Which phrase from the story "Po-No-Kah" provides textual evidence for the inference that settling the frontier required exceptional character?

nambe vazhkaile elam nala irukum

each morning i wrote my name

on the dusty cabinet, then crossed

the dining table in script, scrawled

in capitals on the backs of chairs,

practicing signatures like scales

while mother followed squirting

linseed from a burping can

i don't understand : /