Miss Josephine Barry wrote back that she had never read anything so amusing in her life . That kind of puzzled us because the stories were all very pathetic and almost everybody died . But I 'm glad Miss Barry liked them . It shows our club is doing some good in the world . Mrs. Allan says that ought to be our object in everything . I do really try to make it my object but I forget so often when I 'm having fun . I hope I shall be a little like Mrs. Allan when I grow up . Do you think there is any prospect of it , Marilla ? '' `` I should n't say there was a great deal '' was Marilla 's encouraging answer . `` I 'm sure Mrs. Allan was never such a silly , forgetful little girl as you are . '' `` No ; but she was n't always so good as she is now either , '' said Anne seriously . `` She told me so herself -- that is , she said she was a dreadful mischief when she was a girl and was always getting into scrapes . I felt so encouraged when I heard that . Is it very wicked of me , Marilla , to feel encouraged when I hear that other people have been bad and mischievous ? Mrs. Lynde says it is . Mrs. Lynde says she always feels shocked when she hears of anyone ever having been naughty , no matter how small they were . Mrs. Lynde says she once heard a minister confess that when he was a boy he stole a strawberry tart out of his aunt 's pantry and she never had any respect for that minister again . Now , I would n't have felt that way . I 'd have thought that it was real noble of him to confess it , and I 'd have thought what an encouraging thing it would be for small boys nowadays who do naughty things and are sorry for them to know that perhaps they may grow up to be ministers in spite of it . That 's how I 'd feel , Marilla . ''
`` The way I feel at present , Anne , '' said XXXXX , `` is that it 's high time you had those dishes washed .
Allan Anne Barry Lynde Marilla everybody prospect scrapes strawberry thing