dear daddy-long-legs,

listen to what i've learned to-day.

the area of the convex surface of the frustum of a regular pyramid

is half the product of the sum of the perimeters of its bases

by the altitude of either of its trapezoids.

it doesn't sound true, but it is--i can prove it!

you've never heard about my clothes, have you, daddy? six dresses,

all new and beautiful and bought for me--not handed down from

somebody bigger. perhaps you don't realize what a climax that marks

in the career of an orphan? you gave them to me, and i am very, very,

very much obliged. it's a fine thing to be educated--but nothing

compared to the dizzying experience of owning six new dresses.

miss pritchard, who is on the visiting committee, picked them out--

not mrs. lippett, thank goodness. i have an evening dress, pink mull

over silk (i'm perfectly beautiful in that), and a blue church dress,

and a dinner dress of red veiling with oriental trimming (makes

me look like a gipsy), and another of rose-coloured challis,

and a grey street suit, and an every-day dress for classes.

that wouldn't be an awfully big wardrobe for julia rutledge pendleton,

perhaps, but for jerusha abbott--oh, my!

i suppose you're thinking now what a frivolous, shallow little

beast she is, and what a waste of money to educate a girl?

but, daddy, if you'd been dressed in checked ginghams all your life,

you'd appreciate how i feel. and when i started to the high school,

i entered upon another period even worse than the checked ginghams.

the poor box.

you can't know how i dreaded appearing in school in those miserable

poor-box dresses. i was perfectly sure to be put down in class

next to the girl who first owned my dress, and she would whisper

and giggle and point it out to the others. the bitterness

of wearing your enemies' cast-off clothes eats into your soul.

if i wore silk stockings for the rest of my life, i don't believe

i could obliterate the scar.

latest war bulletin!

news from the scene of action.

at the fourth watch on thursday the 13th of november, hannibal routed

the advance guard of the romans and led the carthaginian forces

over the mountains into the plains of casilinum. a cohort of light

armed numidians engaged the infantry of quintus fabius maximus.

two battles and light skirmishing. romans repulsed with heavy losses.

i have the honour of being,

your special correspondent from the front,

j. abbott

ps. i know i'm not to expect any letters in return, and i've

been warned not to bother you with questions, but tell me, daddy,

just this once--are you awfully old or just a little old? and are

you perfectly bald or just a little bald? it is very difficult

thinking about you in the abstract like a theorem in geometry.

given a tall rich man who hates girls, but is very generous to one

quite impertinent girl, what does he look like?

r.s.v.p.