Good-by, my dear father.

I hope you will decide to send Joseph here to Brienne, rather than to Metz.

It will be a pleasure for us to be together; and, as Joseph knows nothing of mathematics, if you send him to Metz, he will have to begin with the little children; and that, I know, will disgust him.

I hope, therefore, that before the end of October I shall embrace Joseph." That is a nice, brotherly letter, is it not?
It does not sound like the boy who was always ready to quarrel and fight with brother Joseph, nor does it seem to be from a sulky, disagreeable boy.

This spirit of looking out for his family was one of the traits of Napoleon's character that was noticeable alike in the boy, the soldier, the commander, and the emperor.
Indeed, the very spirit of self-denial in which this letter, an extract from which you have just read, was written, was not only characteristic of this remarkable man of whose boy-life this story tells, but it led in his school-days at Brienne to a change that affected his whole life.
One day there came to the school the Chevalier de Keralio, inspector of military schools--a sort of committee man as you would say in America.
It was the duty of the inspector to look into the record, and arrange for the promotions, of "the king's wards," as the boys and girls were called who were educated at the expense of the state.