Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster shared by khmeg

Daddy-Long-Legs is a puffin classic book. This is about a girl named Jerusha Abbott who lives in the John Grier orphanage. One day she gets called in Mrs. Lippett’s (someone who maintains the orphanage) office. She notices a trustee with long legs leaving the orphanage while Jerusha goes to Mrs. Lippett’s office. Jerusha gets an offer to go to collage and be a writer. She finds out the man who was leaving will provide her with money for collage. Her trustee did have two conditions. First was she needed to write to him every two months and she could never know who he is. She could address him as john Smith. And if something important arises then he would get his secretary to write to her.

Now Jerusha’s journey to collage starts with exploring and writing letters. In her letters she addresses her trustee as Daddy-Long-Legs like a pet name. Jerusha has a single room up in the tower like another senior who has a single room on the same floor as Jerusha. There are two girls Sallie McBride and Julia Rutledge Pendleton who room together and are on the same floor as Jerusha. Sallie McBride has red hair and really friendly. Julia Pendleton is from one of the first families in New York and did not really notice Jerusha yet. Jerusha changes her name to Judy although she is still Judy in the catalog but everywhere else she is known as Judy. She also catches up on reading small books which she never read like Cinderella and hears and learns more about Sherlock Holmes. Christmas holiday comes Daddy-Long-Legs gives Judy five gold pieces. With her own money she buys a silver watch, Mathew Arnold’s poems, hot water bottle, a streamer rug, dictionary of synonyms, five hundred sheets of yellow manuscript paper and a pair of silk stockings. Judy finds a friend for Christmas a girl from Texas named Leonora Fenton. Something horrible happened to Judy after Christmas she flunked in mathematics and Latin prose. So she promises to work harder. In Judy’s reexamination she passes both Latin and math. Judy gets sick so her trustee sends her flowers and a card. Later Judy meets Julia’s uncle Mr. Jervis Pendleton who she thinks is way better than Julia. Judy goes to Lock Willow Farm in summer vacation to work and meets Mr. and Mrs. Semple, a hired girl, and two hired men. She discovers that Mr. Jervis used to own that farm before he gave it to Mr. and Mrs. Semple. Judy is now a sophomore and is now rooming with Sallie and Julia. Judy goes to Sallie’s house for Christmas and meets her parents, three year old sister, medium-sized brother and Sallie’s big brother Jimmie. Sallie’s family throws a ball just for Judy. Later in her collage year Judy meets Mr. Jervis again. Judy wins a short story contest which seniors enter mostly. Judy goes again to Lock Willow Farm. Mr. Jervis comes there for some time. Judy gets a scholarship. In the summer Judy goes to tutor Mrs. Charles Paterson’s daughters who turn out to be difficult students. Judy is a senior and she goes to Lock Willow Farm for Easter with Sallie. She now graduated from collage and goes to live in Lock Willow Farm. Later she gets a letter from Julia saying Uncle Mr. Jervis is really sick. So Judy gets really sad because she found out so late that he was sick. When her trustee reads this letter he writes her a letter to meet him. When Judy goes to meet him she finds out that her trustee was actually Mr. Jervis Pendleton.