If You Can't Be Cheerful, Be As

Here Sat Marilla Cuthbert, When She Sat At All, Slightly Distrustful Of Sunshine, Which Seemed To Her Too Dancing And Irresponsible A Thing For A World Which Was Meant To Be Taken Seriously.

[she] Had A Great Reputation For Unselfishness Because She Was Always Giving Up A Lot Of Things She Didn't Want.

But Pearls Are For Tears, The Old Legend Says," Gilbert Had Objected. "i'm Not Afraid Of That. And Tears Can Be Happy As Well As Sad. My Very Happiest Moments Have Been When I Had Tears In My Eyes—when Marilla Told Me I Might Stay At Green Gables—when Matthew Gave Me The First Pretty Dress I Ever Had—when I Heard That You Were Going To Recover From The Fever. So Give Me Pearls For Our Troth Ring, Gilbert, And I'll Willingly Accept The Sorrow Of Life With Its Joy." -anne

In Imagination She Sailed Over Storied Seas That Wash The Distant Shining Shores Of "faëry Lands Forlorn," Where Lost Atlantis And Elysium Lie, With The Evening Star For Pilot, To The Land Of Heart's Desire. And She Was Richer In Those Dreams Than In Realities; For Things Seen Pass Away, But The Things That Are Unseen Are Eternal.

Gilbert Darling, Don't Let's Ever Be Afraid Of Things. It's Such Dreadful Slavery. Let's Be Daring And Adventurous And Expectant. Let's Dance To Meet Life And All It Can Bring To Us, Even If It Brings Scads Of Trouble And Typhoid And Twins!" (anne To Gilbert)