Jo's Boys - Charter 15

'My wife, I have bad news for thee,' said Professor Bhaer, coming in one day early in January., ,'Please tell it at once. I can't bear to wait, Fritz,' cried Mrs Jo, dropping her work and standing ¹ up as if to take the shot bravely., ,'But we must wait and hope, heart's-dearest. Come and let us bear it together. Emil's ship is lost, and as yet no news of him.', , ,'That's right comfortable, and shows me that if I didn't teach my boys anything else, I did give them the brotherly love that will make them stand by one another all their lives,' said Mrs Jo, when he had gone., ,Rob answered reams of sympathizing letters, which showed how many friends they had; and the kindly ¹⁵ praises of the lost man would have made Emil a hero and a saint, had they all been true. The elders bore it quietly, having learned submission ¹⁶ in life's hard school; but the younger people rebelled; some hoped against hope and kept up, others despaired at once, and little Josie, Emil's pet cousin and playmate, was so broken-hearted nothing could comfort her. Nan dosed in vain, Daisy's cheerful words went by like the wind, and Bess's devices to amuse her all failed utterly ¹⁷. To cry in mother's arms and talk about the wreck ⁶, which haunted her even in her sleep, was all she cared to do; and Mrs Meg was getting anxious when Miss Cameron sent Josie a kind note bidding her learn bravely her first lesson in real tragedy, and be like the self-sacrificing heroines she loved to act. That did the little girl good, and she made an effort in which Teddy and Octoo helped her much; for the boy was deeply impressed by this sudden eclipse of the firefly whose light and life all missed when they were gone, and lured ¹⁸ her out every day for long drives behind the black mare ¹⁹, who shook her silvery bells till they made such merry music Josie could not help listening to it, and whisked her over the snowy roads at a pace which set the blood dancing in her veins ²⁰ and sent her home strengthened and comforted by sunshine, fresh air, and congenial society - three aids young sufferers seldom can resist., ,They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。,The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天 。