It was through the Patterson-Pratt forgery case that I first made the acquaintance of Terry Patten, and at the time I should have been more than willing to forego the pleasure.

Our firm rarely dealt with criminal cases, but the Patterson family were long standing clients, and they naturally turned to us when the trouble came. Ordinarily, so important a matter would have been put in the hands of one of the older men, but it happened that I was the one who had drawn up the will for Patterson Senior the night before his suicide, therefore the brunt of the work devolved upon me. The most unpleasant part of the whole affair was the notoriety. Could we have kept it from the papers, it would not have been so bad, but that was a physical impossibility; Terry Patten was on our track, and within a week he had brought down upon us every newspaper in New York.

"Paper-weights," observed Patty, sucking an injured thumb, "were evidently not made for driving in tacks. I wish I had a hammer."

This remark called forth no response, and Patty peered down from the top of the step-ladder at her roommate, who was sitting on the floor dragging sofa-pillows and curtains from a dry-goods box.

"Priscilla," she begged, "you aren't doing anything useful. Go down and ask Peters for a hammer."

Priscilla rose reluctantly. "I dare say fifty girls have already been after a hammer."

"Oh, he has a private one in his back pocket. Borrow that. And, Pris," -- Patty called after her over the transom, -- "just tell him to send up a man to take that closet door off its hinges."

Patty and her two roommates from last year are back in school. And they're upset! School administration is trying to break up their dream team!

"It's a shame!" says Priscilla.

"It's an outrage!" says Conny.

"It's an insult!" says Patty.

"To separate us now after we've been together three years --"

"And it isn't as though we were "awfully" bad last year. Lots of girls had more demerits."

"Only our badness was sort of conspicuous," Patty admitted.

"But we were "very" good the last three weeks," reminded Conny.

Don't worry, they'll work around it. And raise more heck this year than ever before. . . !

Don't miss this wonderful tale from Jean Webster, grandniece of Mark Twain.

Jean Webster (1876-1916). She was an American writer and author of many books including Daddy-Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. This edition is illustrated with photographs from the 1931 film version starring Janet Gaynor.

Most people, writes Jerusha Abbot to Daddy-Long-Legs, run life as a race, at the end of which they are too tired to be happy.

""I've decided to sit down by the way and pile up a lot of little happinesses." "

Here is a charming novel of an orphan who, through pluck and good cheer, wins the patronage of an anonymous trustee of her orphanage she calls "Daddy Long Legs." He sends the clever Jerusha to a girl's college, where she thrives. Her story is odyssey of laughter, love and learning.

Here is one of the most empowering books of all time, a "girl's" book full of fun and whimsy, yet seriously enriching.

"Daddy Long Legs" has been adapted on stage and screen many times, most famously as the Shirley Temple movie "Curly Top, " and the Fred Astaire-Leslie Caron movie "Daddy Long Legs."

"Daddy Long Legs" is a classic that still amuses and inspires.

Comedy / 6m, 1f, 6c or 4m, 4f, 3c / 4 ints. Judy is a pretty drudge in a New England orphanage. One day a visiting trustee becomes interested in her and decides to give her a chance. She does not know the name of her benefactor, but simply calls him Daddy Long Legs. She writes him letters brimming over with fun and affection. From the home she goes to a fashionable college where a romance develops that constitutes much of the play's charm. The orphans appear only in the first act and may be played by small girls of any age. "If you write down the words delightful, charming, sweet, beautiful and entertaining, and add them up, the answer will be Daddy Long Legs." - The New York Times

In DADDY LONG-LEGS a trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing to 'Daddy-Long-Legs', or wondering who her mysterious benefactor is... An amusing coming of age story for all young people.