Chapter 8 Chapter Seven Prayer

That night, Marilla came to Anne's room.She said to Annie in a friendly and serious tone: "Annie, last night, you took off your clothes and threw them everywhere. It will be difficult if you are always so reluctant. Remember! As soon as you take off your clothes , should be neatly folded immediately and put on the chair. It’s not easy, casual girls can’t stay in my house.” "I'm really sorry. Last night, I was in so much pain that I didn't have the heart to tidy up my clothes." Annie explained, "I will definitely do it from today. When I was in the orphanage, I always folded the quilt Neatly. Last night, I wished I could go to bed right away, and then I could quietly fantasize to my heart's content, and unconsciously forgot all about it."

"If you're staying here, stop thinking about it!" Marilla warned Anne. "Well, then, say your prayers, and go to bed." "I never pray," said Anne confidently. Marilla stared at Annie in a daze, "Huh? Annie, what are you talking about? Has no one told you to pray? God likes children to pray. Don't you know anything about God? Annie ?” "How can you not know it? Everyone knows the existence of God. Wisdom, power and holiness are based on justice, goodness and truth. It is the infinite, eternal and unchanging soul." After hearing Anne's fluent recitation, Marilla felt relieved, "Oh, it seems that you also understand a little bit, which will save trouble, and you don't believe in God at all, so where did you learn it?" Woolen cloth?"

"Learned this at Sunday school at the Orphanage. We learned the catechism by heart, and liked it. Many of the words, 'infinite, eternal, unchanging,' etc., make one feel A majestic and heroic tone, as if it came from a pipe organ. Although it is different from poetry, it sounds like poetry." "I'm not talking to you about poetry, Anne. I'm talking about prayers. It's not very nice not to say your prayers every night, don't you know? People will always think you a bad boy then." "It's easy to go from being a good boy to being a bad one just because I have red hair!" cried Annie in a rage. Well, God made my hair red on purpose. So if that's the case, it doesn't matter how I pray, or even whether I pray or not. Besides, at night, I'm too tired and exhausted to care about it. What prayer, isn't it a bit forced, too much, for a child who has to be busy with multiple sets of twins to do it?"

At this time, Marilla had secretly made up her mind that Anne's religious education must begin now.Obviously, there was no room for further hesitation in the matter. "As long as you live in this house for a day, you must say your prayers. You can't do it! Anne." "Since you asked so, of course I will do it." Anne obediently agreed, "As long as it is what you Miss Cuthbart said, I will listen to it. But please tell me what to say How about it? Or, I’ll go to bed and get under the quilt to think about it first, and then I’ll pray. Thinking about it, it seems that this matter is quite interesting.”

"First kneel down." Marilla said a little embarrassed. Anne knelt at Marilla's feet, looked up at Marilla seriously, and asked inexplicably, "Why do you kneel down when praying? In my hallucination, praying should look like this: in the vast wilderness On this day, a person came to the depths of the forest alone. Looking up at the sky, it was a clear, unpretentious blue sky. Just kept looking up, doing nothing. Do you think this is prayer? I'm ready, what can I say?" Marilla became more and more embarrassed. At first, she wanted to teach Annie something like "God please help me to sleep!"

Prayers for children like that.But this kind of simple prayer is only suitable for the baby who is wearing a white smock and sitting in the arms of his mother, speaking coquettishly, but not for the little girl with freckles in front of her.She felt that Annie had grown up and was able to express her feelings in her own words and pray to God. "It's okay to simply thank the Lord for His grace, and then humbly talk about your own wishes." Marilla said, "Well, let's talk about it casually." So Anne dropped her face on Marilla's lap. "The gracious Father, that's what the pastor said in the church. Is it okay for me to say the same when I pray?" Annie raised her head and asked.

"Holy Father of great kindness, you have given me 'White Road of Joy', 'Blue Lake', 'Bonnie' and 'Queen of Snow'. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. At this moment, all I can think of These are your gifts. "Next is what I want to ask you, because there are too many things, and it will take a long time to tell them all, so I will talk about the two most important things first. One is to ask the Lord to let me stay forever In Green Gybruzzi; the other is to ask the Lord to make me a beauty when I grow up. Sincerely, Your faithful servant, Anne Jerry.

"Ah, the prayer is over, how are you doing?" Annie stood up and said excitedly: "If you give me some more time to think about it, I will make it more beautiful." However, the facts surprised Annie, and Marilla almost passed out out of breath.Isn’t such a bizarre prayer despising the Lord?She had to admit Anne's ignorance of religion, and finally gained a firm foothold. While spreading the quilt for Anne, Marilla swore in her heart that she would officially teach her how to pray from tomorrow.She was just about to leave the house with the candle when Anne called her.

"Ah, now that I think about it, I shouldn't have said 'your servant' but 'Amen', that's what the pastor said. I forgot just now. I think prayers need a closing line or something, so I Is it a bit self-defeating to make the joke just now?" "No, no. I think it's all right," said Marilla. "Be a good boy and go to sleep. Good night." "Tonight can be said to be good night from the bottom of my heart." After thinking about it, Annie went to bed contentedly and fell asleep comfortably. Once back in the kitchen Marilla flung the candle down on the table and stared at Marshall.

"Brother, it's shameful! Someone should adopt this child and educate her well. She is a child who doesn't believe in God, and tonight is her first prayer! Can you believe it? "To-morrow beg the vicar at the vicarage to borrow the Pip Aub Dee series, and make a decent dress, and send her off to Sunday school quickly. Seems to be enough for me." It's been a while. Well, there's really no way, let her be happy for the time being."