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31 - Anne of Green Gables (version 4) by Lucy Maud Montgomery · Anne of Green Gables (version 4)

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one of Anne of green Gables. This is
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  Speaker 1: the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: From more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recorded by Annie Coleman www dot Annie Cooleman dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Anne of green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: where the brook and River meet. Anne had her good
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  Speaker 1: summer and enjoyed it wholeheartedly. She and Diana fairly lived outdoors,
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  Speaker 1: reveling in all the delights that Lover's Lane and the
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  Speaker 1: Dryad's Bubble and Willowmere and Victoria Island afforded. Marilla offered
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  Speaker 1: no objections to Anne's gypsyings. The Spencerville doctor, who had
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  Speaker 1: come the night Minnie Mayhouse the Croup, met Anne at
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  Speaker 1: a house of a patient one afternoon early in vacation,
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  Speaker 1: looked her over sharply, screwed up his mouth, shook his head,
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  Speaker 1: and sent a message to Marilla Cuthbert by another person.
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  Speaker 1: It was keep that red headed girl of yours in
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  Speaker 1: the open air all summer, and don't let her read
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  Speaker 1: books until she gets more spring into her step. This
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  Speaker 1: message frightened Marilla wholesomely. She read Anne's death, warned by
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  Speaker 1: consumption in it unless it was scrupulously obeyed. As a result,
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  Speaker 1: Anne had the golden summer of her life, as far
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  Speaker 1: as freedom and frolic went. She walked, rode, buried, and
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  Speaker 1: dreamed to her heart's content, and when September came she
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  Speaker 1: was bright eyed and alert, with a step that would
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  Speaker 1: have satisfied the Spencerville doctor, and a heart full of
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  Speaker 1: ambition and zest. Once more, I feel just like studying
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  Speaker 1: with might and main, she declared, as she brought her
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  Speaker 1: Ba books down from the attic. Oh, you good old friends,
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad to see your honest faces once more. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: even you geometry. I've had a perfectly beautiful summer, Marilla,
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  Speaker 1: and now I'm rejoicing as a strong man to run
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  Speaker 1: a race. As mister Allan said last Sunday, doesn't mister
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  Speaker 1: Allen preach magnificent sermons? Missus Lynde says he is improving
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  Speaker 1: every day, and the first thing we know, some city
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  Speaker 1: church will gobble him up, and then we'll be left
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  Speaker 1: and have to turn to and break in another green preacher.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't see the use of meeting trouble half way,
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  Speaker 1: do you, Marilla, I think it would be better just
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy mister Allen while we have him. If I
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  Speaker 1: were a man, I think i'd be a minister. They
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  Speaker 1: can have such an influence for good if their theology
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  Speaker 1: is sound, and it must be thrilling to preach splendid
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  Speaker 1: sermons and stir your hearer's hearts. Why can't women be ministers, Marilla?
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  Speaker 1: I asked missus Lynde that, and she was shocked and
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  Speaker 1: said it would be a scandalous thing. She said there
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  Speaker 1: might be female ministers in the States, and she believed
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  Speaker 1: there was, but thank goodness, we hadn't got to that
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  Speaker 1: stage in Canada yet, and she hoped we never would.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't see why I think women would make
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  Speaker 1: splendid ministers. When there is a social to be got up,
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  Speaker 1: or a church tea or anything else to raise money,
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  Speaker 1: the women have to turn to and do the work.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure Missus Lynde can pray every bit as well
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  Speaker 1: as Superintendent Bell, and I've no doubt she could preach too,
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  Speaker 1: with a little practice. Yes, I believe she could, said
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  Speaker 1: Marilla dryly. She does plenty of unofficial preaching as it
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  Speaker 1: is nobody has much of a chance to go wrong
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  Speaker 1: in Avonlea with Rachel to oversee them, Marilla said Anne
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  Speaker 1: in a burst of confidence. I want to tell you
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  Speaker 1: something and ask you what you think about it. It
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  Speaker 1: has worried me terribly on Sunday afternoons. That is when
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  Speaker 1: I think specially about such matters. I do really want
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  Speaker 1: to be good, and when I'm with you or Missus
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  Speaker 1: Allen or miss Stacy, I want it more than ever
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  Speaker 1: and I want to do just what would please you
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  Speaker 1: and what you would approve of. But mostly when I'm
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  Speaker 1: with Missus Lynde, I feel desperately wicked, and as if
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to go and do the very thing she
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  Speaker 1: tells me I oughtn't to do. I feel irresistibly tempted
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  Speaker 1: to do it. Now. What do you think is the
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  Speaker 1: reason I feel like that? Do you think it's because
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  Speaker 1: I'm really bad and unregenerate. Marilla looked dubious for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: then she laughed, if you are, I guess I am too, Anne,
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  Speaker 1: for Rachel often has that very effect on me. I
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  Speaker 1: sometimes think she'd have more of an influence for good,
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  Speaker 1: as you say yourself, if she didn't keep up nagging
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  Speaker 1: people to do right. There should have been a special
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  Speaker 1: commandment against nagging, but there I shouldn't talk. So Rachel
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  Speaker 1: is a good Christian woman, and she means well. There
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  Speaker 1: isn't a kinder soul in Avonlea, and she never shirks
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  Speaker 1: her share of work. I'm very glad you feel the same,
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  Speaker 1: said Anne decidedly. It's so encouraging. I shan't worry so
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  Speaker 1: much over that after this, But I dare say there'll
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  Speaker 1: be other things to worry me. They keep coming up
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  Speaker 1: new all the time, things to perplex you. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you settle one question and there's another right after. There
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  Speaker 1: are so many things to be thought over and decided
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  Speaker 1: when you're beginning to grow up. It keeps me busy
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  Speaker 1: all the time thinking them over and deciding what is right.
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  Speaker 1: It's a serious thing to grow up, isn't it, Marilla.
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  Speaker 1: But when I have such good friends as you and
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  Speaker 1: Matthew and missus Allan and miss Stacy, I ought to
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  Speaker 1: grow up successfully, and I'm sure it will be my
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  Speaker 1: own fault if I don't. I feel it's a great
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  Speaker 1: responsibility because I have only the one chance. If I
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  Speaker 1: don't grow up right, I can't go back and begin
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  Speaker 1: over again. I've grown two inches this summer, Marilla. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Gillis measured me at Ruby's. I'm so glad you made
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  Speaker 1: my new dresses longer. That dark green one is so pretty,
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  Speaker 1: and it was sweet of you to put on the flounce.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, I know it wasn't really necessary, but flounces
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  Speaker 1: are so stylish this fall, and Josie Pye has flounces
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  Speaker 1: on all her dresses. I know I'll be able to
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  Speaker 1: study better because of mine. I shall have such a
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  Speaker 1: comfortable feeling deep down in my mind about that flounce.
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  Speaker 1: It's worth something to have, that, admitted Marilla. Miss Stacy
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  Speaker 1: came back to Avonlea School and found all her pupils
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  Speaker 1: eager for work once more. Especially did the Queen's class
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  Speaker 1: gird up their loins for the fray for at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the coming year. Dimly shadowing their pathway already
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  Speaker 1: loomed up that fateful thing known as the Entrance, at
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  Speaker 1: the very thought of which one and all felt their
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  Speaker 1: hearts sink into their very shoes. Suppose they did not pass,
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  Speaker 1: that thought was doomed to haunt Anne through the waking
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  Speaker 1: hours of that winter Sunday, afternoons, inclusive to the almost
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  Speaker 1: entire exclusion of moral and theological problems. When Anne had
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  Speaker 1: bad dreams, she found herself staring miserably at pass lists
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  Speaker 1: of the entrance exams, where Gilbert Blythe's name was blazoned
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  Speaker 1: at the top, and in which hers did not appear
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  Speaker 1: at all. But it was a jolly, busy, happy, swift
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  Speaker 1: flying winter. School work was as interesting, class rivalry, as
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  Speaker 1: absorbing as of yore. New worlds of thought, feeling, and ambition.
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  Speaker 1: Fresh fascinating fields of unexplored knowledge seemed to be opening
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  Speaker 1: out before Anne's eager eyes. Hills peeped, Ore Hill, and
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  Speaker 1: Alps on Alps arose. Much of all this was due
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  Speaker 1: to Miss Stacy's tactful, careful, broad minded guidance. She led
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  Speaker 1: her class to think and explore and discover for themselves,
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  Speaker 1: and encouraged straying from the old beaten paths to a
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  Speaker 1: degree that quite shocked missus Lynde and the school trustees,
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  Speaker 1: who viewed all innovations on established methods rather dubiously. Apart
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  Speaker 1: from her studies, Anne expanded socially for Marilla, mindful of
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  Speaker 1: the Spencervale doctor's dictum no longer vetoed occasional outings. The
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  Speaker 1: debating club flourished and gave several concerts. There were one
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  Speaker 1: or two parties, almost verging on grown up affairs. There
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  Speaker 1: were sleigh drives and skating frolics galore between times. Anne
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  Speaker 1: grew shooting up so rapidly that Marilla was astonished one
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  Speaker 1: day when they were standing side by side to find
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  Speaker 1: the girl was taller than herself. Why, Anne, how you've grown?
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  Speaker 1: She said, almost unbelievingly. A sigh followed on the words.
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  Speaker 1: Marilla felt a queer regret over Anne's inches. The child
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  Speaker 1: she had learned to love had vanished somehow, and here
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  Speaker 1: was this tall, serious eyed girl of fifteen, with the
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  Speaker 1: thoughtful brows and the proudly poised little head in her place.
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  Speaker 1: Marilla loved the girl as much as she had loved
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  Speaker 1: the child, but she was conscious of a queer, sorrowful
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  Speaker 1: sense of loss. And that night, when Anne had gone
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  Speaker 1: to prayer meeting with Diana, Marilla sat alone in the
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  Speaker 1: wintry twilight and indulged in the weakness of a cry. Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: coming in with a lantern, caught her at it and
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  Speaker 1: gazed at her in such consternation. That Marilla had to
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  Speaker 1: laugh through her tears. I was thinking about Anne, she explained.
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  Speaker 1: She's got to be such a big girl, and she'll
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  Speaker 1: probably be away from us next winter. I'll miss her terrible.
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  Speaker 1: She'll be able to come home, often, comforted Matthew, to
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  Speaker 1: whom Anne was as yet and always would be, the
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  Speaker 1: little eager girl he had brought home for Bright River
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  Speaker 1: on that June evening, four years before. The branch railroad
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  Speaker 1: will be built to Carmody. By that time it won't
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  Speaker 1: be the same thing as having her here all the time,
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  Speaker 1: sighed Marilla, gloomily, determined to enjoy the luxury of grief uncomforted.
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  Speaker 1: But there men can't understand these things. There were other
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  Speaker 1: changes in Anne, no less real than the physical change.
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  Speaker 1: For one thing, she became much quieter. Perhaps she thought
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  Speaker 1: all the more and dreamed as much as ever, but
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  Speaker 1: she certainly talked less. Marilla noticed and commented on this. Also,
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  Speaker 1: you don't chatter half as much as you used to, Anne,
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  Speaker 1: nor use half as many big words. What has come
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  Speaker 1: over you? Anne colored and laughed a little as she
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  Speaker 1: dropped her book and looked dreamily out of the window,
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  Speaker 1: where big fat red buds were bursting out on the
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  Speaker 1: creeper in response to the lure of the spring sunshine.
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  Speaker 1: I know I don't want to talk as much, she said,
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  Speaker 1: denting her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger. It's nicer to
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  Speaker 1: think dear pretty thoughts and keep them in one's heart
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  Speaker 1: like treasures. I don't like to have them laughed at
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  Speaker 1: or wondered over. And somehow I don't want to use
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  Speaker 1: big words any more. It's almost a pity, isn't it,
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  Speaker 1: now that I'm really growing big enough to say them
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  Speaker 1: if I did want to. It's fun to be almost
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  Speaker 1: grown up in some ways, but it's not the kind
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  Speaker 1: of fun I expected, Marilla. There's so much to learn
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  Speaker 1: and do and think that there isn't time for big words. Besides,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Stacy says, the short ones are much stronger and better.
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  Speaker 1: She makes us write all our essays as simply as possible.
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  Speaker 1: It was hard at first. I was so used to
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  Speaker 1: crowding in all the fine big words I could think of,
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  Speaker 1: and I thought of any number of them. But I've
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  Speaker 1: got used to it now, and I see it's so
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  Speaker 1: much better. What has become of your story club? I
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  Speaker 1: haven't heard you speak of it for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: The story club isn't in existence any longer. We hadn't
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  Speaker 1: time for it, and anyhow, I think we had got
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  Speaker 1: tired of it. It was silly to be writing about
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  Speaker 1: love and murder and elopements and mysteries. Miss Stacy sometimes
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  Speaker 1: has us write a story for training and composition, but
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  Speaker 1: she won't let us write anything but what might happen
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  Speaker 1: in Avonlea in our own lives, and she criticizes it
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  Speaker 1: very sharply, and makes us criticize our own too. I
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  Speaker 1: never thought my compositions had so many faults until I
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  Speaker 1: began to look for them myself. I felt so ashamed.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to give up altogether, but Miss Stacy said
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  Speaker 1: I could learn to write well if I only trained
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  Speaker 1: myself to be my own severest critic. And so I
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  Speaker 1: am trying to You've only two more months before the entrance,
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  Speaker 1: said Marilla. Do you think you'll be able to get through?
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  Speaker 1: Anne shivered. I don't know. Sometimes I think I'll be
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  Speaker 1: all right, right, and then I get horribly afraid. We've
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  Speaker 1: studied hard, and Miss Stacy has drilled us thoroughly, but
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  Speaker 1: we mayn't get through. For all that, we've each got
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  Speaker 1: a stumbling block. Mine is geometry, of course, and Jane's
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  Speaker 1: is Latin and Ruby, and Charlie's is algebra, and Josie's
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  Speaker 1: is arithmetic. Moody Spurgeon says he feels it is in
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  Speaker 1: his bones that he is going to fail in English history.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Stacy is going to give us examinations in June
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  Speaker 1: just as hard as we'll have at the entrance, and
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  Speaker 1: mark us just as strictly, so I'll have some idea.
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  Speaker 1: I wish it was all over, Marilla. It haunts me
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  Speaker 1: sometimes I wake up in the night and wonder what
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  Speaker 1: I'll do if I don't pass. Why go to school
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  Speaker 1: next year and try again, said Marilla, unconcernedly. Oh, I
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  Speaker 1: don't believe I'd have the heart for it. He would
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  Speaker 1: be such a disgrace to fail, especially if guilt if
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  Speaker 1: the others passed, and I get so nervous in an
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  Speaker 1: examination that I'm likely to make a mess of it.
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  Speaker 1: I wish I had nerves like Jane Andrews. Nothing rattles her.
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  Speaker 1: Anne sighed, and dragging her eyes from the witcheries of
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  Speaker 1: the spring world, the beckoning day of breeze and blue
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  Speaker 1: and the green things upspringing in the garden, buried herself
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  Speaker 1: resolutely in her book. There would be other springs, but
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  Speaker 1: if she did not succeed in passing the entrance, Anne
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  Speaker 1: felt convinced that she would never recover sufficiently to enjoy them.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter thirty one, where the brook and River
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  Speaker 1: meet