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28 Books -- Day 12
Feb. 12th, 2009 09:01 pmDaddy Long Legs by Jean Webster (1912)
Blue Wednesday
"The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day--a day to
be awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste.
Every floor must be spotless, every chair dustless, and every bed
without a wrinkle. Ninety-seven squirming little orphans must be
scrubbed and combed and buttoned into freshly starched ginghams; and
all ninety-seven reminded of their manners, and told to say, 'Yes,
sir,' 'No, sir,' whenever a Trustee spoke.
It was a distressing time; and poor Jerusha Abbott, being the oldest
orphan, had to bear the brunt of it. But this particular first
Wednesday, like its predecessors, finally dragged itself to a close.
Jerusha escaped from the pantry where she had been making sandwiches
for the asylum's guests, and turned upstairs to accomplish her regular
work. Her special care was room F, where eleven little tots, from four
to seven, occupied eleven little cots set in a row. Jerusha assembled
her charges, straightened their rumpled frocks, wiped their noses, and
started them in an orderly and willing line towards the dining-room to
engage themselves for a blessed half hour with bread and milk and prune
pudding." (and so the book begins...)
"The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day--a day to
be awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste.
Every floor must be spotless, every chair dustless, and every bed
without a wrinkle. Ninety-seven squirming little orphans must be
scrubbed and combed and buttoned into freshly starched ginghams; and
all ninety-seven reminded of their manners, and told to say, 'Yes,
sir,' 'No, sir,' whenever a Trustee spoke.
It was a distressing time; and poor Jerusha Abbott, being the oldest
orphan, had to bear the brunt of it. But this particular first
Wednesday, like its predecessors, finally dragged itself to a close.
Jerusha escaped from the pantry where she had been making sandwiches
for the asylum's guests, and turned upstairs to accomplish her regular
work. Her special care was room F, where eleven little tots, from four
to seven, occupied eleven little cots set in a row. Jerusha assembled
her charges, straightened their rumpled frocks, wiped their noses, and
started them in an orderly and willing line towards the dining-room to
engage themselves for a blessed half hour with bread and milk and prune
pudding." (and so the book begins...)
On this my father's 72nd birthday, here is a book with "daddy" in the title.
[Do not, do not, do NOT get this book confused by the movie of the same name. The movie, while being a wonderful vehicle for Fred Astaire, and contributing to my gingham festish, has almost NOTHING to do with the book.]
The book is about an orphan Jerusha (Judy) Abbott who is sent to college to become a writer by an anonymous benefactor, who asks only that she writes him letters telling him about the experience. Epistolary novels are a delight for me, as is this picture of a girl's college in the nineteen-teens.
I like the college bits a lot, and it's fun to follow Judy's adventures as she grows, and matures, and develops a mind of her own. And of course there is a love story, which always makes me happy.
book can be found, full text at: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/157
book can be found, full text at: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/157
There is also a sequel called "Dear Enemy" (1915) written from the POV of Judy's college classmate Sallie McBride as she struggles to run (and reform) the orphanage where Judy grew up.
the sequel can all be found, full text at: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/238
I haven't re-read the sequel in quite a while, but I have a feeling I'll be reading it again soon now that I found the full-text link.
