` Much better ! ' said Mrs Jo emphatically . ` I 'd rather send my boys off to see the world in that way than leave them alone in a city full of temptations , with nothing to do but waste time , money , and health , as so many are left . Dan has to work his way , and that teaches him courage , patience , and self-reliance . I do n't worry about him as much as I do about George and Dolly at college , no more fit than two babies to take care of themselves . ' ` How about John ? He 's knocking round town as a newspaper man , reporting all sorts of things , from sermons to prize-fights , ' asked Tom , who thought that sort of life would be much more to his own taste than medical lectures and hospital wards . ` Demi has three safeguards -- good principles , refined tastes , and a wise mother . He wo n't come to harm , and these experiences will be useful to him when he begins to write , as I 'm sure he will in time , ' began Mrs Jo in her prophetic tone ; for she was anxious to have some of her geese turn out swans . ` Speak of Jenkins , and you 'll hear the rustling of his paper , ' cried Tom , as a fresh-faced , brown-eyed young man came up the avenue , waving a newspaper over his head . ` Here 's your Evening Tattler ! Latest Edition ! Awful murder ! Bank clerk absconded ! Powder-mill explosion , and great strike of the Latin School boys ! ' roared Ted , going to meet his cousin with the graceful gait of a young giraffe . ` The Commodore is in , and will cut his cable and run before the wind as soon as he can get off , ' called Demi , with ' a nice derangement of nautical epitaphs ' , as he came up smiling over his good news . Everyone talked together for a moment , and the paper passed from hand to hand that each eye might rest on the pleasant fact that the Brenda , from Hamburg , was safe in port . ` He 'll come lurching out by tomorrow with his usual collection of marine monsters and lively yarns . I saw him , jolly and tarry and brown as a coffee-berry .
Had a good run , and hopes to be second mate , as the other chap is laid up with a broken leg , ' added XXXXX .
Brenda Demi Jenkins John School Ted coffee-berry epitaphs giraffe prize-fights