Anne of Windy Poplars vs. Anne of Windy Willows

All page numbers used on this page are from these editions.

This is a list of the differences between Anne of Windy Poplars (the more widely known version of Anne of Windy Poplars) and Anne of Windy Willows (the version published in the UK, Australia and Japan that contains some scenes cut from the Poplars version). The differences are in bold.

Differences

The First Year, Chapter 5

Anne of Windy Poplars	Anne of Windy Willows
“Donʼt tell me any family has ever had as many as ours,” said Miss Valentine jealously. “Weʼre very consumptive. Most of us died of a cough. This is my Aunt Bessieʼs grave. She was a saint if there ever was one. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 45]	ʻDonʼt tell me any family has ever had as many as ours,ʼ said Miss Valentine jealously. ʻWeʼre very consumptive. Most of us died of a cough. This is Aunt Coraʼs grave. She was a great beauty. A minister we had in Summerside then told her that just to see her made a poem of his day. That was a pretty speech, wasnʼt it? Though I never felt it was just the thing for a minister to say. Aunt Cora married a Yankee and lived all her life in Boston, but when she came back to the Island for a visit and saw this old graveyard she turned and said to her husband, “You can bury me here, Thomas.” So he did – not immediately, of course, but three years later, when she died … This is my Aunt Bessieʼs grave. She was a saint if there ever was one. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, pages 53-54]
Had any one but a Pringle said it, Anne might not have remarked so decidedly, “I certainly do not,” looking at a gravestone adorned with a skill and crossbones as if she questioned the good taste of that also. “My cousin Dora is buried here. She had three husbands, but they all died very rapidly. Poor Dora didnʼt seem to have any luck picking a healthy man. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 45]	Had anyone but a Pringle said it Anne might not have remarked so decidedly, ʻI certainly do not,ʼ looking at a gravestone adorned with a skull and crossbones, as if she questioned the good taste of that also. ʻHere is Uncle Jackʼs grave. He was sort of absent-minded, so he married the wrong woman; but he never let her guess it. He was very gentlemanly … The man in this grave was my Cousin Doraʼs first husbandʼs brotherʼs first wifeʼs first husband. I donʼt know how he came to be buried in our plot, to be sure.ʼ Miss Valentine stooped to pull some weeds away from her absent-minded uncleʼs grave, and Anne utilized the blank space in recovering from her dizziness over such a genealogical tangle. ʻMy Cousin Dora is buried here. She had three husbands, but they all died very rapidly. Poor Dora didnʼt seem to have any luck picking a healthy man. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, pages 54-55]
Do you think it wrong to give children candy in church, Miss Shirley? Not peppermints … that would be all right … thereʼs something religious about peppermints, donʼt you think? But the poor things donʼt like them.” When the Courtaloe plots were exhausted Miss Valentineʼs reminiscences became a bit spicier. It did not make so much difference if you werenʼt a Courtaloe. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, pages 46-47]	Do you think it wrong to give children candy in church, Miss Shirley? Not peppermints. That would be all right. Thereʼs something religious about peppermints, donʼt you think? But the poor things donʼt like them. This is my cousin, Noble Courtaloeʼs grave. We were always a little afraid he was buried alive; he looked so life-like. But nobody thought of it till it was too late.ʼ ʻThat was – sad,ʼ said Anne idiotically. She knew she was expected to say something whenever Miss Valentine paused expectantly, but it seemed absolutely impossible to think of anything appropriate. ʻCousin Ida Courtaloe is here. She was the prettiest thing I ever saw in my life – and the gayest. But fickle as a breeze, my dear, fickle as a breeze … Cousin Vernon Courtaloe is here. Him and Elsie Pringle – down there – were madly in love with each other at one time, and were to have been married; but first one thing and then another postponed it, and finally neither of them wanted it.ʼ When the Courtaloe plots were exhausted Miss Valentineʼs reminiscences became a bit spicier. It did not make so much difference if you werenʼt a Courtaloe. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, page 56]
But Summerside isnʼt all Pringle, Miss Shirley.” “Sometimes I think it is,” said Anne, with a rueful smile. “No, it isnʼt. And there are plenty of people would like to see you get the better of them. Donʼt you give into them no matter what they do. Itʼs just the old Satan thatʼs got into them. But they hang together so and Miss Sarah did want that nephew of theirs to get the school. “The Nathan Pringles are here. Nathan always believed his wife was trying to poison him but he didnʼt seem to mind. He said it made life kind of exciting. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, pages 47-48]	But Summerside isnʼt all Pringle, Miss Shirley.ʼ ʻSometimes I think it is,ʼ said Anne, with a rueful smile. ʻNo, it isnʼt. And there are plenty of people would like to see you get the better of them. Donʼt you give into them, no matter what they do. Itʼs just the old Satan thatʼs got into them. But they hang together so, and Miss Sarah did want that nephew of theirs to get the school … This is where Stephen Pringle is buried. They couldnʼt get his eyes closed. He was buried with them wide open.ʼ Anne shivered. She had a dreadful vision of the dead Pringle lying under the sod, still staring balefully upward at her out of eyes that had never been closed. ʻHe was killed, you know,ʼ said Miss Valentine. ʻFell from a ladder he was climbing. It was saidʼ – Miss Valentine lowered her voice creepily among the gathering shadows – ʻthat his cousin, Black Joe Card – Stephenʼs mother was a Card – fixed one of the steps so that he would fall. He and Joe were courting the same girl. I never believed it myself. People say such terrible things, donʼt they? But it certainly made Black Joe more interesting. I used to look at him in church and wonder if it was true. Perhaps it was, and that was why Stephenʼs eyes couldnʼt be closed … Helen Avery is here. She died twice – at least, they thought she died, but she revived when they were laying her out. Next time she died – four years later – her husband was away, but he telegraphed home, “Make sure she is dead before you go to any expense” … The Nathan Pringles are here. Nathan always believed his wife was trying to poison him, but he didnʼt seem to mind. He said it made life kind of exciting. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, pages 57-58]

The Third Year, Chapter 10

Anne of Windy Poplars	Anne of Windy Willows
That sword hanging by the head of the stairs belonged to my great-great-grandfather who was an officer in the British Army and received a grant of land in Prince Edward Island for his services. He never lived in this house, but my great-great-grandmother did for a few weeks. She did not long survive her sonʼs tragic death.” Miss Minerva marched Anne ruthlessly over the huge whole house, full of great square rooms … ballroom, conservatory, billiard-room, three drawing-rooms, breakfast-room, no end of bedrooms and an enormous attic. They were all splendid and dismal. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 236]	That sword hanging by the head of the stairs belonged to my great-great-grandfather, who was an officer in the British Army, and received a grant of land in Prince Edward Island for his services. He never lived in this house, but my great-great-grandmother did for a few weeks. She did not long survive her sonʼs tragic death. She had a very bad heart after it, and when her youngest son, my great-uncle James, shot himself in the cellar the shock killed her. Uncle James did that because a girl he wished to marry threw him over. She was very beautiful – too beautiful to be quite good, I am afraid, my dear. It is a great temptation. I am afraid she was responsible for many a broken heart besides my poor great-uncleʼs.ʼ Miss Minerva marched Anne ruthlessly over the huge whole house, full of great square rooms: ballroom, conservatory, billiard-room, three drawing-rooms, breakfast room, no end of bedrooms, and an enormous attic. They were all splendid and dismal. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, page 286]
I would like,” said Miss Minerva, very majestically, “to see the man who would dare to spank me.” Anne felt she would like to see him also. She realized that there are limits to the imagination after all. By no stretch of hers could she imagine a husband spanking Miss Minerva Tomgallon. “This is the ballroom. Of course it is never used now. But there have been any number of balls here. The Tomgallon balls were famous. People came from all over the Island to them. That chandelier cost my father five hundred dollars. My Great-aunt Patience dropped dead while dancing here one night … right there in that corner. She had fretted a great deal over a man who had disappointed her. I cannot imagine any girl breaking her heart over a man. Men,” said Miss Minerva, staring at a photograph of her father … a person with bristling side-whiskers and a hawk-like nose … “have always seemed to me such trivial creatures.” [1998 Bantam Books reissue, pages 237-238]	I would like,ʼ said Miss Minerva very majestically, ʻto see the man who would dare to spank me.ʼ Anne felt she would like to see him also. She realized that there are limits to the imagination after all. By no stretch of hers could she imagine a husband spanking Miss Minerva Tomgallon. ʻThis is the room my poor brother Arthur and his bride quarrelled in the night he brought her home after the wedding. She just walked out and never came back. Nobody ever knew what it was all about. She was so beautiful and stately that we always called her “the Queen”. Some people said she only married him because she couldnʼt hurt his feelings by saying no, and repented when it was too late. It ruined my poor brotherʼs life. He became a travelling salesman. No Tomgallon,ʼ said Miss Minerva tragically, ʻhad ever been a travelling salesman … This is the ball-room. Of course, it is never used now. But there have been any number of balls here. The Tomgallon balls were famous. People came from all over the Island to them. That chandelier cost my father five hundred dollars. My great-aunt Patience dropped dead while dancing here one night – right there in that corner. She had fretted a great deal over a man who had disappointed her. I cannot imagine any girl breaking her heart over a man. Men,ʼ said Miss Minerva, staring at a photograph of her father, a person with bristling side-whiskers and a hawk-like nose, ʻhave always seemed to me such trivial creatures. We have an old legend that in Grandfatherʼs time, when he and Grandmother were away from home, the family had a dance here one Saturday night, and kept it up too late, andʼ – Miss Minerva lowered her voice to a tone that made Anneʼs flesh creep on her bones – ʻSatan entered. Thereʼs a queer mark on the floor in that bay window, very much like a burnt footstep. But, of course, I donʼt really believe that story.ʼ Miss Minerva sighed as if she were very sorry she couldnʼt believe it. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, pages 287-288]

The Third Year, Chapter 11

Anne of Windy Poplars	Anne of Windy Willows
After supper they went to the smallest of the three drawing-rooms … which was still rather big and grim … and spent the evening before the huge fire … a pleasant, friendly enough fire. Anne crocheted at a set of intricate doilies and Miss Minerva knitted away at an afghan and kept up what was practically a monologue composed in great part of colourful and gruesome Tomgallon history. “This is a house of tragical memories, my dear.” [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 239]	After supper they went to the smallest of the three drawing-rooms – which was still rather big and grim – and spent the evening before the huge fire, a pleasant, friendly fire enough. Anne crocheted at a set of intricate doilies, and Miss Minerva knitted away at an afghan and kept up what was practically a monologue composed in great part of colourful Tomgallon history. This one had told her husband a lie, and he had never believed her again, my dear. That one had all her mourning made in expectation of her husbandʼs death, and he had disappointed her by getting well. Oscar Tomgallon had died and come back to life. ʻThey didnʼt want him to, my dear. That was the tragedy.ʼ Claude Tomgallon had shot his son by accident. Edgar Tomgallon had taken the wrong medicine in the dark, and died in consequence. David Tomgallon had promised his jealous, dying wife that he would never marry again, and then had married again, and was supposed to be haunted by the ghost of the jealous Number One. ʻHis eyes, my dear – always staring past you at something behind you. People hated to be in the same room with him. Nobody else ever saw her, so perhaps it was only his conscience. Do you believe in ghosts, my dear?ʼ ʻI –ʼ ʻOf course, we have a real ghost, you know, in the north wing. A very beautiful young girl – my great-aunt Ethel, who died in the bloom of life. She longed terribly to live – she was going to be married. This is a house of tragical memories, my dear.ʼ [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, pages 290-291]
I hope youʼll be comfortable, my dear. Mary has aired the bed and put two hot bricks in it. And she has aired this night-dress for you …” pointing to an ample flannel garment hanging over a chair and smelling strongly of moth balls. “I hope it will fit you. It hasnʼt been worn since poor Mother died in it. Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you …” Miss Minerva turned back at the door … “this is the room Oscar Tomgallon came back to life in—after being thought dead for two days. They didnʼt want him to, you know—that was the tragedy. I hope youʼll sleep well, my dear.” [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 240]	I hope youʼll be comfortable, my dear. Mary has aired the bed and put two hot bricks in it. And she has aired this nightdress for you,ʼ pointing to an ample flannel garment hanging over a chair and smelling strongly of moth-balls. ʻI hope it will fit you. It hasnʼt been worn since poor Mother died in it. Oh, I nearly forgot to tell youʼ – Miss Minerva turned back at the door – ʻAunt Annabella hanged herself in that closet. She had been … melancholy … for quite a time, and finally she was not invited to a wedding she thought she should have been, and it preyed on her mind. Aunt Annabella always liked to be in the limelight. I hope you'll sleep well, my dear.ʼ [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, page 292]

The Third Year, Chapter 14

Anne of Windy Poplars	Anne of Windy Willows
I was glad it belonged to Miss Minerva and not to the wife of Uncle Alexander. Iʼm sure I could never have worn it if it had. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 256]	I was glad it belonged to Miss Minerva and not to Annabella. Iʼm sure I could never have worn it if it had. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, page 312]
“I went to my old graveyard yesterday evening for a last prowl … walked all round it and wondered if Herbert Pringle occasionally chuckled to himself in his grave. [1998 Bantam Books reissue, page 256]	I went to my old graveyard yesterday evening for a last prowl. Walked all round it and wondered if Stephen Pringle had closed his eyes at last, and if Herbert Pringle occasionally chuckled to himself in his grave. [1994 Puffin Classics reissue, page 312]

See also

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