Happy World Hello Day
No, I didn’t know it existed either but it began in 1973 to promote peace between Egypt and Israel. There are now 180 countries involved in the attempt to foster peace throughout the world by writing letters. It’s been supported by people such as John Glenn, Colin Powell, Kofi Annan, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
So it’s not really Happy Hello day more like Happy Dear Somebody Day (unless they already have one of those…) and that’s got me thinking about epistolary fiction.
My all time favourite is a love story called Daddy Long Legs which was written 1912 and you can read it here thanks to the wonderful Gutenberg website.
The heroine is orphan Jerusha who gets a wonderful opportunity to go to university because of an anonymous donor who will pay her tuition and also give her a generous allowance. Jerusha must write him a monthly letter, because he believes that letter-writing is important to the development of a writer. However, she is not allowed to know his identity – she must address her letters to Mr. John Smith, and he will never reply. But she catches a glimpse of her benefactor and knows he is a tall long-legged man, so she calls him Daddy Long-Legs….read it and weep….
2 comments on “Happy World Hello Day”
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i can see my very old and battered copy of Daddy Long Legs on the shelf from here, if the teddybear holding up the frozen peas on my jaw to comfort my gums from wisdom tooth extraction
shifts over a bit.
Love it,, the book and the bear of course x
Sorry about the wisdom tooth but deeply jealous of your copy of Dear Daddy Long Legs – I must have borrowed it from the library when I was about 10 and it’s stayed with me ever since – but only in the imagination.
Hope the frozen peas are helping…