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 north-west 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?