Daddy Long Legs
Complete textJerusha Abbott grows up in an orphanage until an anonymous trustee offers to pay for her college education. Required to write to him, she invents the name Daddy-Long-Legs and describes an expanding world of study, friends, and ambition. Her letters become a record of discovering possibilities and resisting dependence.
Continue readingAbout Daddy Long Legs
A one-sided correspondence makes generosity both enabling and complicated. Jerusha can speak freely on the page while knowing remarkably little about the person receiving her words. Her humor and curiosity keep the educational journey lively, but questions about money and self-respect persist beneath it. Notice how her changing signature and opinions register increasing confidence in defining herself.
Reading focus
Follow Jerusha’s lively letters as education opens new possibilities while an unseen benefactor complicates her wish for independence.
This reading edition contains 37,335 words in 2 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.
Author: Jean Webster. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.
Opening excerpt
TO YOU
Contents
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Is this the complete Daddy Long Legs?
This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 2 sections and 37,335 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.
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