DEAR ENEMY





STONE GATE, WORCESTER,

MASSACHUSETTS,

December 27.
Dear Judy:

Your letter is here. I have read it twice, and with amazement.
Do I understand that Jervis has given you, for a Christmas
present, the making over of the John Grier Home into a model
institution, and that you have chosen me to disburse the money?
Me--I, Sallie McBride, the head of an orphan asylum! My poor
people, have you lost your senses, or have you become addicted to
the use of opium, and is this the raving of two fevered
imaginations? I am exactly as well fitted to take care of one
hundred children as to become the curator of a zoo.

And you offer as bait an interesting Scotch doctor? My dear
Judy,--likewise my dear Jervis,--I see through you! I know
exactly the kind of family conference that has been held about
the Pendleton fireside.

"Isn't it a pity that Sallie hasn't amounted to more since
she left college? She ought to be doing something useful instead