No bad news , I hope ? ' and Mrs Meg looked up from her sewing with a mixture of pleasure and anxiety on her motherly face ; for she dearly loved a good talk with her son , and knew that he always had something worth telling . ` It will be good news for you , I think , ' answered Demi , smiling as he threw away his paper and went to sit beside her on the little sofa which just held two . ` Let me hear it , then , at once . ' ' I know you do n't like the reporting , and will be glad to hear that I have given it up . ' ' I am very glad ! It is too uncertain a business , and there is no prospect of getting on for a long time . I want you settled in some good place where you can stay , and in time make money . I wish you liked a profession ; but as you do n't , any clean , well-established business will do . ' ` What do you say to a railroad office ? ' ' I do n't like it . A noisy , hurried kind of place , I know , with all sorts of rough men about . I hope it is n't that , dear ? ' ' I could have it ; but does book-keeping in a wholesale leather business please you better ? ' ` No ; you 'll get round-shouldered writing at a tall desk ; and they say , once a book-keeper always a book-keeper . ' ` How does a travelling agent suit your views ? ' ` Not at all ; with all those dreadful accidents , and the exposure and bad food as you go from place to place , you are sure to get killed or lose your health . ' ' I could be private secretary to a literary man ; but the salary is small , and may end any time . ' ` That would be better , and more what I want . It is n't that I object to honest work of any kind ; but I do n't want my son to spend his best years grubbing for a little money in a dark office , or be knocked about in a rough-and-tumble scramble to get on .
I want to see you in some business where your tastes and talents can be developed and made useful ; where you can go on rising , and in time put in your little fortune and be a partner ; so that your XXXXX of apprenticeship will not be wasted , but fit you to take your place among the honourable men who make their lives and work useful and respected .
Demi Meg accidents book-keeper book-keeping exposure office paper prospect years