There goes the gong for dinner. I'll post this as I pass the box.
Affectionately,
J.
4th June
Dear Daddy,
Very busy time--commencement in ten days, examinations tomorrow; lots
of studying, lots of packing, and the outdoor world so lovely that it
hurts you to stay inside.
But never mind, vacation's coming. Julia is going abroad this
summer--it makes the fourth time. No doubt about it, Daddy, goods are
not distributed evenly. Sallie, as usual, goes to the Adirondacks.
And what do you think I am going to do? You may have three guesses.
Lock Willow? Wrong. The Adirondacks with Sallie? Wrong. (I'll never
attempt that again; I was discouraged last year.) Can't you guess
anything else? You're not very inventive. I'll tell you, Daddy, if
you'll promise not to make a lot of objections. I warn your secretary
in advance that my mind is made up.
I am going to spend the summer at the seaside with a Mrs. Charles
Paterson and tutor her daughter who is to enter college in the autumn.
I met her through the McBrides, and she is a very charming woman. I am
to give lessons in English and Latin to the younger daughter, too, but
I shall have a little time to myself, and I shall be earning fifty
dollars a month! Doesn't that impress you as a perfectly exorbitant
amount? She offered it; I should have blushed to ask for more than
twenty-five.
I finish at Magnolia (that's where she lives) the first of September,
and shall probably spend the remaining three weeks at Lock Willow--I
should like to see the Semples again and all the friendly animals.
How does my programme strike you, Daddy? I am getting quite
independent, you see. You have put me on my feet and I think I can
almost walk alone by now.
Princeton commencement and our examinations exactly coincide--which is
an awful blow. Sallie and I did so want to get away in time for it,
but of course that is utterly impossible.
Goodbye, Daddy. Have a nice summer and come back in the autumn rested
and ready for another year of work. (That's what you ought to be
writing to me!) I haven't any idea what you do in the summer, or how
you amuse yourself. I can't visualize your surroundings. Do you play
golf or hunt or ride horseback or just sit in the sun and meditate?
Anyway, whatever it is, have a good time and don't forget Judy.
10th June
Dear Daddy,
This is the hardest letter I ever wrote, but I have decided what I must
do, and there isn't going to be any turning back. It is very sweet and
generous and dear of you to wish to send me to Europe this summer--for
the moment I was intoxicated by the idea; but sober second thoughts
said no. It would be rather illogical of me to refuse to take your
money for college, and then use it instead just for amusement! You
mustn't get me used to too many luxuries. One doesn't miss what one
has never had; but it's awfully hard going without things after one has
commenced thinking they are his--hers (English language needs another
pronoun) by natural right. Living with Sallie and Julia is an awful
strain on my stoical philosophy. They have both had things from the
time they were babies; they accept happiness as a matter of course.
The World, they think, owes them everything they want. Maybe the World
does--in any case, it seems to acknowledge the debt and pay up. But as
for me, it owes me nothing, and distinctly told me so in the beginning.
I have no right to borrow on credit, for there will come a time when
the World will repudiate my claim.