June 10
Dear Daddy Longlegs,
I just got here, but already Lock Willow Farm seems like heaven to me!
Mr. and Mrs. Semple are so kind.
The farmhouse is more than a hundred years old with a lovely porch out front.
My room has two big windows, and there's even a table where I can write.
I'm going to write a novel this summer.
I can't believe that I get to spend three months here in Connecticut.
You've given me more than I deserve.
You should hear the frogs croaking and the pigs squealing!
I can't wait until tomorrow to explore.
It's only half past eight, but I have to try to sleep.
We rise at five in the morning on the farm.
Good night,
Judy
July 15
Dear Daddy Longlegs,
How did your secretary know about Lock Willow Farm?
I'm curious because I've just learned something interesting.
Mr. Jervis Pendleton used to own this farm!
He gave it to Mrs. Semple, who had been his nanny.
Did you ever hear such a coincidence?
Mrs. Semple still calls him "Master Jervie."
She's always talking about what a sweet little boy he was.
She even has one of his baby curls saved in a box.
(He had red hair!)
Mrs. Semple was very impressed that I'd met him.
She thinks Master Jervie is the best member of the Pendleton family.
And so do I!
The farm gets more entertaining every day.
I rode on a hay wagon yesterday.
We have three big pigs and nine little piglets.
They all have huge appetites!
There are also lots of chickens, ducks, and turkeys.
Every day my job is to collect the eggs.
Yesterday I fell off a beam in the barn loft.
When I came into the kitchen, I showed Mrs. Semple my scraped knee.
"Oh, dear, let me clean that for you."
She rubbed my knee with a liquid that stung.
"Ouch!" I cried.
"How did you scrape your knee?" she asked.
"The black hen made her nest on a beam in the barn loft.
I fell when I was trying to get the eggs.
Why would she build her nest up there?"
"To keep her eggs safe." Mrs. Semple laughed.
"It seems only yesterday that Master Jervie fell off the very same beam.
And I believe he scraped that very same knee."
We have six calves and I've chosen names for most of them.
One is named Sallie, and another is Judy.
There's also a dull, ordinary one that I called Julia.
I hope you don't mind, but I've also named one Daddy Longlegs.
It has a very sweet personality.
July 16
I meant to finish this letter yesterday.
But then I remembered that I'd promised to pick blackberries for supper.
So I went off and left the letter on the table.
What do you think I found today?
A real daddy longlegs, sitting in the middle of the page!
I gently set it on the windowsill so it could escape.
I'd never hurt one of them.
They always remind me of you!
When I finish this letter, I'm going to read a book that I found in the attic.
It belonged to Jervis Pendleton.
I know this because he wrote his name on the first page.
I showed it to Mrs. Semple last night.
We were sitting on the front porch after supper.
"Oh, I remember this book."
She took it from my hand and smiled fondly.
"Master Jervie read it over and over.
He spent the whole summer here one year after he'd been ill."
"How old was he?"
"Hmm." Mrs. Semple stopped to think.
"He must have been 11 that year.
He was always running up the stairs, making an awful racket.
I always had to remind him to close the screen door, so the bugs would stay out.
And, of course, he was constantly asking for cookies."
"I'm sure you always gave him cookies," I said.
"Well, yes." Mrs. Semple smiled at the memory.
"But not before meals, of course."
She handed the book back to me.
I know Master Jervie enjoyed this book because his fingerprints are all over the pages!
Mrs. Semple talks about him all the time.
Now I think of him as a nice but dirty little boy full of adventure.
She says he was a brave and truthful child.
Here at the farm, I can't think of him as that grown man with a silk hat and walking stick.
His toys are still in a corner of the attic!
I'm sorry that he's a Pendleton because he's clearly much better than that other Pendleton I know.
I haven't had time to begin my novel.
But I've learned how to make doughnuts!
Your affectionate orphan,
Judy