ly, 'Ned, my boy, though I would not for the world that
you should be different from what you are, a brave, true-hearted lad,
yet I sadly fear your high spirit will get you into many a trouble.'

"'Never mind the trouble, mamma,' replied our Ned, 'so long as it
keeps me from doing a mean or cowardly action.'

"He was very nearly getting into trouble once, however, for
interfering between a brutal tramp and his wife. There was no
principle our Ned adhered to so firmly, as that no provocation,
however great, justified a boy in striking a girl, or a man a woman;
he held to this as staunchly as kings to the doctrine of divine right.
'Depend upon it, Archie,' he would say, 'a boy who would strike a girl
is a mean-spirited puppy, and a man who would strike a woman is a
cowardly cur, and one deserves drowning, and the other hanging! Why, I
read that even dogs respect the sex, and no respectable dog would so
far forget himself as to attack his female companion. I can't say
whether the feminines are quite so particular; I am not so certain on
that point, but then you must make every allowance, they have a deal
to put up with. No, no, Archie; rest assured there is nothing so mean
and cowardly as striking women and girls.'

"Thinking thus, boys, it will not surprise you to learn that 'our Ned'
was in continual hot water by making himself the champion of every
girl he saw ill-treated. Was some little girl having her hair pulled,
or her arms pinched, by a thoughtless or cruel urchin, directly she
caught sight of my brother, she ran to him for protection, while her
tormentor scuttled away equally fast in an opposite direction, his
ears tingling in anticipation of the coming correction. Was a larger
and older girl threatened by some ill-natured brother, or brother's
chum, she felt herself safe if our Ned made his appearance. In short,
he was always ready, at whatever odds, to do battle for the 'weaker
sex,' as he jestingly called them. This trait in his character
procured for him the name of the 'Young Don Quixote,' and he was as
frequently called the 'young Don' as he was by his baptismal name.

"But to return to the tramp. We were walking home one afternoon from
school, when, just as we turned a bend in the road, we came close upon
a man and woman quarrelling; the man was in the act of striking the
woman with a stick as we hove in sight. Our Ned's face flushed up as
he saw the man's action, and clenching his hands, he was rushing