I never saw it but I thought of the word OBITUARY then and there . There 's only one uglier word that I know of , and that 's RELICT . Lord , Anne , dearie , I may be an old maid , but there 's this comfort in it -- I 'll never be any man 's ` relict . ' '' `` It IS an ugly word , '' said Anne , laughing . `` Avonlea graveyard was full of old tombstones ` sacred to the memory of So-and-So , RELICT of the late So-and-So . ' It always made me think of something worn out and moth eaten . Why is it that so many of the words connected with death are so disagreeable ? I do wish that the custom of calling a dead body ` the remains ' could be abolished . I positively shiver when I hear the undertaker say at a funeral , ` All who wish to see the remains please step this way . ' It always gives me the horrible impression that I am about to view the scene of a cannibal feast . '' `` Well , all I hope , '' said Miss Cornelia calmly , `` is that when I 'm dead nobody will call me ` our departed sister . ' I took a scunner at this sister-and-brothering business five years ago when there was a travelling evangelist holding meetings at the Glen . I had n't any use for him from the start . I felt in my bones that there was something wrong with him . And there was . Mind you , he was pretending to be a Presbyterian -- PresbyTARian , HE called it -- and all the time he was a Methodist . He brothered and sistered everybody . He had a large circle of relations , that man had . He clutched my hand fervently one night , and said imploringly , ` My DEAR sister Bryant , are you a Christian ? ' I just looked him over a bit , and then I said calmly , ` The only brother I ever had , MR. Fiske , was buried fifteen years ago , and I have n't adopted any since .
As for being a XXXXX , I was that , I hope and believe , when you were crawling about the floor in petticoats . '
Anne Avonlea Christian Cornelia Fiske Glen OBITUARY PresbyTARian Presbyterian night