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Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery, IV Different Opinions

IV Different Opinions

One evening at sunset, Jane Andrews, Gilbert Blythe, and Anne Shirley were lingering by a fence in the shadow of gently swaying spruce boughs, where a wood cut known as the Birch Path joined the main road. Jane had been up to spend the afternoon with Anne, who walked part of the way home with her; at the fence they met Gilbert, and all three were now talking about the fateful morrow; for that morrow was the first of September and the schools would open. Jane would go to Newbridge and Gilbert to White Sands.

"You both have the advantage of me," sighed Anne. "You're going to teach children who don't know you, but I have to teach my own old schoolmates, and Mrs. Lynde says she's afraid they won't respect me as they would a stranger unless I'm very cross from the first. But I don't believe a teacher should be cross. Oh, it seems to me such a responsibility!" "I guess we'll get on all right," said Jane comfortably. Jane was not troubled by any aspirations to be an influence for good. She meant to earn her salary fairly, please the trustees, and get her name on the School Inspector's roll of honor. Further ambitions Jane had none. "The main thing will be to keep order and a teacher has to be a little cross to do that. If my pupils won't do as I tell them I shall punish them." "How?" "Give them a good whipping, of course." "Oh, Jane, you wouldn't," cried Anne, shocked. "Jane, you COULDN'T!" "Indeed, I could and would, if they deserved it," said Jane decidedly. "I could NEVER whip a child," said Anne with equal decision. "I don't believe in it AT ALL. Miss Stacy never whipped any of us and she had perfect order; and Mr. Phillips was always whipping and he had no order at all. No, if I can't get along without whipping I shall not try to teach school. There are better ways of managing. I shall try to win my pupils' affections and then they will WANT to do what I tell them." "But suppose they don't?" said practical Jane.

"I wouldn't whip them anyhow. I'm sure it wouldn't do any good. Oh, don't whip your pupils, Jane dear, no matter what they do." "What do you think about it, Gilbert?" demanded Jane. "Don't you think there are some children who really need a whipping now and then?" "Don't you think it's a cruel, barbarous thing to whip a child . ANY child?" exclaimed Anne, her face flushing with earnestness.

"Well," said Gilbert slowly, torn between his real convictions and his wish to measure up to Anne's ideal, "there's something to be said on both sides. I don't believe in whipping children MUCH. I think, as you say, Anne, that there are better ways of managing as a rule, and that corporal punishment should be a last resort. But on the other hand, as Jane says, I believe there is an occasional child who can't be influenced in any other way and who, in short, needs a whipping and would be improved by it. Corporal punishment as a last resort is to be my rule." Gilbert, having tried to please both sides, succeeded, as is usual and eminently right, in pleasing neither. Jane tossed her head.

"I'll whip my pupils when they're naughty. It's the shortest and easiest way of convincing them." Anne gave Gilbert a disappointed glance.

"I shall never whip a child," she repeated firmly. "I feel sure it isn't either right or necessary." "Suppose a boy sauced you back when you told him to do something?" said Jane.

"I'd keep him in after school and talk kindly and firmly to him," said Anne. "There is some good in every person if you can find it. It is a teacher's duty to find and develop it. That is what our School Management professor at Queen's told us, you know. Do you suppose you could find any good in a child by whipping him? It's far more important to influence the children aright than it is even to teach them the three R's, Professor Rennie says." "But the Inspector examines them in the three R's, mind you, and he won't give you a good report if they don't come up to his standard," protested Jane. "I'd rather have my pupils love me and look back to me in after years as a real helper than be on the roll of honor," asserted Anne decidedly. "Wouldn't you punish children at all, when they misbehaved?" asked Gilbert.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I shall have to, although I know I'll hate to do it. But you can keep them in at recess or stand them on the floor or give them lines to write." "I suppose you won't punish the girls by making them sit with the boys?" said Jane slyly.

Gilbert and Anne looked at each other and smiled rather foolishly. Once upon a time, Anne had been made to sit with Gilbert for punishment and sad and bitter had been the consequences thereof.

"Well, time will tell which is the best way," said Jane philosophically as they parted. Anne went back to Green Gables by way of Birch Path, shadowy, rustling, fern-scented, through Violet Vale and past Willowmere, where dark and light kissed each other under the firs, and down through Lover's Lane . spots she and Diana had so named long ago. She walked slowly, enjoying the sweetness of wood and field and the starry summer twilight, and thinking soberly about the new duties she was to take up on the morrow. When she reached the yard at Green Gables Mrs. Lynde's loud, decided tones floated out through the open kitchen window. "Mrs. Lynde has come up to give me good advice about tomorrow," thought Anne with a grimace, "but I don't believe I'll go in. Her advice is much like pepper, I think . excellent in small quantities but rather scorching in her doses. I'll run over and have a chat with Mr. Harrison instead." This was not the first time Anne had run over and chatted with Mr. Harrison since the notable affair of the Jersey cow. She had been there several evenings and Mr. Harrison and she were very good friends, although there were times and seasons when Anne found the outspokenness on which he prided himself rather trying. Ginger still continued to regard her with suspicion, and never failed to greet her sarcastically as "redheaded snippet." Mr. Harrison had tried vainly to break him of the habit by jumping excitedly up whenever he saw Anne coming and exclaiming,

"Bless my soul, here's that pretty little girl again," or something equally flattering. But Ginger saw through the scheme and scorned it. Anne was never to know how many compliments Mr. Harrison paid her behind her back. He certainly never paid her any to her face.

"Well, I suppose you've been back in the woods laying in a supply of switches for tomorrow?" was his greeting as Anne came up the veranda steps.

"No, indeed," said Anne indignantly. She was an excellent target for teasing because she always took things so seriously. "I shall never have a switch in my school, Mr. Harrison. Of course, I shall have to have a pointer, but I shall use it for pointing ONLY." "So you mean to strap them instead? Well, I don't know but you're right. A switch stings more at the time but the strap smarts longer, that's a fact." "I shall not use anything of the sort. I'm not going to whip my pupils." "Bless my soul," exclaimed Mr. Harrison in genuine astonishment, "how do you lay out to keep order then?" "I shall govern by affection, Mr. Harrison." "It won't do," said Mr. Harrison, "won't do at all, Anne. 'Spare the rod and spoil the child.' When I went to school the master whipped me regular every day because he said if I wasn't in mischief just then I was plotting it." "Methods have changed since your schooldays, Mr. Harrison." "But human nature hasn't. Mark my words, you'll never manage the young fry unless you keep a rod in pickle for them. The thing is impossible." "Well, I'm going to try my way first," said Anne, who had a fairly strong will of her own and was apt to cling very tenaciously to her theories. "You're pretty stubborn, I reckon," was Mr. Harrison's way of putting it. "Well, well, we'll see. Someday when you get riled up . and people with hair like yours are desperate apt to get riled . you'll forget all your pretty little notions and give some of them a whaling. You're too young to be teaching anyhow . far too young and childish." Altogether, Anne went to bed that night in a rather pessimistic mood. She slept poorly and was so pale and tragic at breakfast next morning that Marilla was alarmed and insisted on making her take a cup of scorching ginger tea. Anne sipped it patiently, although she could not imagine what good ginger tea would do. Had it been some magic brew, potent to confer age and experience, Anne would have swallowed a quart of it without flinching.

"Marilla, what if I fail!" "You'll hardly fail completely in one day and there's plenty more days coming," said Marilla. "The trouble with you, Anne, is that you'll expect to teach those children everything and reform all their faults right off, and if you can't you'll think you've failed."

IV Different Opinions IV Opiniões diferentes IV 不同意见

One evening at sunset, Jane Andrews, Gilbert Blythe, and Anne Shirley were lingering by a fence in the shadow of gently swaying spruce boughs, where a wood cut known as the Birch Path joined the main road. Un soir, au coucher du soleil, Jane Andrews, Gilbert Blythe et Anne Shirley s'attardaient près d'une clôture à l'ombre de branches d'épinette se balançant doucement, où une coupe de bois connue sous le nom de Birch Path rejoignait la route principale. Jane had been up to spend the afternoon with Anne, who walked part of the way home with her; at the fence they met Gilbert, and all three were now talking about the fateful morrow; for that morrow was the first of September and the schools would open. Jane s'était levée pour passer l'après-midi avec Anne, qui avait fait une partie du chemin du retour avec elle ; à la clôture, ils rencontrèrent Gilbert, et tous trois parlaient maintenant du lendemain fatidique ; car ce lendemain était le premier septembre et les écoles allaient s'ouvrir. Jane would go to Newbridge and Gilbert to White Sands. Jane irait à Newbridge et Gilbert à White Sands.

"You both have the advantage of me," sighed Anne. "Vous avez tous les deux l'avantage sur moi," soupira Anne. "You're going to teach children who don't know you, but I have to teach my own old schoolmates, and Mrs. Lynde says she's afraid they won't respect me as they would a stranger unless I'm very cross from the first. "Vous allez enseigner à des enfants qui ne vous connaissent pas, mais je dois enseigner à mes anciens camarades de classe, et Mme Lynde dit qu'elle a peur qu'ils ne me respectent pas comme ils le feraient pour un étranger à moins que je ne sois très contrarié par la première. But I don't believe a teacher should be cross. Mais je ne crois pas qu'un enseignant devrait être fâché. Oh, it seems to me such a responsibility!" "I guess we'll get on all right," said Jane comfortably. "Je suppose que nous nous entendrons bien", a déclaré Jane confortablement. Jane was not troubled by any aspirations to be an influence for good. Jane n'était troublée par aucune aspiration à être une influence pour le bien. She meant to earn her salary fairly, please the trustees, and get her name on the School Inspector's roll of honor. Elle avait l'intention de gagner son salaire équitablement, de plaire aux syndics et d'être inscrite au tableau d'honneur de l'inspecteur d'académie. Further ambitions Jane had none. D'autres ambitions Jane n'en avait pas. "The main thing will be to keep order and a teacher has to be a little cross to do that. "L'essentiel sera de maintenir l'ordre et un enseignant doit être un peu méchant pour y parvenir. If my pupils won't do as I tell them I shall punish them." Si mes élèves ne font pas ce que je leur dis, je les punirai." "How?" "Give them a good whipping, of course." "Donnez-leur un bon coup de fouet, bien sûr." "Oh, Jane, you wouldn't," cried Anne, shocked. "Jane, you COULDN'T!" "Indeed, I could and would, if they deserved it," said Jane decidedly. "I could NEVER whip a child," said Anne with equal decision. "I don't believe in it AT ALL. Miss Stacy never whipped any of us and she had perfect order; and Mr. Phillips was always whipping and he had no order at all. No, if I can't get along without whipping I shall not try to teach school. Non, si je ne peux pas me passer de fouet, je n'essaierai pas d'enseigner. There are better ways of managing. I shall try to win my pupils' affections and then they will WANT to do what I tell them." "But suppose they don't?" said practical Jane.

"I wouldn't whip them anyhow. "Je ne les fouetterais pas de toute façon. I'm sure it wouldn't do any good. Oh, don't whip your pupils, Jane dear, no matter what they do." Oh, ne fouettez pas vos élèves, ma chère Jane, peu importe ce qu'ils font." "What do you think about it, Gilbert?" demanded Jane. "Don't you think there are some children who really need a whipping now and then?" "Tu ne penses pas qu'il y a des enfants qui ont vraiment besoin d'être fouettés de temps en temps ?" "Don't you think it's a cruel, barbarous thing to whip a child . ANY child?" N'IMPORTE QUEL enfant ?" exclaimed Anne, her face flushing with earnestness.

"Well," said Gilbert slowly, torn between his real convictions and his wish to measure up to Anne's ideal, "there's something to be said on both sides. « Eh bien, dit lentement Gilbert, tiraillé entre ses convictions réelles et son désir de se mesurer à l'idéal d'Anne, il y a quelque chose à dire des deux côtés. I don't believe in whipping children MUCH. I think, as you say, Anne, that there are better ways of managing as a rule, and that corporal punishment should be a last resort. Je pense, comme tu le dis, Anne, qu'il y a de meilleures façons de gérer en règle générale, et que les châtiments corporels devraient être un dernier recours. But on the other hand, as Jane says, I believe there is an occasional child who can't be influenced in any other way and who, in short, needs a whipping and would be improved by it. Mais d'un autre côté, comme le dit Jane, je crois qu'il y a un enfant occasionnel qui ne peut être influencé d'aucune autre manière et qui, en bref, a besoin d'un coup de fouet et en serait amélioré. Corporal punishment as a last resort is to be my rule." Les châtiments corporels en dernier recours doivent être ma règle." Gilbert, having tried to please both sides, succeeded, as is usual and eminently right, in pleasing neither. Gilbert, ayant essayé de plaire aux deux parties, a réussi, comme il est d'usage et parfaitement juste, à ne plaire à aucune. Jane tossed her head. Jane hocha la tête.

"I'll whip my pupils when they're naughty. It's the shortest and easiest way of convincing them." Anne gave Gilbert a disappointed glance.

"I shall never whip a child," she repeated firmly. "I feel sure it isn't either right or necessary." "Suppose a boy sauced you back when you told him to do something?" said Jane.

"I'd keep him in after school and talk kindly and firmly to him," said Anne. "There is some good in every person if you can find it. It is a teacher's duty to find and develop it. That is what our School Management professor at Queen's told us, you know. Do you suppose you could find any good in a child by whipping him? It's far more important to influence the children aright than it is even to teach them the three R's, Professor Rennie says." Selon le professeur Rennie, il est bien plus important d'influencer les enfants dans le bon sens que de leur enseigner les trois R." "But the Inspector examines them in the three R's, mind you, and he won't give you a good report if they don't come up to his standard," protested Jane. "I'd rather have my pupils love me and look back to me in after years as a real helper than be on the roll of honor," asserted Anne decidedly. "Wouldn't you punish children at all, when they misbehaved?" asked Gilbert.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I shall have to, although I know I'll hate to do it. But you can keep them in at recess or stand them on the floor or give them lines to write." Mais vous pouvez les garder à la récréation ou les poser par terre ou leur donner des lignes à écrire." "I suppose you won't punish the girls by making them sit with the boys?" said Jane slyly.

Gilbert and Anne looked at each other and smiled rather foolishly. Once upon a time, Anne had been made to sit with Gilbert for punishment and sad and bitter had been the consequences thereof. Autrefois, Anne avait dû s'asseoir avec Gilbert en guise de punition, et les conséquences en avaient été tristes et amères.

"Well, time will tell which is the best way," said Jane philosophically as they parted. Anne went back to Green Gables by way of Birch Path, shadowy, rustling, fern-scented, through Violet Vale and past Willowmere, where dark and light kissed each other under the firs, and down through Lover's Lane . Anne retourna à Green Gables par le Birch Path, ombragé, bruissant, parfumé de fougères, en passant par Violet Vale et Willowmere, où l'obscurité et la lumière s'embrassaient sous les sapins, et en descendant par Lover's Lane . spots she and Diana had so named long ago. endroits qu'elle et Diana avaient ainsi nommés il y a longtemps. She walked slowly, enjoying the sweetness of wood and field and the starry summer twilight, and thinking soberly about the new duties she was to take up on the morrow. Elle marchait lentement, appréciant la douceur des bois et des champs et le crépuscule étoilé de l'été, et pensant sobrement aux nouvelles tâches qu'elle devait assumer le lendemain. When she reached the yard at Green Gables Mrs. Lynde's loud, decided tones floated out through the open kitchen window. Lorsqu'elle atteignit la cour de Green Gables, les voix fortes et décidées de Mme Lynde s'échappèrent par la fenêtre ouverte de la cuisine. "Mrs. Lynde has come up to give me good advice about tomorrow," thought Anne with a grimace, "but I don't believe I'll go in. Her advice is much like pepper, I think . Son conseil est un peu comme le poivre, je pense. excellent in small quantities but rather scorching in her doses. I'll run over and have a chat with Mr. Harrison instead." Je vais courir et discuter avec M. Harrison à la place." This was not the first time Anne had run over and chatted with Mr. Harrison since the notable affair of the Jersey cow. She had been there several evenings and Mr. Harrison and she were very good friends, although there were times and seasons when Anne found the outspokenness on which he prided himself rather trying. Elle avait été là plusieurs soirées et M. Harrison et elle étaient de très bons amis, bien qu'il y ait eu des moments et des saisons où Anne trouvait le franc-parler dont il se vantait plutôt éprouvant. Ginger still continued to regard her with suspicion, and never failed to greet her sarcastically as "redheaded snippet." Mr. Harrison had tried vainly to break him of the habit by jumping excitedly up whenever he saw Anne coming and exclaiming,

"Bless my soul, here's that pretty little girl again," or something equally flattering. But Ginger saw through the scheme and scorned it. Mais Ginger a compris le stratagème et l'a méprisé. Anne was never to know how many compliments Mr. Harrison paid her behind her back. Anne ne saura jamais combien de compliments M. Harrison lui a fait dans le dos. Энн так и не узнала, сколько комплиментов сделал ей мистер Харрисон за ее спиной. He certainly never paid her any to her face. Il ne lui en a certainement jamais payé en face.

"Well, I suppose you've been back in the woods laying in a supply of switches for tomorrow?" "Eh bien, je suppose que tu es retourné dans les bois pour préparer une réserve d'interrupteurs pour demain ?" "Ну, я полагаю, ты уже вернулся в лес, чтобы заготовить запас переключателей на завтра?" was his greeting as Anne came up the veranda steps.

"No, indeed," said Anne indignantly. She was an excellent target for teasing because she always took things so seriously. Elle était une excellente cible pour les taquineries car elle prenait toujours les choses très au sérieux. "I shall never have a switch in my school, Mr. Harrison. "Je n'aurai jamais d'interrupteur dans mon école, M. Harrison. Of course, I shall have to have a pointer, but I shall use it for pointing ONLY." "So you mean to strap them instead? "Alors tu veux dire les attacher à la place ? Well, I don't know but you're right. Eh bien, je ne sais pas, mais vous avez raison. A switch stings more at the time but the strap smarts longer, that's a fact." Un interrupteur pique plus sur le coup mais le bracelet s'allume plus longtemps, c'est un fait." "I shall not use anything of the sort. I'm not going to whip my pupils." "Bless my soul," exclaimed Mr. Harrison in genuine astonishment, "how do you lay out to keep order then?" "I shall govern by affection, Mr. « Je gouvernerai par affection, M. Harrison." "It won't do," said Mr. Harrison, "won't do at all, Anne. 'Spare the rod and spoil the child.' « Épargnez la verge et gâtez l'enfant. When I went to school the master whipped me regular every day because he said if I wasn't in mischief just then I was plotting it." Quand j'allais à l'école, le maître me fouettait régulièrement tous les jours parce qu'il disait que si je ne faisais pas de bêtises à ce moment-là, je complotais." "Methods have changed since your schooldays, Mr. Harrison." "But human nature hasn't. Mark my words, you'll never manage the young fry unless you keep a rod in pickle for them. Notez mes mots, vous ne gérerez jamais les jeunes alevins à moins que vous ne leur gardiez une tige en cornichon. The thing is impossible." "Well, I'm going to try my way first," said Anne, who had a fairly strong will of her own and was apt to cling very tenaciously to her theories. "Eh bien, je vais d'abord essayer ma voie", a déclaré Anne, qui avait une volonté assez forte et était susceptible de s'accrocher avec beaucoup de ténacité à ses théories. "You're pretty stubborn, I reckon," was Mr. Harrison's way of putting it. "Vous êtes assez têtu, je pense", était la manière de M. Harrison de le dire. "Well, well, we'll see. Someday when you get riled up . Un jour, quand tu t'énerves. and people with hair like yours are desperate apt to get riled . you'll forget all your pretty little notions and give some of them a whaling. You're too young to be teaching anyhow . Tu es trop jeune pour enseigner de toute façon. far too young and childish." beaucoup trop jeune et puéril." Altogether, Anne went to bed that night in a rather pessimistic mood. She slept poorly and was so pale and tragic at breakfast next morning that Marilla was alarmed and insisted on making her take a cup of scorching ginger tea. Anne sipped it patiently, although she could not imagine what good ginger tea would do. Anne le sirote patiemment, bien qu'elle n'imagine pas l'utilité d'un thé au gingembre. Had it been some magic brew, potent to confer age and experience, Anne would have swallowed a quart of it without flinching. S'il s'était agi d'un breuvage magique, puissant pour conférer l'âge et l'expérience, Anne en aurait avalé un litre sans broncher.

"Marilla, what if I fail!" "You'll hardly fail completely in one day and there's plenty more days coming," said Marilla. "Vous échouerez à peine complètement en une journée et il y a encore beaucoup de jours à venir", a déclaré Marilla. "The trouble with you, Anne, is that you'll expect to teach those children everything and reform all their faults right off, and if you can't you'll think you've failed." "Le problème avec toi, Anne, c'est que tu t'attends à tout enseigner à ces enfants et à corriger tous leurs défauts immédiatement, et si tu n'y arrives pas, tu penseras que tu as échoué.