“I hope, papa, you don’t think me such a milksop or coward that I’d be frightened at the thought of a little hardship?” Max said, with heightened color. “I’m sure I ought to be willing to stand as much of such things as my father did.”
“No, my boy, I should not be the proud and happy father I am if I were compelled to entertain so mean an opinion of you,” returned the captain, looking down at the boy with a smile of fatherly pride and affection. “Perhaps love blinds me to the faults of my first-born, but to me he seems a son that any man might be proud to call his own; and if ever tempted to an unworthy act, let the remembrance that it would go nigh to break your father’s heart to hear of it restrain you from yielding to the temptation.”
He paused in his walk and laid a hand affectionately on the lad’s shoulder.
“Papa,” returned Max with emotion, “I think no punishment could be too bad for a boy that could grieve such a father as mine. I—I think I’d rather die than know I had hurt you so!”
“I believe it, my son,” responded the captain with feeling; “I have not the least doubt that you have a very strong affection for me, and would be very loath to cause me pain. I hope, too, that you are quite as anxious to please and honor your heavenly Father; much more so, indeed.
“But let us sit down here while I tell you of the hardening process a naval cadet must pass through, and the trials of his after-life as an officer in the service if he be so fortunate as to secure a permanent place in it.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll be glad to hear anything you can tell me about both. I suppose I’m not quite sure of getting into the academy, even if I do accept this offer, am I?”
“No, not quite; there is an examination to pass through, as to both your physical and educational qualifications. To be accepted, a boy must be physically sound and of robust constitution; both of which you are, so far as I can judge; you have never been seriously ill in your life.
“Beside, the applicant must have a sufficient knowledge of reading, writing, spelling, geography, English grammar, United States history, arithmetic, and algebra. You are well grounded in all these, and must review during your summer vacation, under the tutor who has had charge of you for some time past,” he added with playful look and tone.
“Papa,” Max said, a little tremulously, “shall I ever have such another? so kind, so patient, and always so ready to take any amount of trouble to explain things and make them clear to me?”