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

120

kitchen. Now, sit down in the corner and learn that prayer off by heart.”

Anne set the card up against the jugful of apple blossoms she had brought in to decorate the driner dinner table — Marilla had eyed that decoration askance but had said nothing — propped her chin in her hands and fell to studying it intently for several minutes.

“I like this,” she announced at length. “I’ve It’s beautiful. I’ve heard it before—I heard the Superintendent of the asylum Sunday School say it over once. But I didn’t like it then. He had such a cracked voice and he prayed so mournfully. I really felt sure he thought praying was a disagreeable duty. This isn’t


TEXT ANNOTATION

"learn that prayer off by heart": "Prayer cards," like the one Marilla has given to Anne, are designed just for this purpose. They were mass produced and meant to be studied, memorized, and even recited. They often included a prayer or other biblical message, sometimes with an ornate illustration.