When Jerusha Abbott was 16, she would have become a chore girl or a factory worker, perhaps in a textile mill. But because Jerusha was bright and did well in her studies, the orphanage where she lived, the John Grier Home, allowed her to stay an extra two years and complete her high school education.
Baby Jerusha had arrived at the orphanage nameless, and a matron there chose the child’s first name, Jerusha, from a gravestone and the last name, Abbott, from the phone book.
As was often the case with orphanages in the early 1900s, the John Grier Home was not a pleasant place to grow up, full of thankless hard work, stern discipline, and poor food.
Jerusha, in high school, wrote a humorous essay entitled Blue Wednesday that was critical of the Home.
A trustee of the Home reads the essay and rather than be angry (as was the matron), believes Jerusha has promise as a writer. Instead of allowing the young woman to be sent off to earn her keep in some low-end job, the trustee decides to pay for her to attend college.
Jerusha isn’t the first child from the Home to receive such unexpected treatment, but she is the first girl. The trustee, a man of wealth, had earlier paid tuition for a couple of boys.
In return for her room, board, and tuition, plus a regular allowance, she must write monthly letters to the trustee describing her studies and details of her daily life. The letters are to be addressed to Mr. John Smith (not the man’s real name). She will not receive a reply to any of her letters.
And thus begins Daddy-Long-Legs, one of the most delightful books I have read in many years. Written in 1912 by Jean Webster, it is as pleasant and readable today as it was then.
Other than the first chapter, which provides the setup I have described, the rest of the novel consists of letters that Jerusha (who prefers to be called Judy) writes from college.
The trustee chooses to remain anonymous, and Judy, having only caught a glimpse of her benefactor’s elongated shadow, addresses him in her letters as Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. Her rich, insightful, and detailed letters make me wonder how the gentleman resists writing back to her.
There is a dreadful 1955 Fred Astaire movie based on the book. I implore you not to see it — or to forget it if you already have. It does the book no justice.
A 1919 silent movie starring Mary Pickford as Jerusha is funny and worth seeing. It’s available for free online, but should not be a substitute for reading the novel, which is also available for free.
Some people criticize Daddy-Long-Legs for not being modern in its sensitivities and outlook. Written in 1912 by a woman with a mind of her own, it is superior to 95 percent of the tripe that passes for fiction today. So shut up.
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