Thread by @lainasparetime

Okay, I have had a pretty productive morning... oh, it's 3pm. I have had a pretty productive DAY for sleeping like crap last night, so let's tackle Chapter 24 of Avonlea for #LainaReadsAnne. It's a good one today!

#LainaReadsAnne Apparently there have been some "Avonlea Notes" published in the Charlottetown Daily Enterprise, signed only by an individual calling themself "Observer".

Most people in Avonlea figure they're being written by Charlie Sloane.

#LainaReadsAnne They think this especially because one note kinda insults Gilbert and the youth of Avonlea is convinced Charlie Sloane and Gilbert are romantic rivals for Anne's heart.

#LainaReadsAnne This is wrong on both counts - not only is the love triangle totally not a thing, but GILBERT is the one writing them, with Anne's help.

There are two notes the book tells us are important - the first is about rumours there'll be a wedding this spring.

#LainaReadsAnne The gossip is about Isabella Andrews and Mr Harrison. Anne doesn't really believe they're courting, but Mrs Rachel says Isabella is so happy she must be getting married.

I guess that's... the only thing that can truly make a woman happy.

#LainaReadsAnne And then I found a mistake!

It says that Anne says Mr Harrison only goes there to play checkers with "Mr. Harrison Andrews". That was weird to me. Montgomery does repeat names a lot, but Mr J. A. Harrison being friends with Mr. Harrison Andrews? That's a lot.

#LainaReadsAnne So I went back to when this character was mentioned at other points and sure enough, his name is Mr HARMON Andrews.

I find it kind of amazing no one ever corrected this mistake!

#LainaReadsAnne Anyways, the second note is the one we'll be talking about today. It's about Uncle Abe Andrews, remember him? The one who predicts the weather and then people plan for the opposite, because he's always wrong?

#LainaReadsAnne The notes claim he has predicted a violent storm for May 23rd, starting seven pm sharp. Uncle Abe angrily denies making this claim, but no one believes him or believes the storm will happen.

#LainaReadsAnne Side note, Anne talks about Thanksgiving in this chapter. She says it should be celebrated in the spring instead of in November because it's easier to be thankful in spring.

*whispers* Maybe that's the point, Anne. I'm surprised the book missed that!

#LainaReadsAnne Like beyond that I LOVE autumn and I find it personally very easy to be grateful for stuff when it's all golden and red and beautiful, you could so easily spin that into a lesson about how when being thankful for stuff in life is harder, you should do it more.

#LainaReadsAnne Something something God and you can even spin it into a religious thing. Not my thing, but it's right there XD

#LainaReadsAnne BUT. I'm more interested in that for the timeline. You may know Thanksgiving is celebrated in October in Canada - but it hasn't always been. Let's talk about that for a minute, because it's a bit interesting.

#LainaReadsAnne Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday in Canada, held on November 6th, in 1879. It wasn't officially changed to October until 1957 after the wars, because of Remembrance Day.

#LainaReadsAnne But it did happen only in in October by the 30s, though - in the 20s it was combined with "Armistice Day", the precursor to Remembrance Day.

So it can be no earlier than 1879 right now. (I have other evidence supporting my timeline, but this is an addition.)

#LainaReadsAnne Back to the story.

This spring, Marilla gave both the wins a small patch of dirt to turn into a garden, which I think is a great idea! Kids really like plants and growing things. I gave my friend's kid a tomato plant one year and she loved it.

#LainaReadsAnne Dora's is thriving, but Davy has been loving his to death.

Marilla suggests he should spend less time pulling them "up by the roots every other day to see how they're getting on 'at the other end'".

But honestly he's having a good time so. Who cares.

#LainaReadsAnne The 23rd of May comes and is "an unseasonably warm day". There's distant thunder at three-thirty and Anne sends the kids home at once.

#LainaReadsAnne As she watches them go, she sees a huge cloud, "dead black, save where its curled and fringes edges showed a ghastly, livid white".

Love that description!

#LainaReadsAnne Mr Harmon Andrews (see, it's not Harrison) pulls up with "his truck wagon" and takes all the students going his way, telling any who have more than a quarter mile to go to stay in the post office.

#LainaReadsAnne The post office was probably built a lot sturdier than the school, just judging by my own experience with old buildings.

Anne grabs the twins and rushes them home, reaching Green Gables just as "the light seemed to vanish, as if blown out by some mighty breath".

#LainaReadsAnne Then "the awful cloud rolled over the sun and a darkness as of late twilight fell across the world. At the same moment, with a crash of thunder and a blinding glare of lightning, the hail swooped down and blotted the landscape out in one white fury."

Amazing.

#LainaReadsAnne Every west and north window in Green Gables is completely smashed, hail the size of eggs come down, and the storm rages for forty-five minutes

Marilla "for once in her life shaken out of her composure by sheer terror" actually is sobbing between cracks of thunder

#LainaReadsAnne Poor Marilla!

Davy assumes this is Judgement Day and God is basically personally smiting him which is kinda messed up but also deeply hilarious to me.

#LainaReadsAnne The book SAYS Dora is "somewhat pale but quite composed" but that sounds like beig too scared to speak to me. But go off, book.

Then, "almost as suddenly as it began", it stops. The sun comes out and it just stops.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne gives Marilla a much earned glass of her strong wine to calm her nerves, and they go to assess what the damage is.

#LainaReadsAnne The ground is carpeted with hailstones, knee deep, that day multiple days to melt. They've destroyed basically everything in the garden and all the blossoms in the apple trees.

Most of the trees the AVIS recently planted were also destroyed.

#LainaReadsAnne Luckily none of the children were caught in it, as they did all reach home or the safety of the post office in time, so that's obviously a big relief.

#LainaReadsAnne Mr Harrison's farmhand comes over, sent to see if they were all okay. That's sweet.

Apparently Mr Harrison's chimney was hit by lightning, that came down the flue, "knocked over Ginger's cage and tore a hole in floor" and went into the cellar

Could that happen??

#LainaReadsAnne I just don't know enough about lightning to know if this is realistic or not XD

But yeah, the bird's dead and Mr Harrison is super bummed when Anne visits later.

#LainaReadsAnne He does point out that no one will be laughing at Uncle Abe's predictions anymore. Uncle Abe himself enjoy all the attention, forgetting he ever denied predicting a storm that day.

#LainaReadsAnne The day after the storm, people do nothing but "visit each other and compare damages". All over the province, people were injured or even killed, and there's a lot of damage to crops, trees, and loss of livestock.

#LainaReadsAnne There's a mention of "the whole telephone and telegram system" being affected, which I think is interesting.

1885 is when PEI got its first telephone, in Charlottetown. That's fun to know!

#LainaReadsAnne That evening, Gilbert comes by Green Gables. The storm was just as bad at White Sands, but he got stuck in the school with a whole schoolful of terrified kids. Yikes.

#LainaReadsAnne Also Anne isn't there at first when he shows up. He's just chatting with Marilla. I think that is adorable, that he's comfortable just chilling with her, and that she clearly has grown to like him.

Gilbert is a good boy.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne eventually comes down and asks Gilbert if he's heard that Mr Levi Boulter's old house was hit by lightning and burned down. Mr Boulter is half-convinced the AVIS "magicked up that storm on purpose" LOL.

#LainaReadsAnne Anne is guiltily glad to see it go, and Gilbert laughs but admits he feels almost responsible for the storm himself, as they really were the ones who made the prediction in the first place.

#LainaReadsAnne He also shares all the trees they planted were destroyed, but Anne says they can plant more next spring, as the good thing about life is "there are always sure to be more springs".

Ngl that was a very cute way to end this chapter.

#LainaReadsAnne And that's the end of our chapter for today!

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