Happy Valentine's Day

Here are some funny Les Mis Valentine's I wanted to share. I found them on Pinterest!






Now for a more serious one...



Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you all feel loved and appreciated. (And I wish you a nice amount of chocolates into the bargain.)

A Review of Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy

So some dear correspondents of mine suggested I read "Daddy Long Legs" by Jean Webster. It sounded vaguely familiar, so I  dug through the book shelf and unearthed my copy. I am so glad they reminded me of it! I finished the dear book in a day or so! I marked some of my favorite quotes and witticisms, which were scattered like rose petals throughout the book. There is also a little love story, which always makes me happy. :)



As you can see by my beginning, I very much enjoyed the book. It was written in 1912. It is an epistolary book, made up of letters to a certain Daddy Long Legs, the eccentric trustee who decided to give an orphaned Jerusha Abbott a college education. The only requirements he has are these: to train to be an author and to write him a letter once a month, describing her activities and schooling.
And so it begins: Miss Judy goes from the grimy little John Grier home to to a nice all-girls college. And she has so much to write to Daddy Long Legs, as she had dubbed the trustee, about!
There are also some whimsical drawings Miss Judy Abbott sends with her letters. These made me laugh out loud sometimes!


This is supposed to be a picture of the trustee, Daddy Long Legs. Judy christens him that when she sees his shadow at the John Grier Home.


Here is one of Judy's monthly updates! Isn't it funny?





This goes along with a little story Judy was telling about her dorm... Finally, to finish up the little illustrations, I will post Judy's picture of a daddy long legs!
 Judy and her friends have so many little adventures and funny stories to tell. Then there's Julia Pendleton, Judy's frenemy and dorm mate part of the book. She's something else. Her uncle, Jervis, is lovely though and catches Judy's attention....  but that is ALL I will say about that!

Finally, here come the quotations and witticisms:

"Maybe you won't stay rich all your life; lots of very clever men get smashed up in Wall Street. But at least you will stay tall all your life! So I've decided to call you Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. I hope you don't mind. It's just a private pet name we won't tell Mrs. Lippett." (Mrs. Lippett is the strict "jail guard" of the orphanage.)

"I love college and I love you for sending me-I'm very, very happy, and so excited every moment of the time that I can scarcely sleep." Isn't that a nice outlook? I think so. And I must follow up with the rest of it because I like it, "You (Daddy Long Legs) can't imagine how different it is from the John Grier Home. I never dreamed there was such a place in the world. I'm feeling sorry for everybody who isn't a girl and who can't come here; I am sure the college you attended when you were a boy couldn't have been so nice."

"Usually Freshmen can't get singles; they are very scarce, but I got one without even asking. I suppose the registrar didn't think it would be right to ask a properly brought-up girl to room with a foundling. You see there are advantages!" This made me smile. :)

"'I'm so homesick that I simply can't stand it. Do you feel that way?' (said Sallie McBride) I smiled a little and said no; I thought I could pull through. At least homesickness is one disease that I've escaped! I never hear d of anybody being asylum-sick, did you?" And by the way Judy described it, I doubt anyone ever had been.

"Julia and I were born to be enemies." I was glad someone else had felt that way sometime in their life too.

When Judy is talking about not fitting in at school , and wearing the ugly Home dresses, she writes to Daddy Long Legs about the girls who talked and stared. She obviously disliked them, but then she goes on to talk about the others... "And then a few charitable ones would make a point of coming up and saying something polite. I HATED EVERY ONE OF THEM- the charitable ones most of all." Which quite makes sense to me.

"I forgot to post this yesterday, so I will add an indignant postscript. We had a bishop this morning and WHAT DO YOU THINK HE SAID? 'The most beneficent promise made us in the Bible is this, 'The poor ye have always with you.' They were put here in order to keep us charitable.' The poor, please observe, being a sort of useful domestic animal. If I hadn't grown into such a perfect lady, I should have gone up after service and told him what I thought." I'm not saying you should agree, but I thought this was an interesting perspective.

"Julia Pendleton tried for the team, but she didn't get in. Hooray! You see what a mean disposition I have." This made me laugh. Dear Judy! And she follows up with a cheerful little bit about college, showing what a NICE disposition she has. :)

"I look forward all day to evening, and then I put and 'engaged'on the door and get into my nice red bath robe and furry slippers and pile all the cushions behind me on the couch, and light the brass student lamp at my elbow and rad and read; one book isn't enough. I have four going at once." Now that sounds like a kindred spirit, doesn't it?

"It's awfully hard for me not to tell everything I know. I'm a very confiding soul by nature; if I didn't have you to tell things to, I'd burst." Only too true, m'dears.

"P.S. Maybe it isn't proper to send love? If it isn't, please excuse. But I must love somebody and there's only you and Mrs. Lippett to choose between, so you see-you'll have to put up with it, Daddy dear, because I can't love her."

"I might, very usefully, put some time on Latin tonight but, there's no doubt about it, I'm a very languid Latin scholar." I know only too well the trials of the Latin language! Horrid stuff!

"Yesterday evening just towards dark, when I was sitting up in bed looking out at the rain and feeling awfully bored with life in a great institution, the nurse appeared with a long white box addressed to me, and filled with the LOVELIEST pink rosebuds. Ans much nicer still, it contained a card with a very polite message written in a funny little uphill back hand (but which shows a great deal of character). Thank you, Daddy, a thousand times. Your flowers make the first real, true present I ever received in my life. If you want to know what a baby I am I  laid down and cried because I was so happy." Isn't that just bitter-sweet. The poor dear cried!

"The only thing that keeps me from starting a collection (of toads) is that fact that no rule exists against it." hehe

This is VERY IMPORTANT:
"It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh- I really think that requires spirit." Very, very true.

"It seems he glanced at her (Julia) when she was a baby, decided he didn't like her, and has never noticed her since." HAHA dear Uncle Jervis :)

"Oh, I tell you, Daddy, when we women get our rights, you men will have to look alive in order to keep yours.":)

"But Julia hadn't a bit of tact; and men, I find, require a great deal.They purr if you rub them the right way and spit if you don't. (That isn't a very elegant metaphor. I mean it figuratively.)"

"You know, Daddy, I think that the most necessary quality for any person t have is imagination. It makes people able to put themselves in other people's places. It makes them kind and sympathetic and understanding. It ought to be cultivated in children..... I don't think children ought to know the meaning of the word (duty); it's odious, detestable. They ought to do everything from love."

"It seems to me that a man who can think straight along for forty-seven years without changing a single idea ought to be kept in a cabinet as a curiosity." Hehe ;)

"Mrs. Semple, to tell you the truth, gets rather monotonous. She never lets any ideas interrupt the easy flow of her conversation." Goodness, how I know the feeling!

"The world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round, if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way."

"To bring a man into line, there are just two methods: one must either coax or be disagreeable."

"Don't you think I'd make an admirable voter if I had my rights? I was twenty-one last week. This is an awfully wasteful country to throw away such an honest, educated, conscientious, intelligent citizen as I would be."

"Whereas a women-whether she is interested in babies or microbes or gardens or Plato or bridge- is fundamentally and always interested in clothes." True!

"The only way I can ever repay you is by turning out to be a Very Useful Citizen (Are women citizens? i don't suppose they are.) Anyway, a Very Useful Person. and when you look at me you can say, 'I gave that Very Useful Person to the world.'"


Now, if you go through all those quotations! I didn't think I had so many. But aren't they nice? Now, on to Dear Enemy. It is by the same author, Jean Webster, but it is about Judy's friend, Sallie McBride. Sallie, now out of college, is a young, naive, belle. She is well off and enjoys dancing and frivolous things. She also has a thing going with a young, outspoken politician.

All this is put to a stop though when Judy begs her friend to be the new caretaker of the John Grier Home! Now Sallie is in charge of 113 youngsters, a. orphanage that needs a makeover, and a short tempered doctor! This book is also epistolary and Dear Enemy refers to the doctor. The letters are to her beau, the politician, Judy, and her "Enemy" the doctor.

Here are some of Sallie's illustrations:
 


 



Here are some of its quotes and witticisms:

"He (the doctor) says he does not wish to be regarded as an enemy. He is not in the least antagonistic-so long as I mold my policy upon his wishes!"

"I don't know yet whether the children are going to love me or not, but they DO love my dog." Ah, that's how it goes.

This was sweet.
"I remain, the ever-distracted mother of 113. S. McB."

"And also, no matter what the doctor wants, so positive and dictatorial is his manner that just out of self-respect one must take the other side. When he states that the world is round, I instantly assert it to be triangular." haha

"Aren't men funny? When the want to pay the greatest complement in their power, they naively tell you that you have a masculine mind. There is one compliment, incidentally, that I shall never be paying him."

"The more I study men, the more I realize that they are nothing in the world but boys grown too spankable." HAHAHA

"I must tell you what happened this morning. Our trustee, who has had a dangerous illness, is now dangerously well again, and dropped in to pay a neighborly call." Haha, that trustee is a cantankerous old windbag!

"The library, though not the most cheerful room I have ever seen, still, for a man's house, is not so bad-books all around from floor to ceiling, with the overflow in piles on floor and table and mantle piece  half a dozen abysmal leather chairs and a rug or so, with another black marble mantle piece  but this time conatining a crackling wood fire." I think it sounds rather nice, don't you? Anything filled with books and a crackling fire would appeal to me though. ;)

"I am glad you liked our doctor. Of course we reserve the right to say anything about him we choose, but our feelings would be awfully hurt if anybody else should make fun of him."

"Isn't it funny how the nicest men often choose the worst wives, and the nicest women the worst husbands? Their very niceness, I suppose, makes them blind and suspicious." How very true.

"You know, the most interesting pursuit in the world is studying character. I believe I was meant to be a novelist; people fascinate me-until I know them thoroughly."

"But finally, as always, it is the gentle, persistent wive who has triumphed, and hard husband has been forced to give in."

"The longer I live, the surer I am that character is the only thing that counts."

"Why must I be supposed to understand everybody's troubles?"

"It's nice to look forward to, isn't it- a life of work and play and little daily adventures side by side with somebody you love? I'm not afraid of the future anymore." So sweet!!!

And that's all for now. This has turned into quite a long blog post! I hope you all enjoyed it though, I know I did. :)

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

I know it is not Valentine's Day, but I've been planning this post for awhile. And just because I was busy on Valentines Day making homemade cards and having dinner with my family, I will not spoil my own fun. So I have decided to do what I originally planned. I decided that there is nothing better than some wonderful, romantic quotes to make people happy. So, I picked some of my favorites. (Not all because that would be too many to count, dear readers!) so now, without further ado, some Valentine's Day quotes:

"A man in khaki was standing on the steps-a tall fellow, with dark eyes and hair, and a narrow white scar running across his brown cheek. Rilla stared at him foolishly for a moment. Who was it? She ought to know him-certainly there was something very familiar about him...'Rilla-my-Rilla,' he said. 'Ken,' gasped Rilla. Of course, it was Ken-but he looked so much older-he was so much changed-that scar-the lines about his eyes and lips-her thoughts went whirling helplessly. Ken took the uncertain hand he held out, and looked at her. The slim Rilla of four years ago had rounded out into symmetry. He had left a school girl, and he found a woman-a woman with wonderful eyes and a dented lip, and rose-bloom cheek- a woman altogether beautiful and desirable- the woman of his dreams. 'Is it Rilla-my-Rilla?' he asked, meaningly. Emotion shook Rilla from head to foot, Joy- happiness- sorrow- fear- every passion that had wrung her heart in those four long years seemed to surge up in her soul for a moment as the deeps of being were stirred. She tried to speak; at first voice would not come. Then- 'Yeth,'said Rilla." -From Rilla of Ingleside

And anyone who's read that book will be sighing right now, for Rilla saying "Yeth" meant something very special indeed. It is a rather long quote, but I just had to include all of it.

"It came clearly and suddenly on the air of a June evening. An old, old call-two higher notes and one long and soft and low. Emily Starr, dreaming at her window, heard it and stood up, her face suddenly gone white. Dreaming still -she must be! Teddy Kent was thousands of miles away, in the Orient- so much she knew from an item in a Montreal paper. Yes, she had dreamed it-imagined it. It came again. And Emily knew that Teddy was there, waiting for her in Lofty John's Bush.-calling to her across the years. She went down slowly-out-across the garden. Of course Teddy was there- under the firs. It seemed the most natural thing in the world that he should come to her there, in that old-world garden where the three lombardies still kept guard. Nothing was wanting to bridge the years. There was no gulf. HE put out his hands and drew her to him, with no conventional greeting. And spoke as if there were no years-no memories- between them. 'Don't tell me you can't love me- you can-you must- why, Emily-'his eyes had met the moonlit brilliance of hers for a moment-'you do.'" -From Emily's Quest
Oh what a romantic, romantic thing! The old call! I got a teddy bear for Valentine's Day two years ago and I named it Teddy Kent. I just loved this ending.

"I have a dream,' he (Gilbert) said slowly. 'I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of  home with a hearth fire in it, a cat and a dog, the footsteps of friends-and you!'" - From Anne of the Island Ch. 41 "Love takes up the glass of time"

Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorites, and I just love this whole chapter! Oh Anne and Gilbert! Need I say more? ;)

"'But I've been thinking, Betsy. The Plan has been twisted about to let you in. You're in it now, that's all. I wouldn't like it without you. I wouldn't give a darn for my old Plan if you couldn't be in it.'"...... "After Commencement Day, the World!' Joe said. "With Betsy." - From Betsy and Joe 

Betsy and Joe are one of those wonderful high school couples. They meet the summer before freshman year, but have misunderstandings once school starts. For Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior year Betsy and Joe are caught in a tangle of misunderstandings, but liking each other through it all. Senior year crowns Betsy and Joe's happiness, and need I mention, my own. :)

"That's the rose you put in the birthday cake, and next week we'll have a fresh one in another jolly little cake which you'll make me; you left it on the floor of my den the night we talked there, and I've kept it ever since. There's love and romance for you!" -Tom Shaw, From An Old-fashioned Girl

I love Little Polly and Tom's relationship! It's a beautiful little love story. And the way he changes, and goes West, and makes himself a better man....! And Polly's sweet, unwavering love. It's a wonderful story, all in all.

And we can't forget Jane Austen!

“I cannot make speeches, Emma...If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it.” -From Emma

 I simply love Mr. Knightley, with an "e." He is one of my favorite Austen heroes!

"“I come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be yours.” - From Sense and Sensibility

That part makes me have a smile cry, you know, when you're smiling and you have happy tears in your eyes? It made Elinor cry too. (At least, in the '95 movie it did...)

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” -From Pride and Prejudice

True, Mr. Darcy followed that up with, I know you are lower than me in rank, birth "et cetera, et cetera, et cetera;" but really, it's a wonderful sentiment.

That is all for now, I hope you all had a very happy Valentine's Day!