"He's aching to become an engineer.

He has his mark already fixed, which not one boy in a thousand at his age has.

And all this is priming him to go to his mark like a shot." "I hadn't thought of that," she stated.
"Actually he's soaking up more arithmetic, geology, physics, veterinary knowledge, and so on, by pumping Pat Carrigan, the engineers, and the men, than I supposed his head could hold," Lee continued.

"When he gets at his books, they won't be meaningless things to him.

Not much! He'll understand what prompted them and what they open up.