19. Jerusha’s academic life in college: her failures and achievements

Jerusha Abbott was a 17-year-old orphan who had lived in the asylum since her childhood. And the only education she managed to receive was several years at school of the asylum and four years at the village high school. Jerusha was definitely a brilliant girl therefore she did well in certain branches at school. And her work in English could even be called excellent, that is why she was noticed by a rich man who decided to send her to college with the purpose to educate her to become a writer. Thus, Jerusha, so to say, got a “golden ticket” into the adult life. Actually, it was a totally unknown world for her. This new reality was full of unfamiliar things, because at her 17 years old she had never before stepped outside the asylum and couldn’t picture the life behind its gates. She had never even dreamed there was such a place in the world as college. Every day was full of new impressions, and she was excited by every moment of her life.

Alongside she had to come across with some difficulties, and the main problem was that the basic education she had got at the asylum wasn’t enough for the college. For example, Jerusha once got into a stupid situation: the teacher asked her who Michelangelo was, and she thought he was an archangel. So, to exclude similar incidents Jerusha made an unbreakable rule: never to study at night, and instead of studying started to read books to widen her horizons. She read such books as “David Copperfield”, “Robinson Crusoe”, “Alice in Wonderland”, and many others. As a rule, one book was not enough for her hungry mind, so, she was reading four books at once. What is more, whenever, Jerusha came across with an unknown word she looked it up in the encyclopedia.

Of course, it was very difficult for Jerusha to catch up with other students, and she even failed her first exams in mathematics and Latin. Nevertheless, she didn’t get knickers in a twist, but worked hard, and as a result, her next exams were passed with flying colours. She spent lots of hours reading books and writing her own stories. What is more, Jerusha took part in several literary competitions: when she was still a freshman her poem “From my Tower” was published on the first page of the Monthly. Moreover, one of her four stories was accepted by a magazine. Apart from that, she participated in the fifty-yard dash and even won it. Later on Jerusha got a scholarship that could cover her ward and tuition.

So, as we may see, Jerusha made her best to get a good education and to become a real author. Generally speaking, Jerusha Abbott didn’t waste time at college but had a very active life and enjoyed studying greatly, which made lots of good for her: Jerusha developed critical thinking, independence of character, a mind of her own, vivid imagination and confidence to help her face the realities of her further adult life.

20. Jerusha’s summer and winter holidays

Nobody will deny that having holidays is always a great fun for students. Firstly, they have days off from monotonous intense studying. Secondly, it is variety and relaxation from everyday routine. Besides, spending holidays reasonably, students can widen their horizons. I am convinced that all students like holidays and always look forward to them, and so does Jerusha Abbott. It must be said that Jerusha had never before dreamed there was such a thing as holidays, because she was an orphan and had spent all her childhood behind the walls of the asylum. When a freshman, Jerusha had her first vocation, which was the Christmas one, and she spent it in the college together with a girl from Texas named Leonora. The vocation was rather monotonous: every day they just walked across the country and explored the neighborhood. Still Jerusha didn’t fool away her time, but read a lot of various books in order to enlarge one’s vocabulary and to widen one’s horizons. Besides, it should be mentioned that Jerusha got a money as a Christmas present from her trustee and spent them very reasonably on the things she really needed , among which there were five hundred sheets of manuscript paper and a dictionary of synonyms.

During her next holidays Jerusha was staying on the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Semple “Lock Willow” of very hospitable people: Mr. and Mrs. Semple. Certainly, she didn’t know what kind of a thing a farm was and had never been on one before. Therefore, everything there was new and enjoyable for her. Jerusha had long conversations with the owners of the farm, helped them to look after the animals, and just took prolonged walks to green meadows. On the whole she liked the farm, and she even once said: “One must be mad to live in a city when there’s an opportunity to live on a farm”.

Her next vocation Jerusha had at Sally’s place, after which she under the great impression, because it was the first time she had been staying with a real family. Jerusha liked Sally’s relatives, as they were very nice, and even sitting at the table she had the jolliest time. But the greatest fun for Jerusha was the opportunity to attend the true ball.

In a few months Jerusha was very lucky to go to New York. She and her friends were going to do some spring shopping and to visit the theatre. Jerusha was very excited, because she had been neither in a hotel, nor in the theatre before. Apart from that, she was amazed by the hugeness of New York, by its different people, busy streets and big shops.

I should also mention that Jerusha and Sally became such close friends, that once Sally invited her to spend a few weeks at their camp. Actually, Jerusha had been working very hard and needed some healthful recreation. The weather was fine and she had a wonderful unforgettable time.

So, as we can see, all Jerusha’s holidays were full of strong impressions and new discoveries. She met a lot of new people and made good friends with some of them. What is more, she became more sociable, confident, independent in her thoughts and learnt to see through people better.