Warning: If you have a visual impairment, use the manuscript transcript version including the Lucy Maud Montgomery’s foot notes and contextual annotation references.

Chapter 1 - (VERSO)

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be said against him. But Emmeline was just determined that Prissy shouldn’t marry. She couldn’t get married herself, and she was sore enough about it.

Of course, if Prissy had had a spark of spirit she wouldn’t have given in. But she hadn’t a mite. I believe she would have cut off her nose if Emmeline had ordered her to do it. She was just her mother over again. If ever a girl belied her name Prissy Strong did. There wasn’t anything strong about her.

One night when prayer meeting came out Stephen stepped up to Prissy [as u]sual and asked if he might [see h]er home. Thomas and I were [just] behind — we weren’t married [our]selves then — we heard it


TEXT ANNOTATION


An inexplicable string of numbers appears in the upper left-hand corner of many of the verso pages of the manuscript. They appear to be in Montgomery’s hand, but they do not seem to correspond with the page numbers of the manuscript itself.

PHOTO ANNOTATION


yellowed page, with central pencil illustration, and three columns of text

This first verso page contains paragraphs of the short story "The Courting of Prissy Strong," which was first published in Housewife magazine in July of 1909, reprinted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Times in 1912, and then included in Montgomery's short story collection Chronicles of Avonlea (1912).
KindredSpaces, LMMI, Robertson Library

TEXT ANNOTATION

Approximately two-thirds of the manuscript is written on paper that was previously used by Montgomery. On these reused pages, the novel text is written on the "recto" (front) side of the sheets and the old text appears on the "verso" (back) of each sheet. She crossed out the text on most of these verso pages, but it is still possible to read and identify what was written. This first chapter includes material from three different stories on its verso (reverse) pages. Learn more about the verso pages.