Yours, with love and writer"s cramp.
Judy
LOCK WILLOW, 19th June
Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,
I"m educated! My diploma is in the bottom bureau drawer with my two best dresses. Commencement was as usual, with a few showers at vital moments. Thank you for your rosebuds. They were lovely. Master Jervie and Master Jimmie both gave me roses, too, but I left theirs in the bath tub and carried yours in the cla.s.s procession.
Here I am at Lock Willow for the summer--for ever maybe. The board is cheap; the surroundings quiet and conducive to a literary life. What more does a struggling author wish? I am mad about my book. I think of it every waking moment, and dream of it at night. All I want is peace and quiet and lots of time to work (interspersed with nourishing meals).
Master Jervie is coming up for a week or so in August, and Jimmie McBride is going to drop in sometime through the summer. He"s connected with a bond house now, and goes about the country selling bonds to banks. He"s going to combine the "Farmers" National" at the Corners and me on the same trip.
You see that Lock Willow isn"t entirely lacking in society. I"d be expecting to have you come motoring through--only I know now that that is hopeless. When you wouldn"t come to my commencement, I tore you from my heart and buried you for ever.
Judy Abbott, A.B.
24th July
Dearest Daddy-Long-Legs,
Isn"t it fun to work--or don"t you ever do it? It"s especially fun when your kind of work is the thing you"d rather do more than anything else in the world. I"ve been writing as fast as my pen would go every day this summer, and my only quarrel with life is that the days aren"t long enough to write all the beautiful and valuable and entertaining thoughts I"m thinking.
I"ve finished the second draft of my book and am going to begin the third tomorrow morning at half-past seven. It"s the sweetest book you ever saw--it is, truly. I think of nothing else. I can barely wait in the morning to dress and eat before beginning; then I write and write and write till suddenly I"m so tired that I"m limp all over. Then I go out with Colin (the new sheep dog) and romp through the fields and get a fresh supply of ideas for the next day. It"s the most beautiful book you ever saw--Oh, pardon--I said that before.
You don"t think me conceited, do you, Daddy dear?
I"m not, really, only just now I"m in the enthusiastic stage. Maybe later on I"ll get cold and critical and sniffy. No, I"m sure I won"t!
This time I"ve written a real book. Just wait till you see it.
I"ll try for a minute to talk about something else. I never told you, did I, that Amasai and Carrie got married last May? They are still working here, but so far as I can see it has spoiled them both. She used to laugh when he tramped in mud or dropped ashes on the floor, but now--you should hear her scold! And she doesn"t curl her hair any longer. Amasai, who used to be so obliging about beating rugs and carrying wood, grumbles if you suggest such a thing. Also his neckties are quite dingy--black and brown, where they used to be scarlet and purple. I"ve determined never to marry. It"s a deteriorating process, evidently.
There isn"t much of any farm news. The animals are all in the best of health. The pigs are unusually fat, the cows seem contented and the hens are laying well. Are you interested in poultry? If so, let me recommend that invaluable little work, 200 Eggs per Hen per Year. I am thinking of starting an incubator next spring and raising broilers.
You see I"m settled at Lock Willow permanently. I have decided to stay until I"ve written 114 novels like Anthony Trollope"s mother. Then I shall have completed my life work and can retire and travel.
Mr. James McBride spent last Sunday with us. Fried chicken and ice-cream for dinner, both of which he appeared to appreciate. I was awfully glad to see him; he brought a momentary reminder that the world at large exists. Poor Jimmie is having a hard time peddling his bonds.
The "Farmers" National" at the Corners wouldn"t have anything to do with them in spite of the fact that they pay six per cent. interest and sometimes seven. I think he"ll end up by going home to Worcester and taking a job in his father"s factory. He"s too open and confiding and kind-hearted ever to make a successful financier. But to be the manager of a flourishing overall factory is a very desirable position, don"t you think? Just now he turns up his nose at overalls, but he"ll come to them.
I hope you appreciate the fact that this is a long letter from a person with writer"s cramp. But I still love you, Daddy dear, and I"m very happy. With beautiful scenery all about, and lots to eat and a comfortable four-post bed and a ream of blank paper and a pint of ink--what more does one want in the world?
Yours as always, Judy
PS. The postman arrives with some more news. We are to expect Master Jervie on Friday next to spend a week. That"s a very pleasant prospect--only I am afraid my poor book will suffer. Master Jervie is very demanding.
27th August
Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,
Where are you, I wonder?
I never know what part of the world you are in, but I hope you"re not in New York during this awful weather. I hope you"re on a mountain peak (but not in Switzerland; somewhere nearer) looking at the snow and thinking about me. Please be thinking about me. I"m quite lonely and I want to be thought about. Oh, Daddy, I wish I knew you! Then when we were unhappy we could cheer each other up.
I don"t think I can stand much more of Lock Willow. I"m thinking of moving. Sallie is going to do settlement work in Boston next winter.
Don"t you think it would be nice for me to go with her, then we could have a studio together? I would write while she SETTLED and we could be together in the evenings. Evenings are very long when there"s no one but the Semples and Carrie and Amasai to talk to. I know in advance that you won"t like my studio idea. I can read your secretary"s letter now:
"Miss Jerusha Abbott.
"DEAR MADAM,
"Mr. Smith prefers that you remain at Lock Willow.
"Yours truly, "ELMER H. GRIGGS."
I hate your secretary. I am certain that a man named Elmer H. Griggs must be horrid. But truly, Daddy, I think I shall have to go to Boston. I can"t stay here. If something doesn"t happen soon, I shall throw myself into the silo pit out of sheer desperation.
Mercy! but it"s hot. All the gra.s.s is burnt up and the brooks are dry and the roads are dusty. It hasn"t rained for weeks and weeks.
This letter sounds as though I had hydrophobia, but I haven"t. I just want some family.
Goodbye, my dearest Daddy.
I wish I knew you.
Judy
LOCK WILLOW, 19th September
Dear Daddy,
Something has happened and I need advice. I need it from you, and from n.o.body else in the world. Wouldn"t it be possible for me to see you?
It"s so much easier to talk than to write; and I"m afraid your secretary might open the letter.
Judy
PS. I"m very unhappy.