffre," said one officer. "For
him no lasting results can be obtained without the utmost care. He has
limitless patience, joined with a wonderful breadth of view. His methods
resemble the head of a great business."

In his intricate work of reconstru