Daddy-Long-Legs

At the John Grier Home, the first Wednesday of every month was the most dreaded day of all.On that day the trustees and their visitors came to walk through the orphanage and inspect everything.Jerusha Abbott, at seventeen the oldest orphan in the house, had been on her feet since early morning.

She had swept rooms, wiped small faces, dressed nearly a hundred children in their stiff best clothes, and taught them to bow when a visitor spoke to them.Jerusha had lived at the Home her whole life, and she had never once been outside its iron gates for more than a day.That afternoon, when the last visitor had finally gone, she leaned against a window, tired all the way through.

Then Mrs. Lippett, who ran the Home, sent for her, and Jerusha went with a sinking heart, sure she had done something wrong.Instead, Mrs. Lippett told her that one of the trustees had made a surprising offer.This trustee had read an essay Jerusha had written, a sharp and funny piece called “Blue Wednesday” about life in the orphanage.

He believed she could become a writer, and he was willing to pay for her to go to college for four years.She would be given clothes, books, and a small amount of money to spend each month.There was only one thing she had to do in return: write him a letter once a month about her studies and her progress.

The letters were meant as a way of saying thank you, and also as practice for her writing.But the trustee would never answer them, and he did not want to hear a single word about the money.Jerusha had barely seen him; as he left, she had only caught sight of a tall man’s long shadow thrown across the wall by the light in the hall.

The shadow had absurdly long arms and legs, like a big spider called a “daddy-long-legs,” and the name stuck in her mind.She was to send her letters to a “Mr. John Smith” through his secretary, and she would never be told his real name.