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 7

110

from complete collapse by remembering that it was simply not irreverence but simply spiritual ignorance on the part of Anne that was responsible for this extraordinary petition. She tucked the child up in bed, mentally vowing that she should be taught a prayer the very next day, and was leaving the room with the light when Anne called her back.

“I’ve just thought of it now. I should have said ‘Amen’ in place of ‘Yours respectfully,’ shouldn’t I?­—I’d forgotten the way the ministers do. I’d forgotten it but I felt a prayer should be finished off in some way, so I put in the other. Do you suppose it will make any difference?


TEXT ANNOTATION

"I just thought of it now.": Here is the "Amen" that was removed from the end of Anne's prayer. This change adds humour to the scene and reiterates Anne's "spiritual ignorance." It is easy to imagine Marilla's dismay at Anne's performance and at this question, adding immensely to the humour of the scene. This moment and the question are reproduced almost exactly in Anne of Green Gables–The Musical(begin superscript)TM(end superscript), always winning laughter from the audience.