Your five gold pieces were a surprise! I'm not used to receiving
Christmas presents. You have already given me such lots of
things--everything I have, you know--that I don't quite feel that I
deserve extras. But I like them just the same. Do you want to know
what I bought with my money?
I. A silver watch in a leather case to wear on my wrist and get me to
recitations in time.
II. Matthew Arnold's poems.
III. A hot water bottle.
IV. A steamer rug. (My tower is cold.) V. Five hundred sheets of yellow manuscript paper. (I'm going to
commence being an author pretty soon.) VI. A dictionary of synonyms. (To enlarge the author's vocabulary.) VII. (I don't much like to confess this last item, but I will.) A pair
of silk stockings.
And now, Daddy, never say I don't tell all!
It was a very low motive, if you must know it, that prompted the silk
stockings. Julia Pendleton comes into my room to do geometry, and she
sits cross-legged on the couch and wears silk stockings every night.
But just wait--as soon as she gets back from vacation I shall go in and
sit on her couch in my silk stockings. You see, Daddy, the miserable
creature that I am but at least I'm honest; and you knew already, from
my asylum record, that I wasn't perfect, didn't you?
To recapitulate (that's the way the English instructor begins every
other sentence), I am very much obliged for my seven presents. I'm
pretending to myself that they came in a box from my family in
California. The watch is from father, the rug from mother, the hot
water bottle from grandmother who is always worrying for fear I shall
catch cold in this climate--and the yellow paper from my little brother
Harry. My sister Isabel gave me the silk stockings, and Aunt Susan the
Matthew Arnold poems; Uncle Harry (little Harry is named after him)
gave me the dictionary. He wanted to send chocolates, but I insisted
on synonyms.
You don't object, do you, to playing the part of a composite family?
And now, shall I tell you about my vacation, or are you only interested
in my education as such? I hope you appreciate the delicate shade of
meaning in 'as such'. It is the latest addition to my vocabulary.
The girl from Texas is named Leonora Fenton. (Almost as funny as
Jerusha, isn't it?) I like her, but not so much as Sallie McBride; I
shall never like any one so much as Sallie--except you. I must always
like you the best of all, because you're my whole family rolled into
one. Leonora and I and two Sophomores have walked 'cross country every
pleasant day and explored the whole neighbourhood, dressed in short
skirts and knit jackets and caps, and carrying shiny sticks to whack
things with. Once we walked into town--four miles--and stopped at a
restaurant where the college girls go for dinner. Broiled lobster (35
cents), and for dessert, buckwheat cakes and maple syrup (15 cents).
Nourishing and cheap.