NOVELL
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.'t
Wn can pay the author of Anew of ,Green Gables no higher compliment than to say that she has given us a perfect Canadian companion picture to Rebecca of Bustaybroals Farm. There is no question of imitation or borrowing : it is merely that the scheme is similar and the spirit akin. To all novel- readers weary of problems, the duel of sex, broken Command- ments, and gratuitous suicides, Miss Montgomery provides an alternative entertainment, all the more welcome because what we get in place of those hackneyed features is at once whole- some and attractive. As for Prince Edward Island, in which the scene is laid, no better advertisement of the charm of its landscape could be devised than the admirable descriptions of lie sylvan glories whioh lend decorative relief to the narrative. Mies Montgomery has not merely succeeded in winning our sympathies for her (bramatis personae ; she makes us fall in love with their surroundings, and long to visit the Lake of Shining Waters, the White Way of Delight, Idlewild, and other favourite resorts of "the Anne-glrl."
The meolianisin of the plot is einiple enough. An elderly farmer itnd his unmarried sister decide to adopt an orphan * Peace and Happiness. By the Bt. Hon. Lord Avebury. London, Macmillan and Co. [ON.] 1- Anno of Groan Gatos. By L. M. Montgomery, London Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. [es.] boy and bring him up to assist them on the farm ; but owing to a blunder on the part of an intermediary, a glil, and not a boy, is sent from the asylum in Nova Scotia. Anne Shirley, an " outspoken morsel of neglected humanity," with a riotous imagination, a genius for " pretending," a passionate love of beauty, and a boundless flow of words, bursts like a bombshell on the inarticulate farmer and his dour, honest, undemonstrative sister. But the law of extremes prevails. Matthew succumbs on the spot, and after a short space Anne casts her spell over Manilla as well, for in three weeks that excellent dragon admitted to her brother that it seemed as if Anne had been always with them :— " I can't imagine the place without her. Now, don't be looking I-told-you-so, Matthew. That's bad enough in a woman, but it isn't to be endured in a man. I'm perfectly willing to own up that I'm glad I consented to keep the child, and that I'm getting fond of her, but don't you rub it in, Matthew Cuthbert."
The process of Anne's education both at home and at sehool is chequered and dramatic, and the way in which this little lump of human quicksilver and her grim but just mistress aot and react on each other is brought out by scores of happy touches and diverting incidents. Anne is a . creature of irresistible loquacity when we first meet her, and meeting with kindness and consideration for the first time after years of poverty and neglect, she expands in a way that is at once ludicrous and touching. Perhaps her literary instinct is a little overdone, but otherwise Miss Montgomery shows rip disposition to idealise her child heroine, and one can readily forgive exaggeration when it leads to such pleasing conceits as the child's suggestion that amethysts were the souls of good violets, or her precocious appreciation of the "tragical" sound of the lines:— " Quick as the slaughtered squadrons fell
In Midian's evil day."
The book lends itself to quotation at every turn, but we must content ourselves with the passage describing Marilla's effort to teach Anne to say her prayers, after her protegee had con- fessed that she never said any at all "Don't you know it's a terrible wicked thing not to say your prayers every night P l'in afraid you are a very bad little girl!— ' You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair,' said Anne reproachfully. 'People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is. Mrs. Thomas told me that God made my hair red on purpose, and I've never cared about Him since. And anyhow I'd always be too tired at night to bother saying prayers. People who have to look after twins can't be expected to say their prayers. Now, do you honestly think they can ? ' Manilla decided that Anne's religious training must be begun at once. Plaiuly there was no time to be lost. 'You must say your prayers while you are under my roof, Anne.'—' Why, of course, if you want me to,' assented Anne cheerfully. I'd do anything to oblige you. But you'll have to tell me what to say for this once. After I get into bed I'll imagine out a real nice prayer to say always. I believe that it will be quite interesting, now that I come to think of ' You must kneel down,' said Marina in embarrassment. Anne knelt at Manilla's knee and looked up gravely. Why must people kneel down to pray ? If I really wanted to pray I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep woods, and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up- into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer. Well, I'm ready. What am I to say P' Manilla felt more embarrassed than ever. She had intended to teach Anne the childish classic, ' Now I lay me down to sleep.' But she had, as I have told you, the glimmerings of a sense of humour—which is simply another name for a sense of the fitness of things.; and it suddenly occurred to her that that simple little prayer, sacred to white-robed childhood lisping at motherly knees, was entirely unsuited to this freckled witch of a girl who knew and eared nothing about God's love, since she had never had it translated to her through the medium of human love. You're old enough to pray for yourself, Anne,' she said finally. Just thank God for your blessings and ask him humbly for the things you want,'—' Well, I'll do my best,' promised Anne, burying her face in Manilla's lap. 'Gracious heavenly Father—that's the way the ministers say it in church, so I suppose it's all right in a private prayer, isn't it P she interjected lifting her head for a moment, Gracious heavenly Father, I thank Thee for the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters and Bonny and the Snow Queen. I'm really extremely grateful for them. And that's all the blessings I can think of just now to thank Thee for. As for the things I want, they're so numerous that it would take a great deal of time to name them all, so I will only mention the two most important, Please let me stay at Green Gables ; and please let me be good-looking when I grow up. I remain yours respectfully, ANNE SAIRLEY.—There, did I do it all rightl,' she asked eagerly, getting up 'I could have made it much more flowery if I'd had a little more time to think it over.' Poor Marina was only preserved from complete collapse by remembering that it was not irreverence, but simply spiritual
Ignorance on the part of Anne that was responsible for this extra- ordinary petition. She tucked the ohild up in bed, mentally vowing that he should be taught a prayer the very next day, land was leaving the room with the light when Anne called her back. 'I've just thought of it now. I should have said " Amen " in place of "yours respectfully," shouldn't I P—the way the ministers do. I'd forgotten it, but I felt a prayer should be finished off in some way, so I put in the other. Do you suppose It will make any difference don't suppose it will,' said Manilla. `Go to sleep now like a good child. Good night.'—' I can say good night to-night with a clear conscience,' said Anne, cuddling luxuriously down among her pillows."
Mies Montgomery has given us a most enjoyable and delight- ful book, which, when allowance is made for altered conditions, is in direct lineal descent from the works of Miss Alcott. It needed considerable restraint on her part to leave off where she did without developing the romantic interest hinted at in the last chapter, but the result is so exoellent that we trust she will refrain from running the greater risk of writing a sequel. Having sown her wild oats, "the Anne-girl" could never be so attractive as the little witch, half imp, half angel, Whose mental and spiritual growth is vividly set forth in these genial pages.
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