Daddy-Long-Legs
(an excerpt)
Jean Webster (pseudonym for Alice Jane Chandler Webster) was an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. Alice Jane Chandler Webster was born in Fredonia, New York on the 24th of July, 1876. Alice’s mother was niece to Mark Twain, and her father was Twain’s business manager and subsequently publisher of many of his books by Charles L. Webster Publishing.
Alice attended the Fredonia Normal School and graduated in 1894 in china painting. From 1894 to 1896, she attended the Lady Jane Grey School in Binghamton as a boarder. Alice graduated from the school in June 1896 and returned to the Fredonia Normal School for a year in the college division. In 1897, Webster entered Vassar College as a member of the class of 1901. She became involved in the College Settlement House that served poorer communities in New York, an interest she would maintain throughout her life.
Her experiences at Vassar provided material for her books When Patty Went to College and Daddy-Long-Legs. In Fredonia, Webster began writing When Patty Went to College, in which she described contemporary women’s college life. Webster started writing the short stories that would make up Much Ado about Peter. Her novel The Wheat Princess was published in 1905.
Webster adapted some of her books for the stage. In 1911, Just Patty was published, and Webster began writing the novel Daddy-Long-Legs. It was published in 1912 to popular and critical acclaim. Webster dramatized Daddy-Long-Legs during 1913. In 1915 Webster married Glenn Ford McKinney in Washington, Connecticut. In November 1915, Dear Enemy, a sequel to Daddy-Long-Legs, was published, and it too proved to be a bestseller. In 1916 Jean Webster died of childbirth fever.
Daddy Long-Legs tells the story of a girl named Jerusha Abbott, an orphan whose attendance at a women’s college is sponsored by an anonymous benefactor. Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage. The children were wholly dependent on charity and had to wear other people’s cast-off clothes. At the age of 18, she has finished her education and is at loose ends, still working in the dormitories at the institution where she was brought up.
One day Jerusha is informed by the asylum’s dour matron that one of the trustees has offered to pay her way through college. He has spoken to her former teachers and thinks she has potential to become an excellent writer. He will pay her tuition and also give her a generous monthly allowance. Jerusha must write him a monthly letter, because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. However, she will never know his identity; she must address the letters to Mr. John Smith, and he will never reply.
Jerusha catches a glimpse of the shadow of her benefactor from the back, and knows he is a tall long-legged man. Because of this, she jokingly calls him “Daddy Long-Legs.” Apart from an introductory chapter, the novel takes the form of letters written by the newly-styled Judy to her benefactor.
ALLUSIONS
New York City – a large city and port in the northeastern US, on the southeast coast of New York State and east of the Hudson River.
Worcester – a city in west central England, famous for its china and for its cathedral.
Hamlet – the play by William Shakespeare, an outstanding English writer who had a great influence on the English language and English literature. Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark, and is a serious, unhappy young man who is unable to decide how he feels or what he should do.
* * *
April 7th.
Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,
Mercy! Isn’t New York big? Worcester is nothing to it. Do you mean to tell me that you actually live in all that confusion? I don’t believe that I shall recover for months from the bewildering effect of two days of it. I can’t begin to tell you all the amazing things I’ve seen; I suppose you know, though, since you live there yourself.
But aren’t the streets entertaining? And the people? And the shops? I never saw such lovely things as there are in the windows. It makes you want to devote your life to wearing clothes.
Sallie and Julia and I went shopping together Saturday morning. Julia went into the very most gorgeous place I ever saw, white and gold walls and blue carpets and blue silk curtains and gilt chairs. A perfectly beautiful lady with yellow hair and a long black silk trailing gown came to meet us with a welcoming smile. I thought we were paying a social call, and started to shake hands, but it seems we were only buying hats – at least Julia was. She sat down in front of a mirror and tried on a dozen, each lovelier than the last, and bought the two loveliest of all.
I can’t imagine any joy in life greater than sitting down in front of a mirror and buying any hat you choose without having first to consider the price! There’s no doubt about it, Daddy; New York would rapidly undermine this fine, stoical character which the John Grier Home so patiently built up.
And after we’d finished our shopping, we met Master Jervie at Sherry’s. I suppose you’ve been in Sherry’s? Picture that, then picture the dining-room of the John Grier Home with its oilcloth-covered tables, and white crockery that you can’t break, and wooden-handled knives and forks; and fancy the way I felt!
I ate my fish with the wrong fork, but the waiter very kindly gave me another so that nobody noticed.
And after luncheon we went to the theater – it was dazzling, marvelous, unbelievable – I dream about it every night.
Isn’t Shakespeare wonderful?
“Hamlet” is so much better on the stage than when we analyze it in class; I appreciated it before, but now, dear me!
I think, if you don’t mind, that I’d rather be an actress than a writer. Wouldn’t you like me to leave college and go into a dramatic school? And then I’ll send you a box ticket for all my performances, and smile at you across the footlights. Only wear a red rose in your buttonhole, please, so I’ll surely smile at the right man. It would be an awfully embarrassing mistake if I picked out the wrong one.
We came back Saturday night and had our dinner in the train, at little tables with pink lamps and negro waiters. I never heard of meals being served in trains before, and I inadvertently said so.
“Where on earth were you brought up?” said Julia to me.
“In a village,” said I, meekly to Julia.
“But didn’t you ever travel? “ said she to me.
“Not till I came to college, and then it was only a hundred and sixty miles and we didn’t eat,” said I to her.
She’s getting quite interested in me, because I say such funny things. I try hard not to, but they do pop out when I’m surprised – and I’m surprised most of the time. It’s a dizzying experience, Daddy, to pass eighteen years in the John Grier Home, and then suddenly to be plunged into the WORLD.
But I’m getting acclimated. I don’t make such awful mistakes as I did; and I don’t feel uncomfortable any more with the other girls. I used to squirm whenever people looked at me. I felt as though they saw right through my sham new clothes to the checked ginghams underneath. But I’m not letting the ginghams bother me any more. Sufficient unto yesterday is the evil thereof.
I forgot to tell you about our flowers. Master Jervie gave us each a big bunch of violets and lillies-of-the-valley. Wasn’t that sweet of him? I never used to care much for men – judging by Trustees – but I’m changing my mind.
Eleven pages – this is a letter! Have courage. I’m going to stop.
Yours always, Judy.
By Jean Webster
ACTIVITIES AND EXERCISES
1. Translate the following word combinations into Russian. Describe the situations in which they were used.
• to live in confusion
• to smile at smb across the footlights
• a bewildering effect on someone
• an embarrassing mistake
• to devote one’s life to smth
• to say smth inadvertently to someone
• to meet smb with a welcoming smile
• a dizzying experience
• to pay a social call
• to be plunged into the world
• to consider the price of something
• to get acclimated of something
2. Study the following:
| gorgeous | extremely beautiful or attractive, e.g. I love your dress! It’s such a gorgeous colour! |
| gilt | covered with a thin shiny material, such as gold or something similar (usually for decoration), e.g. She was studying her reflection in the gilt mirror. |
| gown | a long dress that a woman wears on formal occasions, e.g. Her gown was long and starkly black. |
| to undermine | to gradually make someone or something less strong or effective, e.g. His mother’s criticism undermined Tom’s self-confidence. |
| stoical | not showing emotion or not complaining when bad things happen to you, e.g. But Gandhi was stoical in his bearing, cheerful, and confident in his conversations, and had a kindly eye. |
| oilcloth | special cloth that has had oil put on it so that it has a smooth surface and water cannot go through it, e.g. A round table covered in cracked oilcloth stood bare of bowls, jugs, cups and saucers. |
| crockery | cups, dishes, plates etc., e.g. Crockery, cutlery and glasses can all be washed in hot soapy water in the usual way. |
| to fancy | (British English spoken) used to express your surprise or shock about something, e.g. “The Petersons are getting divorced.” “Fancy that!” |
| dazzling | very impressive and attractive, e.g. Johnston showed a dazzling display of football talent. |
| to analyze | to examine or think about something carefully, in order to understand it, e.g. Joe had never tried to analyze their relationship. |
| to appreciate | to understand how good or useful someone or something is, e.g. I’m not an expert, but I appreciate fine works of art. |
| buttonhole | a hole for a button to be put through to fasten a shirt, coat etc, e.g. He fixed the fragile blossoms in a buttonhole of his braided uniform, then leaned down and kissed the woman. |
| to pick out | to choose someone or something from a group, e.g. She picked out a navy blue dress. |
| meek (meekly adverb) | very quiet and gentle and unwilling to argue with people, e.g. This movie, with its violent scenes, is definitely not for the meek. |
| to pop out | if words pop out, you suddenly say them without thinking first, e.g. I didn’t mean to say it like that – it just popped out. |
| to squirm | to twist your body from side to side because you are uncomfortable or nervous, or to feel very embarrassed or ashamed, e.g. The little boy squirmed in his seat, anxious to get up and leave the table. |
| sham | made to appear real in order to deceive people [= false], e.g. Their marriage turned out to be sham. |
| checked | checked cloth has a regular pattern of differently coloured squares, e.g. His jeans and checked shirt, though old and well worn, looked clean and of good quality. |
| gingham | cotton cloth that has a pattern of small white and coloured squares on it, e.g. The curtains were blue and white gingham. |
| trustee | a member of a group that controls the money of a company, college, or other organization, e.g. The Charity Commission says the new trustees are well on the way to restructuring their management and cutting administrative costs. |
3. Make up a dialogue or a short situation using the words from exercise 2.
4. Say why:
1. New York produced an unforgettable impression on Judy.
2. Judy thought that ‘New York would rapidly undermine this fine, stoical character which the John Grier Home so patiently built up’.
3. Judy felt ill at ease at Sherry’s.
4. Judy decided she would rather be an actress that a writer.
5. Judy ‘used to squirm whenever people looked at her’.
6. Judy was changing her mind about men.
5. Questions to think about.
1. What do you think of Judy? Do you understand the girl’s feelings?
2. What are the advantages of a big city (like New York)?
3. Why do girls like shopping?
4. What role does fashion play in our lives? Is it worth ‘to devote your life to wearing clothes’?
5. What is etiquette? Why is it especially important on formal occasions?
6. Why do many people love the theatre? Which do you find more interesting: reading a book or watching a play?
7. Have you ever dreamt of fame and publicity? Would you like to become a well-known actor/actress, singer or musician? What are the pros and cons of being famous?
8. Why are many people so excited about travelling?
9. Is it difficult to pass many years in some quiet place, and then suddenly “to be plunged into the world”? Why?
10. Why did Judy like Master Jervie? How should a man behave to win a woman’s heart?
6. Describe Judy’s future. What will happen to the girl in 10-20 years to your mind?
7. Write a letter to your imaginary friend whom you have never seen. Choose any theme to discuss (for example, your last visit to the theatre, your trip to some amazing place or any other interesting episode from your life). Invent your own style and remember that your letter must be interesting.
8. Read and translate the quotations below. Choose one of them and say if you agree or disagree with the author’s point of view. Expand his idea.
• City life: millions of people being lonesome together. (Henry David Thoreau)
• The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her. (Marcelene Cox)
• Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance. (Arthur Ashe)
• A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic. (George Bernard Shaw)
• A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
• I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. (Oscar Wilde)
• What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you yourself know nothing, and for whom you care as little. (Lord Byron)
• Travelling rarely expands the mind. (Hans Christian Andersen)