_To Mr. Daddy-Long-Legs Smith._
October 1st.
_Dear Daddy-Long-Legs_,
I love college and I love you for sending me--I’m very, _very_
happy, and so excited every moment of the time that I can scarcely
sleep. You can’t imagine how different it is from the John Grier
Home. I never dreamed there was such a place in the world. I’m
feeling sorry for everybody who isn’t a girl and who can’t come
here; I am sure the college you attended when you were a boy
couldn’t have been so nice.
My room is up in a tower that used to be the contagious ward before
they built the new infirmary. There are three other girls on the
same floor of the tower--a Senior who wears spectacles and is always
asking us please to be a little more quiet, and two Freshmen named
Sallie McBride and Julia Rutledge Pendleton. Sallie has red hair and
a turn-up nose and is quite friendly; Julia comes from one of the
first families in New York and hasn’t noticed me yet. They room
together and the Senior and I have singles. Usually Freshmen can’t
get singles; they are very scarce, but I got one without even
asking. I suppose the registrar didn’t think it would be right to
ask a properly brought-up girl to room with a foundling. You see
there are advantages!
My room is on the northwest corner with two windows and a view.
After you’ve lived in a ward for eighteen years with twenty
room-mates, it is restful to be alone. This is the first chance
I’ve ever had to get acquainted with Jerusha Abbott. I think I’m
going to like her.
Do you think you are?
Tuesday.
They are organizing the Freshman basket-ball team and there’s just
a chance that I shall make it. I’m little of course, but terribly
quick and wiry and tough. While the others are hopping about in the
air, I can dodge under their feet and grab the ball. It’s loads of
fun practising--out in the athletic field in the afternoon with the
trees all red and yellow and the air full of the smell of burning
leaves, and everybody laughing and shouting. These are the happiest
girls I ever saw--and I am the happiest of all!
I meant to write a long letter and tell you all the things I’m
learning (Mrs. Lippett said you wanted to know) but 7th hour has
just rung, and in ten minutes I’m due at the athletic field in
gymnasium clothes. Don’t you hope I’ll make the team?
Yours always,