Sunday
Dearest Daddy-Long-Legs,
I have some awful, awful, awful news to tell you, but I won't beginwith it; I'll try to get you in a good humour first.
Jerusha Abbott has commenced to be an author. A poem entitled, 'Frommy Tower', appears in the February Monthly--on the first page, which isa very great honour for a Freshman. My English instructor stopped meon the way out from chapel last night, and said it was a charming pieceof work except for the sixth line, which had too many feet. I willsend you a copy in case you care to read it.
Let me see if I can't think of something else pleasant-- Oh, yes! I'mlearning to skate, and can glide about quite respectably all by myself.Also I've learned how to slide down a rope from the roof of thegymnasium, and I can vault a bar three feet and six inches high--I hopeshortly to pull up to four feet.
We had a very inspiring sermon this morning preached by the Bishop ofAlabama. His text was: 'Judge not that ye be not judged.' It wasabout the necessity of overlooking mistakes in others, and notdiscouraging people by harsh judgments. I wish you might have heard it.
This is the sunniest, most blinding winter afternoon, with iciclesdripping from the fir trees and all the world bending under a weight ofsnow--except me, and I'm bending under a weight of sorrow.
Now for the news--courage, Judy!--you must tell.
Are you SURELY in a good humour? I failed in mathematics and Latinprose. I am tutoring in them, and will take another examination nextmonth. I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but otherwise I don't care abit because I've learned such a lot of things not mentioned in thecatalogue. I've read seventeen novels and bushels of poetry--reallynecessary novels like Vanity Fair and Richard Feverel and Alice inWonderland. Also Emerson's Essays and Lockhart's Life of Scott and thefirst volume of Gibbon's Roman Empire and half of Benvenuto Cellini'sLife--wasn't he entertaining? He used to saunter out and casually killa man before breakfast.
So you see, Daddy, I'm much more intelligent than if I'd just stuck toLatin. Will you forgive me this once if I promise never to fail again?
Yours in sackcloth, Judy