13 Anne Of The Island - Read By Stephanie Poppins

New adventures lie ahead as Anne Shirley packs her bags, waves goodbye to childhood, and heads for Redmond College. With her old friend Prissy Grant waiting in the bustling city of Kingsport and her frivolous new friend Philippa Gordon at her side, Anne tucks her memories of rural Avonlea away and discovers life on her terms, filled with surprises.

Handsome Gilbert Blythe is waiting in the wings, too. And Anne must decide whether or not she's ready for love.

In this episode, Davy gets into mischief.

Transcript

Anne of the Island by L.

M.

Montgomery Read by Stephanie Poppins Chapter Thirteen The Way of Transgressors One day,

Anne taught to the post office a long bulky envelope addressed,

With a delightful confidence of youth and inexperience,

To the very biggest of the big magazines.

Diana was as excited over it as Anne herself.

How long do you suppose will be before you hear from it?

She asked.

It shouldn't be longer than a fortnight,

Said Anne.

Oh,

How happy and proud I shall be if it's accepted.

Of course it will be accepted,

Anne,

And they'll likely ask you to send them more.

You may be as famous as Mrs.

Morgan someday,

And then how proud I'll be of knowing you.

Diana possessed at least the striking merit of an unselfish admiration of the gifts and graces of her friends.

A week of delightful dreaming followed,

And then came the bitter awakening.

One evening,

Diana found Anne in the porch gable with suspicious-looking eyes.

On the table lay a long envelope and a crumpled manuscript.

Anne,

Your story hasn't come back,

Cried Diana incredulously.

Yes,

It has,

Said Anne shortly.

Well,

That editor must be crazy.

What reason did he give?

No reason at all.

There was just a printed slip saying it wasn't found acceptable.

I never thought that much of that magazine anyway,

Said Diana hotly.

The stories in it are not half as interesting as those in The Canadian Woman,

Although it costs so much more.

I suppose the editor's prejudiced against anyone who isn't a Yankee.

Don't be discouraged,

Anne.

Remember how Mrs.

Morgan's stories came back?

Send yours to The Canadian Woman.

I believe I will,

Said Anne,

Plucking up heart.

And if it's published,

I'll send that American editor a marked copy,

But I'll cut the sunset out.

I believe Mr.

Harrison was right.

Out came the sunset.

But in spite of this heroic mutilation,

The editor of The Canadian Woman sent Avril's atonement back so promptly that the indignant Diana declared it couldn't have been read at all and bowed she was going to stop her subscription immediately.

Anne took this second rejection with a calmness of despair.

She locked the story away in the garret's trunk where the old Story Club tales were posed,

But first she yielded to Diana's entreaties and gave her a copy.

This is the end of my literary ambition,

She said bitterly.

She never mentioned the matter to Mr.

Harrison,

But one evening he asked her bluntly if her story had been accepted.

No,

The editor wouldn't take it,

She answered briefly.

Mr.

Harrison looked sideways at the flushed,

Delicate profile.

Well,

I suppose you keep on writing them,

He said encouragingly.

No,

I shall never try to write a story again,

Declared Anne with a hopeless finality of nineteen when a door is shut in its face.

I wouldn't give up altogether,

Said Mr.

Harrison reflectively.

I'd write a story once in a while,

But I wouldn't pester editors with it.

I'd write of people and places like I knew,

And I'd make my characters talk everyday English,

And I'd let the sun rise and set in the usual quiet way without much fuss over the fact.

If I had to have villains at all,

I'd give them a chance,

Anne,

I'd give them a chance.

There were some terrible bad men in the world,

I suppose,

But you'd have to go a long piece to find them,

Though Mrs.

Lynde believes we're all bad.

But most of us have got a little decency somewhere in us.

Keep on writing,

Anne.

No,

It was very foolish of me to attempt it.

When I'm through Redmond,

I'll stick to teaching.

I can teach,

I can't write stories.

It'll be time for you to be getting a husband when you're through Redmond,

Said Mr.

Harrison.

I don't believe in putting marrying off too long,

Like I did.

Anne then got up and marched home.

There were times when Mr.

Harrison was really intolerable.

Pitching,

Mooning,

And getting a husband.

Ow!

Davy and Dora were ready for Sunday school.

They were going alone,

Which did not happen often,

For Mrs.

Lynde always attended Sunday school.

But Mrs.

Lynde had twisted her ankle and was lame,

So she was staying home this morning.

The twins were also to represent the family at church,

For Anne had gone away the evening before to spend Sunday with friends in Carmody,

And Marilla had one of her headaches.

Davy came downstairs slowly.

Dora was waiting in the hall for him,

Having been made ready by Mrs.

Lynde.

Davy had attended to his own preparations.

He had a cent in his pocket for the Sunday school collection,

And a five cent piece for the church collection.

He carried his Bible in one hand and his Sunday school quarterly in the other.

He knew his lesson and his golden text,

And his catechism questioned perfectly.

Had he not studied them,

Perforce,

In Mrs.

Lynde's kitchen all last Sunday afternoon,

Davy therefore should have been in a placid frame of mind.

As a matter of fact,

Despite text and catechism,

He was inwardly as a ravening wolf.

Mrs.

Lynde limped out of her kitchen as he joined Dora.

Are you clean?

She demanded severely.

Yes,

All of me that shows,

Davy answered with a defiant scowl.

Mrs.

Rachel sighed.

She had her suspicions about Davy's neck and ears,

But she knew if she attempted to make a personal examination,

Davy would likely take to his heels,

And she could not pursue him today.

Well,

Be sure to behave yourselves,

She warned them.

Don't walk in the dusk,

Don't stop in the porch to talk to the other children,

Don't squirm or wriggle in your places,

Don't forget the golden text,

Don't lose your collection or forget to put it in,

Don't whisper at prayer time and don't forget to pay attention to the sermon.

Davy deigned no response.

He marched away down the lane,

Followed by the meek Dora,

But his soul seethed within.

Davy had suffered,

Or thought he had suffered,

Many things at the hands and tongue of Mrs.

Rachel Lynde since she has come to Green Gables,

For Mrs.

Rachel Lynde could not live with anybody,

Whether they were nine or ninety,

Without trying to bring them up properly.

And it was only the preceding afternoon that she had interfered to influence Marilla against allowing Davy to go fishing with Timothy Cottons.

Davy was still boiling over this.

As soon as he was out of the lane,

He stopped and twisted his countenance into such an unearthly and terrific contortion that Dora,

Although she knew his gifts in that respect,

Was honestly alarmed lest he should never in the world be able to get it straightened out again.

"'Darn her!

' exploded Davy.

"'Oh,

Davy,

Don't swear!

' gasped Dora in dismay.

"'Darn isn't swearing,

Not real swearing,

And I don't care if it is,

' retorted Davy recklessly.

"'Well,

If you must say dreadful words,

Don't say them on Sunday,

' pleaded Dora.

" Davy was as yet far from repentance,

But in his secret soul he felt that perhaps he had gone a little too far.

"'I'm going to invent a swear word of my own,

' he declared.

"'God will punish you if you do,

' said Dora solemnly.

"'Then I think God's a mean old scamp,

' retorted Davy.

"'Doesn't he know a fellow must have some way of expressing his feelings?

' "'Davy!

' said Dora.

She expected that Davy would be struck down dead on the spot,

But nothing happened.

"'Anyway,

I ain't going to stand any more of Mrs Lynn's bossing,

' spluttered Davy.

"'Anna Marilla may have the right to boss me,

But she hasn't.

"'I'm going to do every single thing she told me not to,

You watch.

'" In grim deliberate silence,

While Dora watched him with a fascination of horror,

Davy stepped off the green grass of the roadside,

Ankled deep into the fine dust which four weeks of rainless weather had made on the road,

And marched along in it,

Shuffling his feet viciously until he was enveloped in a hazy cloud.

"'That's the beginning,

' he announced triumphantly.

"'And I'm going to stop in the porch and talk as long as there's anybody there to talk to.

"'I'm going to swerm and wriggle and whisper and I'm going to say I don't know the golden text "'and I'm going to throw away both of my collections right now.

'" Davy hurled scent and nickel over Mr Barry's fence with fierce delight.

"'Satan made you do that?

' said Dora reproachfully.

"'He didn't,

' cried Davy indignantly.

"'I just thought it out for myself and I've thought of something else too.

"'I'm not going to Sunday school or church at all.

I'm going up to play with the cottons.

"'They told me yesterday they weren't going to Sunday school today because their mother was away "'and there was nobody to make them.

Come along Dora,

We'll have a great time.

'" "'I don't want to go,

' protested Dora.

"'You've got to,

' said Davy.

"'If you don't come,

I'll tell Marilla Frank Bell kissed you in school last Monday.

'" "'I couldn't help it.

I didn't know he was going to,

' cried Dora,

Blushing scarlet.

"'Well,

You didn't slap him or seem a bit cross,

' retorted Davy.

"'I'll tell her that too if you don't come.

We'll take the shortcut up this field.

'" "'I'm afraid of those cows,

' protested bore Dora,

Seeing a prospect of escape.

"'The very idea of you being scared of those cows,

' scoffed Davy.

"'Why,

They're both younger than you.

'" "'They're bigger,

' said Dora.

"'They won't hurt.

Come along now,

This is great.

"'When I grow up,

I ain't get to bother so much going to church at all.

"'I believe I can get to heaven by myself.

'" "'You'll go to the other place if you break the Sabbath day,

' said unhappy Dora,

Following him sorely against her will.

But Davy was not scared yet.

Hell was very far off,

And the delights of a fishing expedition with the Cottons were very near.

He wished Dora had more spunk.

She kept looking back as if she were going to cry every minute,

And that spoiled a fellow's fun.

Hang girls,

Anyway.

Davy did not say darn this time,

Not even in thought.

He was not sorry,

Yet that he had said it once,

But it might be as well not to tempt the unknown powers too far on one day.

The small Cottons were playing in their backyard.

They hailed Davy's appearance with whoops of delight.

Pete,

Tommy,

Adolphus and Mirabelle Cotton were all alone.

Their mother and older sisters were away.

Dora was thankful Mirabelle was there at least.

She'd been afraid she would be alone in a crowd of boys.

Mirabelle was almost as bad as the boy.

She was so noisy and sunburned and reckless.

But at least she wore dresses.

We've come to go fishing,

Announced Davy.

Whoa,

Yelled the Cottons.

They rushed away to dig worms at once,

Mirabelle leading the van with a tin can.

Dora could have sat down and cried.

Oh,

If only that hateful Frank Bell had never kissed her.

Then she could have defied Davy and gone to her beloved Sunday school.

Reviews

Oh Davy makes me laugh so 😊

I’m with Davey , let’s go fishing!😂 thank you, dear!❤️🙏🏼