`` Judging from what you all , say '' remarked Aunt Jamesina , `` the sum and substance is that you can learn -- if you 've got natural gumption enough -- in four years at college what it would take about twenty years of living to teach you . Well , that justifies higher education in my opinion . It 's a matter I was always dubious about before . '' `` But what about people who have n't natural gumption , Aunt Jimsie ? '' `` People who have n't natural gumption never learn , '' retorted Aunt Jamesina , `` neither in college nor life . If they live to be a hundred they really do n't know anything more than when they were born . It 's their misfortune not their fault , poor souls . But those of us who have some gumption should duly thank the Lord for it . '' `` Will you please define what gumption is , Aunt Jimsie ? '' asked Phil . `` No , I wo n't , young woman . Any one who has gumption knows what it is , and any one who has n't can never know what it is . So there is no need of defining it . '' The busy days flew by and examinations were over . Anne took High Honors in English . Priscilla took Honors in Classics , and Phil in Mathematics . Stella obtained a good all-round showing . Then came Convocation . `` This is what I would once have called an epoch in my life , '' said Anne , as she took Roy 's violets out of their box and gazed at them thoughtfully . She meant to carry them , of course , but her eyes wandered to another box on her table .
It was filled with lilies-of-the-valley , as fresh and fragrant as those which bloomed in the Green Gables yard when June came XXXXX Avonlea .
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