The training, as she considered it, of her son went on steadily. She
always conversed with him in her father's language, and he was able to
speak it as well as English. She was ever impressing upon him that he
must be strong and active. When he was twelve, she engaged an old
soldier, who had set up a sort of academy, to instruct him in the use
of the sword; and in such exercises as were calculated to strengthen
his muscles, and to give him strength and agility.
Unlike most mothers, she had no word of reproach when he returned home
from school with a puffed face, or cut lips; the signs of battle.
"I do not want you to be quarrelsome," she often said to him, "but I
have heard your father say that a man who can use his fists well is
sure to be cool and quick, in any emergency. You know what is before
you, and these qualities are of far more importance, in your case,
than any book learning. Therefore, Dick, I say, never quarrel on your
own account, but whenever you see a boy bullying a smaller one, take
the opportunity of giving him a lesson while learning one yourself. In
the days of old, you know, the first duty of a true knight was to
succour the oppressed, and I want you to be a true knight.
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