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.

I seem to be floundering in a sea of metaphor--but I hope you
grasp my meaning? Any............