Children -- France -- Correspondence; Children -- United States -- Correspondence
Jimmy has just brought me your letter, in great excitement, and I am
taking the liberty of answering it myself, as I don't think he could
do himself justice under the present circumstances. Mr. Teddy, did you
ever have a soft spot for a little girl, when you were about eleven
or twelve? I had one for a little boy; he was older than I, about
fourteen; his name was Robert, and he had freckles; I think he
squinted, too, and he teased all the girls a great deal. I am sure
he was a very horrid little boy, as I look back, but at that time I
thought he was wonderful, and it almost broke my heart when he said
he had no use for little yellow-haired girls and took a girl with two
brown pigtails to a big children's party, instead of me.
Jimmy has a very soft spot for his godchild, and it is more than
a passing fancy with him. You see, his family, while not actually
poverty-stricken, are not as well off as they used to be, and Jimmy
has practically supported Andree himself all the year, through
countless little odd jobs. I have seen him on the coldest winter days,
chopping wood or going from door to door asking to shovel snow, and
his fingers were so red and frozen he could scarcely hold the shovel;
yet he was always ready, with a smile, to do more work for his "kid in
France." Andree is his godchild, his sister, his whole family to him;
and he shoulders the responsibility of looking after her with all
the seriousness of a little old man. Now, right in the middle of this
flourishing state of affairs you come, with your big American pockets
filled with elastic candy and bon-bons, and at a moment's notice
you produce cold-cream, perfumed with strawberry and vanilla, and
snow-covered cakes such as Jimmy can never hope to equal. What little
girl would not turn fickle to her first love in the presence of such
a display? At first Jimmy was filled with natural jealousy at your
intrusion. He was all for going over there and giving you a piece of
his mind; but since receiving your letter he has, almost incredibly,
come to feel sorry for you because, as he says, "it must be pretty
tuf to be all alone over there, and I guess he thinks my godchild is
a peach, all right." And Jimmy is right; you must be so very very
lonesome! And yet couldn't we manage to cheer you up a little without
taking Jimmy's godchild away from him? I don't know of any little
godchild I could give you in exchange, but I do know of a girl who
lives with an invalid mother in a big white house on a hill, and who
would only be too glad to have a soldier for a godson and send him
little packages of cigarettes, and pictures of movie stars (of which
she has a great collection) and--oh tell him about home and friends
and people and everything.
I am sending you this letter care of Andrée Leblanc; if you would care
for the arrangement I suggest, would you let me know?
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Winslow
18 rue d'Autancourt, Paris.
November 2, 1917.
My dear godfather:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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