LM Montgomery & posting

[jmc_bks]

I found several of LM Montgomery's Anne books at Project Gutenberg, my new favorite ebook site. Although I have hard copies of all but 2 of Montgomery's books, I still downloaded the ebook versions.

Anyhow, I read Rilla of Ingleside yesterday. Parts of that book make me bawl like a baby; it is the only book that I can think of that does that to me, yet I reread it willingly. And other parts make me laugh out loud. Yes, I got some strange looks on the train yesterday.


I'm not a dog person -- don't get me wrong, I like them, but I have no desire to have one of my own -- but this passage kills me everytime I read it. It's mushy and sentimental of me, but I can't help it. Set up: at the start of WW1, when Jem Blythe went to war, his dog accompanied him to the train station and refused to come home without him.

"Thousands of trains had Dog Monday met and never had the boy he waited and watched for returned. Yet still Dog Monday watched on with eyes that never quite lost hope. Perhaps his dog-heart failed him at times; he was growing old and rheumatic; when he walked back to his kennel after each train had gone his gait was very sober now -- he never trotted but went slowly with a drooping head and a depressed tail that had quite lost its old saucy uplift.

One passenger stepped off the train -- a tall fellow in a faded lieutenant's uniform, who walked with a barely perceptible limp. He had a bronzed face and there were some grey hairs in the ruddy curls that clustered around his forehead. The new station agent looked at him anxiously. He was used to seeing the khaki-clad figures come off the train, some met by a tumultuous crowd, others, who had sent no word of their coming, stepping off quietly like this one. But there was a certain distinction of bearing and features in this soldier that caught his attention and made him wonder a little more interestedly who he was.

A black-and-yellow streak shot past the station agent. Dog Monday stiff? Dog Monday rheumatic? Dog Monday old? Never believe it. Dog Monday was a young pup, gone clean mad with rejuvenating joy.

He flung himself against the tall soldier, with a bark that choked in his throat from sheer rapture. He flung himself on the ground and writhed in a frenzy of welcome. He tried to climb the soldier's khaki legs and slipped down and groveled in an ecstasy that seemed as if it must tear his little body in pieces. He licked his boots and when the lieutenant had, with laughter on his lips and tears in his eyes, succeeded in gathering the little creature up in his arms, Dog Monday laid his head on the khaki shoulder and licked the sunburned neck, making queer sounds between barks and sobs.

The station agent had heard the story of Dog Monday. He knew now who the returned soldier was. Dog Monday's long vigil was ended. Jem Blythe had come home."

On posting: I've got to be more careful about posting. Maybe write in Word rather than directly into the LJ text box. 'Cause I keep posting, then finding grammar and spelling errors, which irritates. Even though I've spell-checked, I'm sure I'm going to find typos in the passage above after I click to post.

On TV: anybody watch The Closer last night? Opinion? What'd you think of the giving up sugar diet/life style modification?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Love the Anne stories. They were some of the first books I remember reading as a girl. I also thought the PBS TV adaption was wonderful.

As for the Closer. It's Tivo'ed. I love that show. Love Kyra. Love Fritz.

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

You just happened to pick the passage that makes me bawl like a baby too! Maybe I'll take Rilla with me to Paris.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, that passage & the part about the poem... tears every time.

[That's something I associate with older books - for all the charms of Harry Potter, I don't think I've ever wept over Rowling's deaths the way I do when someone like Montgomery or Alcott writes them. Was it Dan who Alcott slew down a mine?]

Marianne McA

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I don't recognize the name Dan, I'm afraid. I have to admit to only having read Alcott's Little Women, A Rose in Bloom and A Long Fatal Love Chase. In A Rose in Bloom, she kills off Charlie, a recovering alcoholic who is in an accident after relapsing, so killing off someone in a mine seems entirely possible.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I need to reread Rilla. It's been years, and I can barely remember what happens.

On crying like a little baby--have you ever read Mistress Pat? That one gets me every time.

-jennie

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

I have read Mistress Pat, although not in a long time. I'll have to pull it off the shelf.

I feel a Montgomery reading marathon coming on :)

[hairylemony.livejournal.com]

Ya see, now I have to go and find all my copies of the Anne books and have an Anne Shirley fest! Love, love love Anne of Green Gables! I recall the exact bit you're talking about too!

Karen Scott