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 8

114

grateful. Why, child, whatever is the matter”?

“I’m crying,” said Anne (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)in a tone of bewilderment.(end superscript) “I can’t think why. I’m glad as glad can be. And I’m so Oh, glad doesn’t seem the right way at all. I was glad about the White Way (begin subscript)^(end subscript)(begin superscript)and the cherry blossoms(end superscript) but this! Oh, it’s something more than glad. I’m so happy. I’ll try to be so good. It will be uphill work, I expect, for Mrs Thomas often told me I was desperately wicked. However, I’ll do my very best. But can you tell me why I’m crying?”

“I suppose it’s because you’re all excited and worked up,” said Marilla disapprovingly. “Sit down on that chair and try to calm yourself. I’m afraid you both cry and laugh far too easily Yes, you can stay here


TEXT ANNOTATION

"but this!": While Montgomery often crosses her lowercase "t" a space or two after the letter, in this phrase you can see how quickly Montgomery was writing. Each "t" looks a bit different.

TEXT ANNOTATION

"cry and laugh far too easily": Again, Marilla reinforces the prevailing ideas about children and about displays of strong feeling. Marilla sees Anne as a “high strung” and “sensitive,” when, perhaps to modern readers, she is simply emotive. Montgomery, too, had a capacity (and a gift) for intense emotion, which is reflected in her work. For Anne, the capacity for intensity is clearly a boon and blessing, and Marilla represents the repressive voice of “reason.”