37 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. She 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, it's Graduation Day!

Transcript

Anne of the Island by L.

M.

Montgomery Read by Stephanie Poppins Chapter 37 Fully-fledged B.

A.

's "'I wish I were dead or that it was tomorrow night,

' groaned Phil.

"'If you live long enough,

Both wishes will come true,

' said Anne calmly.

"'It's easy for you to be serene.

You're at home in philosophy.

"'I'm not.

When I think of that horrible paper tomorrow,

I quail.

"'If I should fail in it,

What would Jo say?

' "'You won't fail.

How did you get on in Greek today?

' "'I don't know.

Perhaps it was a good paper,

"'and perhaps it was bad enough to make home a turn in his grave.

"'I've studied and mulled over notebooks "'until I'm incapable of forming an opinion of anything.

"'How thankful little Phil will be when all this examinating is over.

' "'Examinating?

I've never heard such a word.

"'Haven't I as good a right to make a word as anyone else?

' "'Words aren't made,

They grow,

' said Anne.

"'Never mind.

I begin faintly to discern clear water ahead "'where no examination breakers loom.

"'Girls,

Can you realise our Redmond life's almost over?

' "'I can't,

' said Anne sorrowfully.

"'It seems just yesterday Pris and I were alone in that crowd of freshmen at Redmond,

"'and now we're in seniors in our final exams.

' "'Potent,

Wise and reverent seniors,

' quoted Phil.

"'Do you suppose we really are any wiser than when we first came?

' "'You don't act as if you were by times,

' said Aunt Jamesina severely.

"'Oh,

Aunt Jimsy,

Haven't we been pretty good girls?

"'Take us by and large,

These three winters you've mothered us.

"'You've been four of the dearest,

Sweetest,

"'goodest girls that ever went together through college,

' "'avurred Aunt Jamesina,

"'who never spoiled a compliment by misplaced economy.

"'But I mistrust you haven't any too much sense yet.

"'It's not to be expected,

Of course.

Experience teaches sense.

"'You can't learn it in a college course.

"'You've been to college four years and I never was,

"'but I know heaps more than you do,

Young ladies.

"'There are lots of things that never go by rule.

"'There's a powerful pile of knowledge you never get at college.

"'Have you learned anything at Redmond "'except dead languages and geometry and such trash?

' "'Oh,

Yes,

I think we have,

Auntie,

' protested Anne.

"'We've learned the truth of what Professor Woodley told us.

"'He said humour is the spiciest condiment in the feast of existence.

"'Laugh at your mistakes,

But learn from them.

"'Joke over your troubles,

But gather strength from them.

"'Make a jest of your difficulties,

But overcome them.

"'That's worth learning,

Isn't it,

Aunt Jimsy?

' "'Yes,

It is,

Dearie.

"'When you've learned to laugh at the things that should be laughed at "'and not at those that shouldn't,

"'you've got wisdom and understanding.

' "'What have you got out of your Redmond course,

Anne?

' murmured Priscilla.

"'I think,

' said Anne slowly,

"'I really have learned to look on each little hindrance as a jest,

"'each one as the foreshadowing of victory.

"'Summing up,

I think that's what Redmond's given me.

' "'I shall have to fall back on another Professor Woodley quotation "'to express what it's done for me,

' said Priscilla.

"'You remember he said in his address,

"'There is so much in the world for us all "'if we only have the eyes to see it,

The heart to love it "'and the hand to gather it to ourselves.

"'So much in men and women,

So much in art and literature,

"'so much everywhere in which to delight "'and which to be thankful for.

"'I think Redmond's taught me that in some measure,

Anne.

' "'Judging from what you all say,

' remarked Aunt Jamesina,

"'the sum and the substance is that you can learn "'if you've got natural gumption enough.

"'In four years at college,

"'what it would take about 20 years of living to teach.

"'That justifies higher education,

In my opinion.

"'It's a matter I was always dubious about before.

"'But what about people who haven't natural gumption,

Aunt Jimsy?

' "'People who haven't natural gumption never learn,

' retorted Aunt Jamesina,

"'neither in college nor in life.

"'If they live to be 100,

"'they really don't know anything more than when they were born.

"'It's their misfortune,

Not their fault,

Poor souls.

"'But those of us who've got some gumption "'should duly thank the Lord for it.

' "'Will you please define what gumption is?

' asked Phil.

"'No,

I won't,

Young woman.

"'Anyone who has gumption knows it,

"'and anyone who hasn't can never know it.

"'So there's no need of defining it.

' "'The busy days flew by,

And examinations were over.

"'Anne took high honours in English.

"'Priscilla took honours in Classics,

And Phil in Mathematics.

"'Stella obtained a good all-round showing.

"'Then came Convocation.

"'This is what I would once have called an epoch in my life,

' said Anne,

"'as she took Roy's violets out of their box and gazed at them thoughtfully.

"'She meant to carry them,

Of course,

"'but her eyes wandered to another box on her table.

"'It was filled with lilies of the valley,

"'as fresh and fragrant as those which bloomed in Green Gable's yard "'when June came to Avonlea.

"'Gilbert Blythe's card lay beside it.

' "'Anne wondered why Gilbert should have sent her flowers for Convocation.

"'She had seen very little of him during the past winter.

"'He had come to Patty's place only one Friday evening since the Christmas holidays,

"'and they rarely met elsewhere.

"'She knew he was studying very hard,

"'aiming at high honours and the Cooper Prize,

"'and he took little part in the social doings of Redmond.

"'Anne's own winter had been quite gay socially.

"'She'd seen a good deal of the gardeners.

"'She and Dorothy were very intimate.

"'College circles expected the announcement of her engagement to Roy any day.

"'Anne expected it herself.

"'Yet just before she left Patty's place for Convocation,

"'she flung Roy's violets aside "'and put Gilbert's lilies of the valley in their place.

"'She could not have told why she did it.

"'Somehow old Avonlea days and dreams and friendships seemed very close to her "'in this attainment of her long-cherished ambitions.

"'She and Gilbert had once pictured out merrily the day "'on which they should be capped-and-gowned graduates in arts.

"'The wonderful day had now come,

"'and Roy's violets had no place in it.

"'Only her old friend's flowers seemed to belong to this fruition "'of old blossoming hopes which he had once shared.

"'For years this day had beckoned an allure to her,

"'but when it came the one single keen abiding memory it left with her "'was not that of the breathless moment "'when the stately President of Redmond gave her cap-and-diploma and hailed her B.

A.

"'It was not of the flash in Gilbert's eyes when he saw her lilies,

"'nor the puzzled,

Pained glance Roy gave as he passed her on the platform.

"'It was not of Eileen Gardner's condescending congratulations "'or Dorothy's ardent,

Impulsive good wishes.

"'It was of one strange,

Unaccountable pang "'that spoiled this long-expected day for her "'and left it in a certain faint but enduring flavour of bitterness.

"'The Arts graduates gave a graduation dance that night.

"'When Anne dressed for it,

She tossed aside the pearl bead she usually wore "'and took from her trunk the small box that had come to Green Gables on Christmas Day.

"'In it was a thread-like gold chain with a tiny pink enamelled heart as a pendant.

"'On the accompanying card was written,

"'With all good wishes from your old chum,

Gilbert.

"'Anne,

Laughing over the memory the enamelled heart conjured up the fateful day "'when Gilbert had called her carrots "'and vainly tried to make his peace with a pink candy heart,

"'had written him a nice little note of thanks.

"'But she'd never worn the trinket.

"'Tonight she fastened it about her white throat with a dreamy smile.

"'She and Phil walked to Redmond together.

"'Anne walked in silence,

Phil chattering of many things.

"'Then suddenly she said,

"'I heard today Gilbert Bly's engagement to Christine Stewart "'was to be announced as soon as Convocation was over.

"'Did you hear anything of it?

' "'No,

' said Anne.

"'I think it's true,

' said Phil lightly.

"'Anne did not speak.

"'In the darkness she felt her face burning.

"'She slipped her hand inside her collar and caught at the gold chain.

"'One energetic twist and it gave way.

"'She thrust the broken trinket into her pocket "'and her hands were trembling now,

Her eyes smarting.

"'But she was the gayest of all the gay revelers that night "'and told Gilbert unregretfully her card was full "'when he came to ask her for a dance.

"'Afterwards she sat with the girls "'before the dying embers at Patty's place.

"'None chatted more blithely than she of the day's events.

"'Moody Spurgeon Macpherson called after you left,

' "'You didn't know about the graduation dance.

"'That boy ought to sleep with a rubber band around his head "'to train his ears not to stick out.

"'I had a beau once who did that and it improved him immensely.

' "'Moody Spurgeon is a very serious young man,

' yawned Priscilla.

"'He's concerned with graver matters than his ears.

"'He's going to be a minister,

You know.

' "'Well,

I suppose the law does regard the ears of a man,

' "'said Aunt Jamesina gravely,

Dropping all further criticism.

"'Aunt Jamesina had a proper respect for the cloth,

"'even in the case of an unfledged parson.

'"

Reviews

Oh Anne… a bit of self torture, but so human! Thank you!✨🙏🏼✨