DADDY LONG LEGS - part 7 - All is revealed!

This is for Saturday 1/23! 

March 5th. - Judy waxes nostalgic about the John Grier Home and what she learned there. 

• Julie never knows she is happy
• Judy's perfectly sure every happy moment.
• "I've a heart for any fate."

LOCK WILLOW. April 4th. - Sallie and Judy are at LW for Easter vacation and she's writing a book!

• Jervie says "Write what you know."
• "I was quite lonely without him--"
• Animal tragedies abound at Lock Willow!

May 17th. - Judy writes a brief, heartfelt invitation for DLL to come to her graduation.

• "Yours, with love and writer's cramp."

LOCK WILLOW. June 19th. - Judy has graduated and is writing at Lock Willow. 

• Jervie and Jimmy's roses? Second best.
• Lots of male visitors at LW.
• Don't attend commencement? Dead to her...

July 24th. - All the news from Lock Willow - including a recent visit from Jimmie McBride and a forthcoming visit from Master Jervie.

• Judy's in LOVE - with her book.
• Marriage is a deteriorating process, evidently. 
• Judy might raise broilers! Snappy ones?
• Jimmy's no financier - he's too kind-hearted.

August 27th. - This is a brokenhearted little missive of loneliness. 

• New York? Switzerland? Where are you Daddy?
• "I wish I knew you, Daddy."
• Elmer H. Griggs must be horrid.

LOCK WILLOW, September 19th. - Judy is very unhappy and needs to talk to DLL.

• "Something has happened...I need advice."

LOCK WILLOW, October 3d. - Judy completely spills her guts to Daddy Long Legs about her love for Jervie. 

• She sold her book! Still heartbroken...
• Letters very full of Master Jervie. 
• Fourteen year start gives him edge.
• "I miss him, and miss him. "
• "I may be dreadful, you know."
• Writer and wife, not mutually exclusive. 
• Jervie's sick AND DLL's sick? Strange...

October 6th. - Judy firms up her plans to finally meet Daddy Long Legs!

• If there's a butler, she'll faint!
• "Shall I ask for Mr. Smith?"

Thursday Morning. - Judy writes to her "very dearest Master-Jervie-Daddy-Long-Legs-Pendleton-Smith"

1. Ew...Judy writes sappy love letters.
2. "... like a shadow on my heart."
3. Phew, the butler was very nice!
4. "Dear little Judy, couldn't you guess...?"
5. Judy would make a bad detective.
6. "I can't be disrespectful to you!"
7. She belongs to someone at last.

Okay, dry your tears and lets look at some questions!

The letter where Judy says she is aware of being happy whenever she is happy was so interesting. Do you recognize your own happiness when it comes upon you? [I don't think I did when I was younger, but now that I have the wisdom of advanced age, I like to think I appreciate my own happiness more.]

Daddy Long Legs doesn't come to Judy's graduation. Did it feel like a big deal when you graduated from whatever you graduated from? [High school was weird because I was supposed to sing and then I had laryngitis and wasn't able to. But it was good because at my sister's and my graduation party (she from college, me from HS) that afternoon she got me wasted and I was thrilled to have an excuse to not talk and take a much needed nap. College graduation wasn't a big deal, I had mentally checked out 2 years before and was just marking time like in prison. (Although I do have a lovely picture of me with my future in-laws at the ceremony that I now treasure.) Grad school graduation was a HUGE deal to me. That's what happens when you pay for it yourself! I have a funny story about how petty I was to a classmate that day - as we were one-upping each other about how hard we worked getting our degree. But it has profanity so I shan't share it here.]

Judy loves writing! It is wonderful that she found her calling. Do you feel like you've found your calling? [They say find a job you love and you won't work a day of your life. I haven't worked since I was 40 and became a high school librarian. Hands down, it's the best job in the world.]

Judy reaches out to DLL about her Jervie problems. He now knows the jig is up and is, frankly, probably pretty worried that Judy will hate him for lying. Do you think it is his near-death experience that allows him to come clean? [I'm not sure that's why I'm asking...]

We find out that Judy turned down Jervie's marriage proposal because he's too fancy. He think's it's because of Jimmie McBride. If Judy hadn't written to DLL about it, would Jervie have figured it out eventually? [I'd like to think so, but Judy wrote all these letters and didn't connect the dots so sometimes you just can't see what's right in front of you!]

Do you think that Jervie-Long-Legs' near-death experience is what keeps Judy from being angry about the lying? Or did the fact that he knew her so well from her letters convinced her that he was aware of what he would be getting into in marrying her? And does that make up for the manipulation? To some degree? [I'm not sure about the first part. Even re-reading with the my mental gaslighting alarm going off, I still can't stop loving that man.]

And finally...

Did you see the big reveal coming? [The first time, not at all! But on subsequent rereads, I usually remember eventually.]

Thank you so much for joining me and for your awesome responses! Jessica starts FAMILY SABBATICAL on Monday. Be there or be square!

xoxo

Barb, currently in Beverly, but about to head for the South of France with the Ridgeways!

Daddy Long Legs - part 6

[ For Thursday - pp. 194-227]
March 5th. -Inspired by a crabby sermon, Judy decides to give dignity a try.

• "The Modern Generation" 100+ years ago.
• When Judy's respectful she's quite dull. 

April 24th. -Judy apologizes for not sending a newsy letter while actually sending a newsy letter. 

• Jervie missed them - off to Princeton!
• [Master Jervie must have been STEAMED!]
• A college girl gets so tired.

May 15th. - Judy's musings on public transportation, swimming lessons, her correspondence with men, the Senior Dramatic Club and her paper on the Care of Dependent Children.

• Fancy ladies don't chat in cars. 
• The probity of ones instructor is suspect. 
• Playing tennis gains exemption from gym??
• Someone is doubling down on their post.

June 4th. - Judy makes her own summer plans again. Let's see how this plays out.

• Julia goes abroad ALL THE TIME!
• Mrs. Charles Peterson seems perfectly lovely. 
• Up on her feet - almost walking.
• Golf? Hunting? Horses? Meditation? What, DLL?

June Tenth. - We knew it would come to this. Judy has to refuse DLL doing something too generous. 

• "One doesn't miss what one never had." [I know, it's 7 words, but I can't leave it out. It made me cry SO HARD!!]
• The English language needs another pronoun.
• Happiness as a matter of course.
• The World would repudiate her claim.
• Jervie knows Judy is an orphan. 
• Florence - a most uncommonly spoiled child.
• She'll be a very useful person. 
• Marry an undertaker - inspire his work.

August 19th. - Judy describes her cotton-headed charges. 

• Latin, English, algebra - two stupid girls.
• Fortunate enough to obtain stupid husbands. 
• A world filled with stupid men. 
• No one can dictate to Judy! 
• Master Jervie will be so surprised. 

CAMP MCBRIDE, September 6th. - Judy gets the message to go to LOCK WILLOW just a bit too late - HA!

• She loves him - despite his faults. 

October 3rd. - Judy's back at school updating Daddy Long Legs on her love life and her fashion choices. 

• "We do arrive fast in America!"
• Master Jervie was NOT so surprised. 
• Men, just leave intrigue to women.
• Julia's gowns could clothe the angels. 
• "He eloped with a chorus girl!" 
• Those fricking blue checked gingham aprons. : (

November 17th. - Judy throws her own book-baby into the fire like an evil, self-hating half-Jo, half-Amy hybrid!

• Good deal of humor - questionable taste. 
• Was Judy writing knock-off Edith Wharton? 
• Never accused of being a pessimist.

December 14th. - Judy waxes philosophic about dreams,  the meaning of life, cat duodenums and her own power to accomplish. 

• Life is monotonous enough at best. 
• She believes in free will - unreservedly. 
• Hmmm...maybe she's reading Ayn Rand. 
• This is a very abstruse letter. 

December 26th. - A charming thank you note from a happy girl.

• Seventeen Christmas presents? She'll become plutocratic!
• Homemade neckties are usually quote wobbly. 
• The sweetest man that ever lived.

January 9th. - Judy lobbies DLL to provide for a poor family. 

• "Perhaps it's all for the best."
• She's for a more militant religion.
• Philosophy teacher lives in the ether.
• Judy's much like The Little Princess

Jan. 12th. - Judy delivers the check and is irritated that the mom can't tell the difference between the good Lord and DLL. 

• DLL earns 10,000 fewer purgatorial years. 

Feb. 15th. - Judy is obsessed with Pepys.

• Self-Government association abolishes the ten-o'clock rule. 
• Preachers will preach about smart girls...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now some questions!!

Judy notices the fancy lady not speaking in the streetcar. Do people speak on public transportation or in line a the grocery store where you live? [In New England they most certainly do not! But every once in awhile I can turn a Yankee with my mid-western charm.]

So Jervie is writing to her now so he is getting letters as Jervie. You know, just plain old Jervie, nothing to see here... Is it creepy yet? [Yes, a little bit.]

Would you have taken the trip and devil take the hindmost? [I read a quote that "Privilege makes people allergic to consequences." and that is kind of my attitude here. I would 100% take this trip, but I certainly understand why Judy didn't.]

Okay, Jervie is definitely taking advantage of his knowledge and being a bit manipulative. It rings SO MANY BELLS now that we know about gaslighting, but back then it was romantic and, if you had already read the book, clever.  Are you able to read it with old lady eyes or does it feel too gross? [Almost all of my reading is with old lady eyes, but I am glad to have a bit of a different perspective this time around.]

Judy calls her charges "stupid". I have a friend from church who I love, but she told me that she wouldn't let her kids use the word stupid when they were little. I asked her what she told them to say when something was, in fact, stupid. and she said they used the word "silly". Needless to say, this made me immediately insane because those words are NOT synonyms! Are there any words you weren't allowed to say (that weren't actual swears) because your parents wouldn't allow it? [We weren't allowed swears or hateful speech, which is good.  But we had made-up names of bodily functions that were freaking weird, looking back. With my kids I wouldn't let them "take the name of the Lord in vain" just because if they ever did it in front of my very religious mom it would break her heart. (I have found the Lord to be more forgiving.) But I was pretty okay with anything else.]

It sounds like Judy's first (burned up) novel was set in New York Society. Has anyone read Edith Wharton's THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY? It was written the year after DLL and is about a midwestern social climber in New York. There is a New York Times bookclub reading it, and I know I will never have time to read it before January 28 so if you have read it, would you please let me know if there are any parallels? [I have not read it, I do not know. Hence the question.]

They're making fudge - so Betsy-ish.  It seems like a lot of work, now that you can just buy candy.  Do any of you make fudge? [Good grief, no. I had to really struggle to finish my Christmas candy in a timely fashion. If I learned to make my own delicious candy, I'd be doomed! But mostly I don't care for fudge.]

I'm getting a little whiplashed - Judy says a couple letter ago that free will determines her life and she's responsible for her own success but she recognizes that fate has dealt the little seamstress a terrible hand. Is this just that young adult wrestling with how the world works?  Would she have been so confident in her juxtaposing ideas if she didn't have her education? [I don't have a theory on this, but I'm interested in yours.]

A beautiful commentary on human nature, Judy says, is the fact that now that they can keep their lights on all night, they tend to all fall asleep before 9:30. Are you a night owl or a morning person? How much of that is based on the feeling of "getting away with something"? [I used to be such a night owl when I was young and told to go to bed by my parents. And when my kids were young and I was exhausted all the time I dreamed of being able to stay up late. Now that I get to make all my own decisions, I adore going to bed early and getting up at the crack of dawn. What is wrong with me?]

Of COURSE I pronounced Pepys "peppies" when I first read this. Didn't you?

The last post for this read will be on Saturday and then I pass the torch to Jessica for FAMILY SABBATICAL by Carol Ryrie Brink. I've never read it and am quite excited!

xoxo
Barb

Daddy Long Legs part 5

For Tuesday - [ pages 162-193]

August 25th. - Master Jervie finally visits!

• Mrs. Semple pampers Master Jervie scandelously!
• MJ is quite the citified dandy.
• "Nearly as long-legged as you, Daddy"
• The whole secret is being pliable. 
• Judy and Jervie completely skipped church.

Ship ahoy, Cap'n Long-Legs! - Judy is obsessed with Robert Louis Stevenson and wonders about DLL's identity.

• Could it be he knows Jervie?

September 10th. - Judy misses Jervie, discusses her writing and immediately gets published!

• Fifty dollars is quite the windfall.
• A scholarship - what a terrific honor!

September 26th. - Judy stands firm about accepting the scholarship, and for the first time she doesn't throw a hissy when disagreeing with DLL.

• Our little girl is growing up!
• Keeping up with Julia is expensive.

September 30th. - Judy digs in on the scholarship.

• "Strangers! - And what are you, pray?"
• It's no favor. It's a prize.
• Henceforth Judy intends to be FIRM!

November 9th. - A delightfully chatty missive about holiday plans, mythical creatures and Charity and Reform

• Wasteful country...throwing away women's votes.

December 7th. The founder's dance is quite the barn burner. 

• Little foundling is getting quite prominent.
• What a colorless life men lead. 
• Judy's terrible, vain secret - she's pretty.

December 20th. Judy's off on vacation, but first a sweet "thank you" note for her Christmas box. 

• She's deflected by such worldly frivolities. 

January 11th. - Judy's back at school and spilling the beans about vacation.

• Long time no letter - blame NYC.
• No idea entered the front door.
• Judy's future children? DEFINITELY not Pendeltons.
• Socialist = long hair and red ties.
• Judy's secret - live in the now.

Dear Comrade,  - Judy declares herself a Fabian. 

• Nobody wants revolution tomorrow at breakfast!

February 11th. - a brief update

• Will write soon - examinations are grueling.

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Is Jervie selfish or just so at home at Lock Willow that he feels free to behave naughtily? [I shan't give my opinion, but I do have one!]

Judy finally stands up to DLL and won't back down. Do you think it could be because he has confidence "handling" rich men because of her dealings with Jervie? [Clearly, I think that by the way I asked the questions. Not very sporting of me. But I am open to other interpretations.]

Judy realizes she is pretty! When did you realize you were pretty? [Sadly, I didn't realize it until I was about 50. I wish I had know when I was younger, but maybe it saved me from having bad character. Every morning when I go to work I ask Rich, "Aren't you lucky to have a wife as cute as me?" And he agrees that yes, yes he is.]

Judy is not impressed with the Pendletons. They seem cold and about as deep as a puddle. Does this explain a bit about Master Jervie? [Yes! That is what I didn't say in the first question!]

These questions are terrible. I will attempt better ones on Thursday!

Daddy Long Legs - Part 4

In other news - I wanted to inform you of another mail-related activity I am involved in. There is a program called Post Crossings, where you can send postcards to strangers all over the world and receive them in exchange. I have been doing it since the beginning of covid times and am becoming more and more invested. If you are curious about it you can take a look here - https://www.postcrossing.com/ - and if you want to hear me talk about it, my friend Alix and I will be giving a virtual talk at the end of the month for our public library. You can get the info for that here - https://beverlypubliclibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/hold-for-postcrossings/

[This is for Sunday 1/17 and goes from page 127-161 of my 1940 G&D copy.]

March 24th. maybe the 25th. - She wins the short story contest, she gets a part in the play and she is going to NYC - could Judy's life be any better?

• Hamlet AND Jervie? SO MUCH FUN!

April 7th. - Judy tells the wonderful tale of her visit to the holy land - New York City.

• Is this Candace Bushnell or Judy?
• New York undermines John Greer Home.
• Judy on the stage? How perfect!
• Julia Pendleton - so nosy, so nosy.
• Nolite te bastardes carborundorum - but gingham. 

April 10th - a brief refusal

• No more charity, thanks. I'm good.

April 11th. - Once again, Judy learns - post in haste repent at leisure.

• Judy is a thousand legged worm.
• DLL doesn't belong to her. Yet.
• Back to wall, fighting the world.
• Childhood = long sullen stretch of revolt. 

May 4th. - Judy waxes philosophical on the nature of victory, the trouble with orphan-hood, the wonder of imagination and her favorite make-believe.

• Patricia is a perfectly normal name!
• Jervie's no Pendleton. DLL's no trustee.
• Only 60 years past Jane Eyre!
• JHG is no Lowell Institute, exactly.
• The Tale of the Burned Woodshed
• Imagination is the most necessary quality. 
• Adorable tea party. must post selfie.
• Writing to DLL acts as tonic.

Mr. Daddy-Long-Legs Smith. - The study of argumentation is strong in this one!

• Nice outline, it lacks bullet points. 
• Junket for dessert? No thank you.

June 2d. - Judy drops a summer bomb-shell. 

• The McBrides have opened their home.

June 5th. - Perhaps DLL should have come clean about his identity here. 

• What? No McBrides? Why DLL? Why?
• [Maybe don't mention Jimmie so much...]

June 9th. - When Judy's pissed, she doesn't give ANY extra words. 

• In compliance with instructions - Lock Willow. 

LOCK WILLOW FARM. August Third. - Judy doesn't apologize, she explains. 

• "It's the impersonality of your commands."
• "Arbitrary peremptory, unreasonable, omnipotent, invisible Providence"

August 10th. - Judy regales Daddy Long Legs with farm news instead of writing a story.

• That dreadful heroine, refusing to behave!
• Judy can't make DLL behave either. 
• We don't care for religious innovation. 
• Judy vows she'll see the world. 
• Another selfie, she's so danged cute!
• Friday. - There's going to be a special surprise guest! Can you guess who it could possibly be?
• Mrs. Dowd's cleanliness trumps her perfidy. 
• Hats were important before sunscreen. 
• Says Judy, "Don't fence me in."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Would you rather be in a play or go see a play? Why? And do you have any examples of wonderful times you have done either of those things? [I have too many backstage stories to tell and I need get this posted, but I will just say I'm a sucker for the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd.]

Do you remember your first overnight trip to a big city without a parent or guardian? Did you nearly die from the joy of it? [Yes! Being a young woman alone in a big city is just delicious! Doesn't matter which city although NYC is the one that always felt the most magical to me.]

Judy is alone in the world, for a young woman of this time that would be terrifying. In Anne with an E this was very evident in the way they presented Anne. Can anyone recommend books about girls in this situation? [I adored THE HIRED GIRL by fellow Maud fan Laura Amy Schlit! It's one of the best things I've ever read. I reviewed it here if you'd like a bigger picture.]

Judy's field day sounded fun - mine were always awful and filled with sports. Okay sporty girls - identify yourselves. Who enjoys this kind of activity? [I am singularly not sporty, but I do like to lift weights and sit in hot tubs. And I hike, but VERY slowly...]

I have never read JANE EYRE . Shocking, isn't it? I've not read WUTHERING HEIGHTS either, but I've seen the movie. I have read synopses and may have pretended to have read one or the other of those, or not corrected people when they assumed I had. What is the book you know you should have read, but just haven't, even though you believe it must be wonderful? [I already answered that, didn't I. And Jen DK has a hilarious, if possibly apocryphal story about outing me to a WORLD FAMOUS AUTHOR about this very topic. I shan't tell it, but if you ever corner her at a party, get her to tell it.]

I ate junket once, I think because of this book. I remember nothing so either it was horrible and I've blocked it out or it was just meh. Any junket eaters out there? What have you eaten because it was in a book that you may have regretted. Or fallen in love with? [Also onion sandwiches, of course. And every kid who ever read THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA has longed for Turkish delight. Unless they have ever had Turkish delight.]

So there are a couple of points in this section where DLL crosses the line. At which point should he (or his alter-ego who we shall not name in case there is someone reading this who has never read a book before and can't see the inevitable coming) have just come clean? [So hard to say because then the book would end and no big twist ending.]

That's it for me - more Tuesday!

DADDY LONG LEGS letters part 3

This covers pages 94-126 in my 1940 Grosset and Dunlap edition. 

LOCK WILLOW, July 12th. - Judy gives DLL the lowdown on Lock Willow.

• Jervie: he's the family's ice cream.
• Oh look, there's some Lesbian content!
• Miss Jerusha Abbott, future great writer.

Sunday - This letter is full of farm news, religion and Master Jervie.

• Thank heavens she doesn't inherit God!
• Semples - better than their own God. 
• Jervie was meant for something better. 
• Drunk cow scandal rocks Lock Willow.

September 15th. - Judy comments on her weight gain. 

• Remember when weight gain signified health?

September 25 - Back at school - Judy talks of roommates, politics and academics - particularly French.

• Orphan rooming with a Pendleton? Democracy!
• French convent? Foundling asylum? The same...

Vocabulary alert! 

• Inimical means unfriendly or hostile - also intending to cause harm, yikes!

October 17th. - Those fun college debates are discussed, as well as the outcome of the election. 

• Could one swim in lemon jelly?
• Sally was elected! "McBride Forever!" Huzzah!

November 12th. - Judy tells her Christmas plans and sends a photo. 

• Her first home visit's in WORCESTER??
• The sun was in her eyes. 

"STONE GATE," WORCESTER, MASS., December 31st.  - A newsy letter about Christmas presents and the visit with the McBrides. 

• A nice, fat, sunny cook? Anna??
• She felt benevolent as a trustee. 
• White gloved orphan leads the cotillion.

6.30, Saturday. - Judy describes Master Jervie's visit to...well...you know. It gets a little meta.

• "Julia's desirable uncle" called with chocolates. 
• Uncle Jervis - so youngish and good-looking!
• Julia says he's never this amiable...
• Don't throw dining-room clock into sea.

Jan. 20th.  - Judy muses on the possibility of her origins and tells a sad asylum story.

• Oh, are we expecting a denouement?
• Cookie stealing is a victimless crime.
• Tied like a naughty puppy. Damn.

February 4th. - Judy mostly discusses science and history, with a wee Jimmie McBride mention. 

• These professors keep contradicting one another!

March 5th. - The paper chase, finals and Shakespeare are all discussed. 

• Paper chase ends at Chrystal Spring
• What's the secret to not flunking??
• Judy learns Shakespeare earned his reputation.
• Judy would make a great Ophelia!

---------------------------

I had to dig deep for these questions and none of them has lit my world on fire, but I feel like there have to be questions and I would find the answers interesting!

Judy is surprised that Master Jervie was a redhead. Was being a redhead a good or a bad thing when you were growing up? [I always thought it was WAY cooler to be a redhead, but apparently now it is something you get teased for.] 

Okay, you're an orphaned child. Would you prefer a french convent - pretty good food, nice-ish nuns, but no boys and lots of religion -  or an orphan asylum - terrible food, indifferent care-givers, but less structured (except on Blue Wednesday) and a change of meeting Daddy Long Legs? [I think it's a bout a 50/50 split for me.]

Did you know octagon houses existed? In a related story - what is the strangest, goofiest or silliest thing you ever argued about or discussed at length? [I did NOT know they were a thing and when I read this every other time, I assumed it was a particular octagon building on campus and not an actual trend. I went to religious school and we used to try to irritate the teachers by asking if God could create a rock so big that God couldn't lift it. Never got a straight answer on that one, but a lot of dirty looks.]

Have you ever been to Worcester? [Yes! It's right nearby and we usually have the NEWBETSY Valentine's Tea at Judith Sumner's house, which has become the McBride house in my head. Try to get yourself invited there sometime - it's lovely!]

Have you ever taken part in a Paper Chase? How was it?  [Nope, but I did watch the series on television!]

What is your favorite Shakespeare play and/or Shakespearean character? [A Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite play, but I love the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet the best.]

DADDY LONG LEGS letters part 2

Here are more six word summaries from DADDY LONG LEGS. This starts on page 63 of my books and ends on page 93 - your mileage may vary.  

On the Eve.  - If only she knew to whom she was writing!

• Julia Pendleton has no "off" switch. 

Sunday.  - She's got some good news and some bad news...

• Successes and failures - they even out.

[no date] - A sort of a lonely letter on a stormy night.

• Everyone needs Grandma - play along DDL. 

The Ides of March - Latin

• Beware, Judy, Latin will pay off. 

March 26 - Judy has a hissy fit. .

• Judy throws down. It's an ultimatum. 

April 2d. - An Apology

• "I was badly brought up." Ouch.

April 4m - A thank you note and an apology from the infirmary

• Her first present - the heart breaks. 
• No more questions. Ya hate girls?

8th hour, Monday. - Finally a long newsy one full of stories of animals in peril. 

• Far to slender to pop toads.
• Never using THAT hairbrush again!
• Jerusha "Judy" Abbot, meet Emily Dickinson.
• An overstaying guest? Je suis, Ackerly.

May 27th. - Judy contemplates an offer from Mrs. Lippett and writes my six word summaries for me!

• I HATE THE JOHN GREER HOME.
• I'd rather die than go back. 

[no date] - It is in French so I put it in Google translate. You're welcome!

Dear Daddy-Legs-Lanyards

You are a brick!

 I'm very happy with the farm, because I've never been to a farm in my life and I hate going back to John Grier, and washing the dishes all summer. There would be danger that something awful would happen, because I lost my humility from other times and I'm afraid that someday I would burst and crush every cup and saucer in the house.

Pardon brievete and paper. I cannot send my news because I am in the French class and I am afraid that the Professor will call me right away.

Goodbye,

I like you very much.

Judy

May 30th. - Judy is in a grand mood and writes about her first meeting with Jervis Pendleton.

• She'll write and write and write.
• DLL's just a different trustee bug.
• Turns out, old Jervie's a lamb. 
• She's a girl, not a foundling. 

June 9th.  - Judy talks about her summer plans. 

• She doesn't have to mind anyone!

LOCK WILLOW FARM, Saturday night. - Judy loves Lock Willow. 

• Fancy Connecticut goes like Marcelle waves. 

----------------------------------------------

Were you prepared for college? What did you flunk in college? 

Did anyone ever actually use blotting paper, like for calligraphy?

Are you always the last to leave a party? Do you tell stories that amuse you and perhaps no one else? You you, like me sometimes feel like you might be like Ackerly the overstaying guest?

Could you read enough French to understand the letter Judy wrote in French class? Are you bilingual? Trilingual? A genius??

Did you have a wonderful place that meant summer to you when you were young? 

DADDY LONG LEGS letters, part 1

Here is more of the group read of DADDY LONG LEGS

October 10 -  Judy becomes accustomed to college

• Did you even know Maurice Materlink?
• Jerusha and Julia are born enemies?
• My recaps are briefer than hers!

Wednesday - Unusual amounts of originality, except when Mrs. Lippett names orphans.

• A name change! A new life!
• She's killing me with those gloves...
• 97 orphans into 97 twins.

October 25th. - Please excuse her exhuberance.

• Cliffhanger over - Judy made the team.

November 15th.  - Education is fine, but it's no six new dresses.

• Thank heavens for Pritchett's good taste!
• Don't even with the poor box. 

December 19th - Judy creates her own imaginary DLL and vows to read.

• Please define yourself, Daddy Long Legs.
• Give me something to work with!
• Vacation: three blessed weeks to read.

Towards the end of the Christmas vacation. Exact date unknown. - Well that says it all. 

• Julia Pendelton wears silk stockings annoyingly. 
• Judy's composite family breaks my heart. 
• Broiled lobster, molasses candy, with love .

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Questions

When were you embarrassed that you didn't know something? I'll never forget when my mother pronounced epitome as eppy-Tome in front of my dad and he nearly drove off the road laughing. What are your Port Chere words?

Dare I ask how you decorated your dorm room?

I just did a little talk for my church about "otherness" and Judy's sense of intensity about not being labeled is still such a strong motivator, particularly among the young. One of the things I love about being over 50 is that I have fully embraced my inner weirdness - at what age did you do that?

What was your best reading vacation memory? For me it was binge-reading Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS in line at Disney World about 10 years ago and getting the non from a bunch of disaffected teens on vacation with their families. Or reading THE GREAT GATSBY for the very first time at a bus stop in Brussles as bus after bus drove by and I stayed until I was finished.

DADDY LONG LEGS - Blue Wednesday

So I am going a group read of DADDY LONG LEGS for a listserv I am on and I have decided to post here while I am ramping up.

To prep for the group read I have been reading the book aloud. I am getting quite goofy with it. I have recorded it because, why not? It's in the public domain so no harm, no foul, as I believe they say in the wide, wide world of sports. I may try to attach "Blue Wednesday" to the end of this post. If you're curious about what it sounds like. I don't know if I will continue to record it, but I am really enjoying reading it aloud. It makes me much more attuned to details. 

For example, Jerusha was in charge of room F "where 11 little tots , from four to seven, occupied 11 little cots all in a row." Good grief, I was in charge of 5 toddlers for a few years and almost lost my ever-loving mind! And it sounds like she always had from four to seven. At least my kids grew up... Actually 7 is a pretty great age. I love 7-11 or so. They already have interesting, independent, sometimes even informed thoughts, but they don't know it yet. Any younger than that and they can be cute and funny, but not, generally, interesting. I guess what I have just admitted is that I socialize at an upper elementary school level. Moving on...

Soon page 23 of my copy the all-knowing narrator tells us that "Poor, eager, adventurous little Jerusha, in all her seventeen years, had never stepped inside an ordinary house; she could not picture the daily routine of those other human beings who carried on their lives undiscommoded by orphans." First off, what a gorgeous sentence. Kind of the crux of the book all in one beautifully meandering string of words. Bravo, Jean Webster. Secondly, holy shirtballs! Jerusha has NEVER been in a proper home! My gosh, it makes Jerusha's sense of humor even more amazing.

There is much to say about Mrs. Lippett, but I shall say, she's no Miss Clavell, but she's no Miss Minchin or Miss Slighcarp. And leave it at that. 

There are several words I had probably never said aloud in this chapter and I know that kind of sounds like a humble-brag because the language in here is very rich by today's "new adult literature" (it's a thing, look it up...) standards. But I am a 50+ librarian, I am supposed to know this stuff. I have an excellent reading vocabulary but I find that my speaking vocabulary is, well, I'm not giving a ton of perorations...that's for damn sure! Here are the words, by the way. I was going to write definitions, but you can look them up yourself. I want to get to the part of the book that I adore - the letters!!

Words I Have Likely Never Said Aloud Before:

• undiscommoded
• port cochere
• superintend
• punctilious
• peroration 

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These letters are spectacular! I love epistolary novels. The gold standard is, of course, 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD because it was TRUE! But there are some other good ones - that Gurnsey Pie one. And I read a YA book about a girl who was texting with a boy but she thought she was texting with his cousin. And of course I can't remember the name of it because remembering things is for other people. Anyway - I adore reading other people's mail. I just got the letters Kurt Vonnegut wrote to his first wife in college and during WW2 out of the library this evening and I might just devour it this evening. 

There are a lot of letters in this book and I am going to do six word summaries for each one, because we have all read this and if you haven't then I will try to attach the adorable copy that I digitized to this post because you really must read it at once. I will also try to attach the audio files in case you would rather listen, but NO CRITIQUES! I know my accent changes all the time and I read too fast. I would slow down if my voice wasn't so goofy.

So in the first 2 letters (which I am going to call letters 2 and 3 because we are going to consider "Blue Monday" a letter from the omniscient narrator to us) Jerusha has just gotten to Vassar and is introducing herself to Daddy Long Legs and giving him a bead on her surroundings. 

Letter One: Jerusha bemoans lack of name originality.

Letter Two: 

My room was the contagious ward!! Or maybe Sally and Julia sound just fine. Or perhaps Homesick-Schmomesick, I'm orphan asylum raised! Or even Basketball tryouts? Good God, a cliff-hanger!

Clearly I am going to have a difficult time sticking to six words. 

If I were putting up discussion questions they would be:

What is your favorite age range of children to befriend, teach or raise? (And it is perfectly fine not to like them at all, I couldn't stand children other than my own until I mellowed with age. Stop laughing, I really have!)

Who are your favorite literary orphans? Or your favorite orphan story if you like a horrible orphan like Mary Lennox?

What are your favorite epistolary novels? How about books of real correspondence?

That's all for today. 

Here is a google file with the PDF and sound files. The PDF is adorable and I am so proud of myself for having created it, I mean, the illustrations were done by Jean Webster, but the digital version on Project Gutenberg didn't have them in there so I had to photograph the pictures from my old yellowing copy and put them in and that sort of thing is NOT my strong suit! But I did it for the greater good because those illustrations are adorable and someday I will have one of them tattooed on my body! Ooh - we should vote!

Okay, NOW that's all for today.

Fat-Girl Romance!

 Holy cow, it has been four months since I posted. That's what I get for having a job, I guess. I am on vacation now and I have decided to review some of the media I consumed this year starting with romance novels!  It has been a weird reading year. 

Covid kind of knocked me for a loop as far as sticking to a book. (To be clear, I did not have the covid, it was just the knowing that it existed.)  If you don't count picture books, I have read fewer than 50 books this year. And by read I mean completed. I started an even 500 or so. Seriously, my ILL list looks like a cry for help! If something was magnificent, I stuck with it, otherwise it was gone. I only have thirteen 4 start books this year and almost all of them are graphic novels or nonfiction and my baseline for those is a lot higher. 

But let me get to the point - this month I found a new sub-genre - the fat girl romance - and clearly the romance aspect has done it's job because I am IN LOVE! 

I have, of course, been a bit of a romance snob. Sure, I read them as a teenager. My "First Love from Silhouette" books were read to shreds. The title of my favorite has completely left my mind. The premise was this slightly pudgy girl gets a job working at a gym and meets a popular boy. She loses enough weight to be cute enough for him to FINALLY notice her. Gosh, it was motivational... If you are hoping to develop body image issues.

It might have been this little gem wherein - "As the new girl in town, Janine Anderson had no way of knowing that she had just flipped over one of the most popular boys in school. Craig Matthews was a public figure, a star athlete already dating a cheerleader." I know I loved this one because I was so often "the new girl". I attended 3 different high schools for heaven's sake. What the heck! I tell my students that is why I am so well adjusted now. But it is a lie!

Anyway, I was just a little too old to have fallen in love with the SWEET VALLEY HIGH books and I also didn't like that Francine Pascal went from writing the amazing HANGING OUT WITH CICI and MY FIRST LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS with the bad ass Victoria Martin and then wrote about pretty blonde twins? Ew... 

But I digress. 

SO back in October I read a review in the New York Times about SPOILER ALERT and noticed the following subtle nod to my favorite type of heroine - the fat girl. The reviewer sets the stage for the meeting of the main characters says, "after pictures of her character cosplay go viral and trolls viciously mock her body size". And my wee ears went up! Body size? Is this a big girl book? Well it sure is! April and Marcus have been best buddies online. She is a geologist and he is the star of a GAME OF THRONES like series about which she writes fan fiction. And they don't know who each other is in real life!! How perfect is that? They end up going on a date after the aforementioned fat-shaming event and hit if off.  

The book is cute as hell. It's funny and quippy and has some very steamy sex scenes that, frankly, were a little off-putting! They were also smokin' hot, but it felt weird to me to be...ahem...knowing all those details about how their parts were working. I felt a little Delores Umbridge-y. "Male and female students must remain 8 inches apart!" I mean, good for them getting it on so thoroughly, but I was reading it in public and I already suffer from unwanted hot flashes!

Marcus, the super hot celebrity, has dyslexia which is handled nicely. And parental relationships are handled in a surprisingly stark and realistic way.  There was is, however, the requisite misunderstanding that had me yelling at the characters for being so stupid about saying what they were really feeling and offering the opportunity for the other person to articulate their feelings thoroughly as well. But hey, without it, how would the action rise and fall, I suppose.

I also just finished GET A LIFE CHLOE BROWN which was equally as adorable, smutty and fun. Talia Hibbert is only 23 or 24 and has already written 17 romance novels! The heroine of Chloe Brown, in addition to being a fat girl, also has fibromyalgia. It is fascinating to me how Hibbert manages to cover all those issues in Chloe's life PLUS add the topic of one of the characters trying to recover from an abusive relationship and have this whole thing NOT feel like an after school special. There is also an interesting twist in that Chloe is a black woman who comes from a wealthy upper-class background and her love interest Red comes from a white working class background and the issue of class plays a significant role. 

This book has some real depth to the struggles of the characters. There is plenty of humpin' and pumpin' as Harry would say. And again, the part where everyone is being stupid about their stupid feelings. Is it realistic? I suppose so. Maybe I have never had to deal with that kind of drama because I refuse to stop talking about my feelings, way past the point when anyone is interested in hearing about them!

So the common denominator, besides a smart, realistic look at disability, is the bigness of our heroines. It is just a piece of their image, not their defining characteristic and I loved that. 

I read an interview with Talia Hibbert and I adored her answer to this question - 

You choose to refer to Chloe specifically as fat. Can you tell me more about the importance of using that word and normalizing it or trying to remove stigma from it?

This is kind of difficult for me to talk about extensively because I have been fat, but I am not the minute, so I never want to overstep. But the fact of the matter is that negative representation of fat women is something that hurts people deeply constantly. It’s so pervasive and it leaves people with lifelong scars, mental health issues, eating disorders, [and] all of that affects their body and their physical health. Because of that, it’s always been really, really important to me that I represent diverse body types in my romance to show that all different kinds of people can be attractive and all different kinds of people deserve happy endings. Chloe is a fat woman and that’s a positive thing. It’s important to me that it’s said explicitly and in a positive way rather than, “Oh you can’t use that word because it’s a bad word and it’s a bad thing to be.” It’s not, so that’s why that was important to me.

I love that she says she doesn't want to overstep but I feel like if you have ever been fat, you get a seat at the table. I just spent 20 minutes googleing "celebrities who used to be fat" and it was interesting. So many - Oprah, Roseanne, Adele - all the one named big girls finally took off that weight once they got enough fame and money. I am not saying it was easy for them, but I think we all know it is easier to lose weight when you can afford healthy food, a personal trainer and have the means to make it a priority. I think that is what I appreciated about these heroines - they didn't make conforming to standard body image norms a priority. And I love them for it!

America 1870-1900 - FAMILY PORTRAIT: God Bless Our Home

This section begins with a quote from Twain, “...when I was a boy, everybody was poor but didn’t know it; and everybody was comfortable, and did know it.” Not everyone, Samuel. 

This section is about family portraits - hence the name - which were a BIG DEAL! My family did one every year from 1965 to the late 80s at least, I even have one from the 2000s after my youngest was born, but before my dad died. We are a handsome bunch! We would dress up and go to Olan Mills or Sears and get shot. I tend to do it myself now, but good grief, it might benefit my family to have a professional do it sometime. I have MANY family portraits of various generations hanging on my walls. This is the one where I look the VERY PRETTIEST!! Look at how cute my sisters are. 

We are Julia, Betsy and Margaret for SURE!

First up is the Brooks family of New Hampshire, circa 1895. There are 28 of them and not a one is smiling.

The Fields of Natchez, Mississippi are pictured in 1895. The young women and kids are mostly smiling. The old women and men do not. There is a middle aged Black woman in the back row. She is not smiling either. 

The King family in Dallas in 1890 is a little blurry faced and seems to live in a shed. But they have glass windows, a cow and a bicycle, so they must have been comfortable at least.

The members of the Walters family of Lurbert County, Georgia all look very serious, down to the baby sitting on the ground in her little white dress. There are several women who could be her mom, but none of them seem to be freaking out about her dress getting ruined. So they’re far more poised than I ever was as a mother!

The Scandinavian family has no name. Perhaps their name is “Scandinavian” but they are actually Irish. I doubt it. They are all dressed up and posed nicely but I don’t know if they are aware they are being photobombed by a shaggy guy in jeans back by the porch. I wonder what the story is there?

The Lugo family from Bell, California circa 1888 has 17 members and the photo composition is quite nice. There’s one blurry baby and six half-smiles on the young adults. But Grandma is PISSED!

Hey, we’re back in Massillon, Ohio - home of the Massillon Museum. The E.B. Leightlys of 1890 seem both classy and loaded. The 3 daughters are definitely smiling a little, but Mama and the men look quite serious. 

Three generations of Norwegian family. Do the nordic folk not have names in the TL universe? These are 13 unsmiling immigrants and a frenzied horse in front of a cute stone house. 

The penultimate family is that of a “Nebraska farmer and his brood, East Custer County 1888.” So we know what he does. He farms and he keeps his pretty but prematurely old and exhausted wife in babies. There are 7 kids who appear to be 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 - like clockwork! I think they are in front of a soddy. I like that farmer Dow sprung for this portrait even though he couldn't afford lumber for a house. Of course in Nebraska, perhaps there wasn’t much lumber… Anyway, it means he either [a] is very proud of his family or [b] doing something his wife talked him in to. Either way, it’s nice. I hope the shadow figure riding a horse to the left of the house isn’t a ghost or an enemy from the past hell-bent on revenge. 

Manchester, New Hampshire’s Dow family is celebrating a golden wedding anniversary. Among them are 23 grownups, three kids and a dog.

And I am done - it’s been a fabulous 30 years!

America 1870-1900 - ENTERTAINMENT: Standing Room Only and The Greatest Showman on Earth

The penultimate chapter! A double spread of a Broadway streetcar with tons of advertisements for plays, oats and catsup!

Standing Room Only

After the Civil War, we got soft. Going from 12 hour workdays to 10 hour workdays. Half a day on Saturday - what is this sloth?? All of a sudden there was a little more coin rattling around and people wanted to be amused. 

Baseball broke the seal with the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings going on tour to defeat amateur clubs . In 1888 Mike “King” Kelly, the catcher for the Cubbies went to the White House and made fun of Grover Cleveland’s soft hands. I think, like Curley in OF MICE AND MEN, he kept that hand soft for his beautiful young wife!

John Drew is mentioned as a “star” - a new concept. A hit play TOO MUCH JOHNSON stayed on Broadway for 216 performances. And that’s just too much TOO MUCH JOHNSON. Wow, that sounds dirty.

They define the most popular form of entertainment as the “variety show” with the interesting tidbit - “sometimes the choice between burlesque and vaudeville for a night’s entertainment was made when a stage manager peeked out at the audience and spied a cop.” I had always thought they were very separate entities. They also mention minstrel shows done in blackface with no indication that it was a bad thing. 

The real money was not made by performers, but by promoters. Tony Pastor, Harry Miner, B F Keith and E F Albee all made bank promoting shows. Keith and Albee started in Boston combining the Gaiety and Bijou theaters and spread their empire to 400 theaters coast to coast. 

In the section on P.T. Barnum - who TL clearly adores - it mentions “a negro woman” who Barnum billed as George Washington’s nurse. She was Joice Heth who was purchased by Barnum to display. He later repented of this and became an abolitionist. But TL mentions none of this.

I will not describe baseball or horse racing, because they still exist. But Primrose and West’s Big Minstrel Festival featuring “The Leaders of Modern Minstrelsy and the Genuine Negro Minstrels” bears some mention. The blurb beside it refers to P&W as “one of the boldest, presenting white and black performers on the same stage with equal billing.” I wonder if they were getting equal pay and equal amenities on the road. And the picture is diverse - Black men, White men, White men pretending to be Black men…

I have no interest in the circus. But the stage looks interesting. I have never heard of Ada Rehan, but apparently she was the first lady of the legitimate stage. 

And I have never heard of Henry J. Pain’s GREAT WAR SPECTACLE at Manhattan Beach - but it looks amazing!

Harry Miner’s Comedy 4 Company appears to have a pair of characters called “The Jeromes”, one of whom is either a person of color or in blackface. It is unclear which. 

There is a playbill for Lilly Clay’s Company of Ladies Only “An Adamless Eden” surely that is based on a poem by Sappho - and the 1880s version of Jackass. 

On page 266 a triple spread of “Buffalo Bill’s Western Spectacular” playbill is the precursor to the section. And also an illustration of the excesses of the time. I shan't photograph it because my regular sized photo skills are dreadful. I shudder to think what a triple spread photo would look like in my hands!

The Greatest Showman on Earth

And TL gets into it with Buffalo Bill! He hunted buffalo for railroad crews! He rode in the pony express! He fought Indians, scouted for the US Cavalry and performed for 11 seasons as a professional actor by the age of 37. So Bill was both performer AND promoter whilst Barnum was just the promoter. THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, indeed.

There is a bonkers story about Sitting Bull’s spirit going into a performing horse when he was gunned down. There is also mention of a Mrs. Phoebe Ann Butler who became Annie Oakley. Little Sure Shot is described as “a very comely young woman”. Was she? ANNIE GET YOUR GUN had me thinking otherwise. 

SO the entertainment section ends with a pretty girl and a horse possessed by a great leader of a disenfranchised population. And entertainment has pretty much remained thus. 

All quotes and photographs are from TL unless otherwise noted.

Ada Rehan picture - Burr Publishing Co. - The Burr McIntosh Monthly August, 1908 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Rehan#/media/File:Ada_Rehan_2.jpg

Bijou Theater picture - https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/715137435/boston-bijou-theatre-digital-download-a

Buffalo Bill poster - https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/circus-poster.html

Joice Heth poster - https://www.bethelhistoricalsociety.com/index-joice-heth.htm

Phoebe Ann Butler picture - Underwood Archives/Getty Images - https://www.thoughtco.com/annie-oakley-1779790

Too Much Johnson picture - https://lokkeheiss.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/too-much-johnson-is-never-enough-orson-the-lost-film-of-orson-welles/

America 1870-1900 - THE CITY - in six parts!

The Magic Metropolis

There is a blurry faded photo of some ladies and children in 1877 San Francisco just leaving the theater. The waists on those women look painfully tiny.

Cities exploded in the gilded age as farm-folk and immigrants swelled their ranks. An unnamed  British visitor (Come on, TL, get your head out of your ass on these quotes!) described New York as “a lady in ball costume, with diamonds in her ears, and her toes out at her boots.” In other words, it was filthy, smelly and disgusting while at the same time being glorious.

Walter B. Platt of Charm City, Maryland gives a bit of advice to the city dweller on the need for exercise. I am feeling a little virtuous because I just worked out.

A Giant Stride for Builders

The Brooklyn Bridge was a big deal. Bridges in general changed the face of cities. Because of strides in materials and engineering the sky was, as they say, the limit. TL describes and shows Chicago’s “towering” 10 story Insurance Building. Also pictured are beautifully ornate buildings from the 1890s and Dewey Arch on 5th Avenue. 

Frederick Law Olmsted is mentioned as the creator of Central Park. Good job, Fred! 

The Swan Boats in Boston’s Public Garden are pictured. I have never ridden one - must remedy that when we are once again a Swan Boat riding society. There are ice skaters and zoo-goers enjoying themselves en masse on the pages as well. Cities were awesome for the affluent!

Diversity in the Marketplace

Oh TL, I don’t think you know what diversity even is! Oh my gosh, did ladies love to shop! Well, middle and upper class ladies, anyway. Marshall Field opened up to “give the lady what she wants.” He had high end stores, discount stores and a restaurant for the hungry shopper. I remember restaurants in department stores from when I was a kid. My Grandma would take us for lunch, or Mom would when Grandma was visiting. I distinctly remember eating chicken pot pie that came in a little cardboard house and it was amazing!

There is a neat juxtaposition between a beautifully ornate Cleveland Arcade circa 1890 and on the next page Detroit’s open air Central Market 10 years prior. What a difference!

Getting Around

San Francisco - home of Rice-a-roni - put in the first cable cars in 1873. It was a hit and L.A., Denver, Seattle and Omaha followed suit. I believe this would have been the main mode of transportation for most city dwellers if not for that antisemetic sumbitch Henry Ford. Electric trolleys started up in 1888. 

A New Lifestyle

Oh my gosh, “In 1872 new rows of four story town-houses rise along Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue in the freshly land-filled Back Bay Area.” It looks so sparse! There is talk of new fangled “apartment buildings” and mention is made of the dreaded “elevator sickness.” 

In the following pages Chinatown tenements and an Italian immigrant neighborhood in Philadelphia are shown. They go from the rich and powerful to the scrappiest. 

Nature Against the City

The blizzard of 1888 was far different in New York City than in DeSmet, South Dakota, that’s for sure. The aftermath of the Chicago fire is shown - precursor to the Salem fire which was experienced by my father-in-law’s parents!

Next up - Entertainment. Oh good, how I long to be entertained…

All quotes and photographs are from TL unless otherwise noted.

Higbee's - http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/