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

11

“Oh no, I’m quite well although I had a bad headache yesterday,” she said. “Matthew went to Bright River. We’re getting a little boy from an orphan asylum (begin superscript)in Nova Scotia,(end superscript) and he’s coming on the train tonight.”

If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia Mrs. Rachel could not have been more astonished. (begin superscript)Note P.(end superscript) It was unsupposable that Marilla was making fun of her but Mrs. Rachel was almost forced to suppose it.

“Are you in earnest, Marilla?” she demanded when voice returned to her.

“Yes, of course,” said Marilla. (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)Note Q(end superscript)

Mrs. Rachel felt that she had received a severe mental jolt. She thought in exclamation points.

 

LMM Notes

LMM Note P:
She was actually stricken dumb for five seconds.

LMM Note Q:
, as if getting boys from orphan asylums in Nova Scotia were part of the usual spring work on any well-regulated Avonlea farm instead of being an unheard-of innovation.


TEXT ANNOTATION

"Bright River": In a long entry in her journal on January 27, 1911, Montgomery points out many of the parallels between the places and incidents of Anne's story and her own. In this entry, she notes that Bright River is based on Hunter River, a small community just 15 km south of Cavendish (The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol. II, p. 350). Bright River est basé sur Hunter River, une petite communauté située à 15 km au sud de Cavendish.

TEXT ANNOTATION

"train tonight": So many miles of railroad had been built in PEI that in 1873 the province had to join Confederation to pay its debts.