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 37 - (VERSO)

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brought from the office that morning. It contained an account of the failure of the Abbey Bank.

The news spread quickly through Avonlea and all day friends and neighbors thronged Green Gables and came and went on errands of kindness for the dead and living. For the first time shy quiet Matthew Cuthbert was a person of central importance; the white majesty of death had fallen on him and set him apart, as one crowned.

When the calm night came softly down over Green Gables the old house was hushed and tranquil. In the parlor lay Matthew Cuthbert in his coffin, his long gray hair framing his placid face on which there was a little


AUDIO ANNOTATION

REFERENCE
 "In the parlor lay Matthew Cuthbert": It was customary at the time to lay the body in the parlor or sitting room for "viewing" prior to the funeral and burial. Montgomery lay in state like this at Green Gables house after her death. In this clip from The Bend in the Road CD-ROM, Jennie Macneill tells of attending Montgomery's funeral in 1942.

The men all went to help dig the grave and I remember my mother and all the other women in the community going to the church and cleaning and scrubbing for this big state funeral. Um. And in fact, I believe they put down new carpet over in the pulpit area just for this funeral. And, um, you know there were dignitaries there: the head of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and representatives from the United Church and the Presbytery, and the, I believe the Lieutenant Governor and Premier of the province so it was quite a thing in 1942. I got a seat like right at the very far end by the wall. We were quite squashed in because there were a lot of people who didn’t get in at all. They had to stand outside. And I remember in those times, the coffin at the front of the church, they kept the lid up all through the service.