Summary—Chapter 25: Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves
On a cold December evening, Matthew enters the kitchen
and realizes too late that Anne and her friends are already there
conducting a rehearsal of “The Fairy Queen” in preparation for the
Christmas concert. Shy of all the little girls, he stays silently
in the corner until they leave. While observing the group, Matthew
notices that Anne is dressed differently from her friends. He becomes
convinced that she needs more fashionable clothing and goes into
the town of Carmody to find a bright dress with puffed sleeves.
Shopping is not an easy task for such a shy man, but Matthew summons
his courage and goes to Samuel Lawson’s store, which he thinks will
not have a female clerk at the desk. Much to Matthew’s dismay, he
finds that Samuel Lawson has hired a female clerk, Miss Lucilla
Harris.
Matthew is too scared to ask Miss Harris for fashion
advice, and asks for twenty pounds of brown sugar and a garden rake
before making his escape. Matthew eventually asks Mrs. Rachel for
help, and she picks out a rich brown fabric and uses a fashionable
pattern to make Anne’s dress. Mrs. Rachel has often wondered why
Marilla dresses Anne so plainly and is happy to have a part in updating Anne’s
wardrobe. On Christmas Day, Matthew unveils the dress, complete
with puffed sleeves. Diana comes over with a present from Aunt Josephine
for Anne: delicate slippers. Anne is delighted by her beautiful
new garments.
Anne’s Christmas concert is the first one Matthew and
Marilla have been to in twenty years. Anne, wearing her new dress
and shoes, is the star of the show. Both Cuthberts are swollen with
pride. Matthew immediately tells Anne how proud he is of her, but
Marilla decides not to compliment Anne.
Summary—Chapter 26: The Story Club Is Formed
After the excitement of the Christmas concert, the Avonlea
students return to their normal, humdrum patterns. Anne, now almost
thirteen, vows to improve herself by imitating Mrs. Allan, refraining from
saying uncharitable things and trying to do good.
For school, the students are assigned to write a piece
of fiction and a composition about a walk in the winter. These assignments displease
Marilla because they rely on imagination rather than memorization.
They elate Anne, however, and she completes her original story early.
Diana moans that she does not have enough imagination to do the
assignment. To help Diana cultivate her imagination and to practice
her own writing, Anne proposes that the two girls start a story
club. Two of their friends, Jane Andrews and Ruby Gillis, eventually
join, and the girls spend their time inventing romantic, melodramatic
storylines.
Summary—Chapter 27: Vanity and Vexation of Spirit
One evening in late April, Marilla walks home feeling
uplifted and lighthearted, though she does not realize that the
sights of spring are the cause of her joy. She happily anticipates
the warm fire and tea that Anne should have prepared for her at
home. When she reaches Green Gables, Marilla finds the table bare
and Anne nowhere to be found. She complains to Matthew that Anne
has disobeyed her order to stay at home and prepare the meal. Her
anger turns to concern when suppertime comes and there is still
no sign of Anne. Marilla goes upstairs to get a candle from Anne’s
room and finds her lying facedown on her bed, moaning that she is
too ugly to be seen. It turns out that Anne has dyed her hair with
disastrous results. She bought hair dye from a traveling peddler
who claimed the dye would turn her hair raven black. The dye turned
her hair green, and the only solution is for Marilla to crop it
to an unfashionably short length. At first Anne weeps at the sight
of herself in the mirror, but she then decides to look at her unattractive
reflection to remind herself of the folly of vanity.
