It saves me so much trouble in making myself love them . '' Then , almost before anybody realized it , spring had come ; out in Avonlea the Mayflowers were peeping pinkly out on the sere barrens where snow-wreaths lingered ; and the `` mist of green '' was on the woods and in the valleys . But in Charlottetown harassed Queen 's students thought and talked only of examinations . `` It does n't seem possible that the term is nearly over , '' said Anne . `` Why , last fall it seemed so long to look forward to -- a whole winter of studies and classes . And here we are , with the exams looming up next week . Girls , sometimes I feel as if those exams meant everything , but when I look at the big buds swelling on those chestnut trees and the misty blue air at the end of the streets they do n't seem half so important . '' Jane and Ruby and Josie , who had dropped in , did not take this view of it . To them the coming examinations were constantly very important indeed -- far more important than chestnut buds or Maytime hazes . It was all very well for Anne , who was sure of passing at least , to have her moments of belittling them , but when your whole future depended on them -- as the girls truly thought theirs did -- you could not regard them philosophically . `` I 've lost seven pounds in the last two weeks , '' sighed Jane . `` It 's no use to say do n't worry . I WILL worry . Worrying helps you some -- it seems as if you were doing something when you 're worrying . It would be dreadful if I failed to get my license after going to Queen 's all winter and spending so much money . '' '' I do n't care , '' said Josie Pye . `` If I do n't pass this year I 'm coming back next . My father can afford to send me . Anne , Frank Stockley says that Professor Tremaine said Gilbert Blythe was sure to get the medal and that Emily Clay would likely win the Avery scholarship . '' `` That may make me feel badly tomorrow , Josie , '' laughed Anne , `` but just now I honestly feel that as long as I know the violets are coming out all purple down in the hollow below Green Gables and that little ferns are poking their heads up in Lovers ' Lane , it 's not a great deal of difference whether I win the Avery or not .
I 've done my best and I begin XXXXX understand what is meant by the ` joy of the strife . '
If as before for in on than that to with