He doesn't know how to run a sewing-machine.

She tried making him read aloud to her and Almira, last night; but Dick thinks she won't ask him to do it again.

Don't be troubled about Richard: his future is safe." Part of it undoubtedly; and the boys had "settled" more things for themselves and him than those they mentioned.
They had settled their own position among the boys of the academy and the village, old and young; for every soul of them had heard about "the big fight on the green" before he went to bed that night.

They had secured Dick Lee's position for him: not that they had given him a false one, but that he would be safe to enjoy, almost unmolested, whatever position his own conduct might earn for him.

That was all any boy ought to have, black or white.
They had done much, as Ford said, to settle their own position at their boarding-house; but that was nothing of importance compared to the impression they had made upon the large heart and brain of the stately academy principal.