I suppose I might call you Dear Mr. Girl-Hater. Only that's rather
insulting to me. Or Dear Mr. Rich-Man, but that's insulting to you, as
though money were the only important thing about you. Besides, being
rich is such a very external quality. Maybe you won't stay rich all
your life; lots of very clever men get smashed up in Wall Street. But
at least you will stay tall all your life! So I've decided to call you
Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. I hope you won't mind. It's just a private pet
name we won't tell Mrs. Lippett.
The ten o'clock bell is going to ring in two minutes. Our day is
divided into sections by bells. We eat and sleep and study by bells.
It's very enlivening; I feel like a fire horse all of the time. There
it goes! Lights out. Good night.
Observe with what precision I obey rules--due to my training in the
John Grier Home.
Yours most respectfully,
Jerusha Abbott