Delilah’s Reviews > Anne of Avonlea > Status Update

craziest part of reading this as an adult is realizing lavender lewis the elderly spinster snowy-haired old maid is FORTY-FIVE

“Anne and Diana had long ago decided what kind of a man they admired and their tastes seemed exactly similar. He must be very tall and distinguished looking, with melancholy, inscrutable eyes, and a melting, sympathetic voice. There was nothing either melancholy or inscrutable in Gilbert’s physiognomy, but of course that didn’t matter in friendship!”

“Anne Shirley, you’re only pretending to be grown up. I believe when you’re alone you’re as much a little girl as you once were.”

“For a moment Anne's heart fluttered queerly and for the first time her eyes faltered under Gilbert's gaze and a rosy flush stained the paleness of her face. Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one's life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one's side like an old friend through quiet ways.”

“Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase, 'home o'dreams,' than it captivated her fancy and she immediately began the erection of one of her own. It was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master, dark, proud, and melancholy; but oddly enough, Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too.”

"The following afternoon they set out, going by way of Lover's Lane to the back of the Cuthbert farm, where they found a road leading into the heart of acres of glimmering beech and maple woods, which were all in a wondrous glow of flame and gold, lying in a great purple stillness and peace.
'It's as if the year were kneeling to pray in a vast cathedral full of mellow stained light, isn't it?' said Anne dreamily."

"The next day Mirabel Cotton was kept in at recess and 'gently but firmly' given to understand that when you were so unfortunate as to possess an uncle who persisted in walking about houses after he had been decently interred it was not in good taste to talk about that eccentric gentleman to your deskmate of tender years. Mirabel thought this very harsh."

"'It's so easy to be happy on a day like this, isn't it?' Anne was saying, with true Anneish philosophy. 'Let's try to make this a really golden day, girls, a day to which we can always look back with delight.'"

"'Anne Shirley, you're only pretending to be grown up. I believe when you're alone you're as much a little girl as you ever were.'
'Well, one can't get over the habit of being a little girl all at once,' said Anne gaily. 'You see, I was little for fourteen years and I've only been grown-uppish for scarcely three. I'm sure I shall always feel like a child in the woods.'”

"Anne was one of the children of light by birthright. After she had passed through a life with a smile or a word thrown across it like a gleam of sunshine the owner of that life saw it, for the time being at least, as hopeful and lovely and of good report."