The Girl Who Drove the Cows

"The Girl Who Drove the Cows" is a charming children's story by Lucy Maud Montgomery, featuring themes of rural life, imagination, and the bond between humans and nature. The narrative follows a young girl named Anne, who embarks on the delightful yet challenging task of driving cows to pasture. Through her adventures, she navigates the joys and trials of growing up, showcasing Montgomery's signature lyrical prose and deep understanding of childhood innocence. This story reflects the beauty of the countryside and the intricacies of familial relationships, making it a timeless tale for readers of all ages.

• Short story

								
"I wonder who that pleasant-looking girl who drives cows down the
beech lane every morning and evening is," said Pauline Palmer, at the
tea table of the country farmhouse where she and her aunt were
spending the summer. Mrs. Wallace had wanted to go to some fashionable
watering place, but her husband had bluntly told her he couldn't
afford it. Stay in the city when all her set were out she would not,
and the aforesaid farmhouse had been the compromise.

"I shouldn't suppose it could make any difference to you who she is,"
said Mrs. Wallace impatiently. "I do wish, Pauline, that you were more
careful in your choice of associates. You hobnob with everyone, even
that old man who comes around buying eggs. It is very bad form."

Pauline hid a rather undutiful smile behind her napkin. Aunt Olivia's
snobbish opinions always amused her.

"You've no idea what an interesting old man he is," she said. "He can
talk more entertainingly than any other man I know. What is the use of
being so exclusive, Aunt Olivia? You miss so much fun. You wouldn't be
so horribly bored as you are if you fraternized a little with the
'natives,' as you call them."

"No, thank you," said Mrs. Wallace disdainfully.

"Well, I am going to try to get acquainted with that girl," said
Pauline resolutely. "She looks nice and jolly."

"I don't know where you get your low tastes from," groaned Mrs.
Wallace. "I'm sure it wasn't from your poor mother. What do you
suppose the Morgan Knowles would think if they saw you taking up with
some tomboy girl on a farm?"

"I don't see why it should make a great deal of difference what they
would think, since they don't seem to be aware of my existence, or
even of yours, Aunty," said Pauline, with twinkling eyes. She knew it
was her aunt's dearest desire to get in with the Morgan Knowles'
"set"--a desire that seemed as far from being realized as ever. Mrs.
Wallace could never understand why the Morgan Knowles shut her from
their charmed circle. They certainly associated with people much
poorer and of more doubtful worldly station than hers--the Markhams,
for instance, who lived on an unfashionable street and wore quite
shabby clothes. Just before she had left Colchester, Mrs. Wallace had
seen Mrs. Knowles and Mrs. Markham together in the former's
automobile. James Wallace and Morgan Knowles were associated in
business dealings; but in spite of Mrs. Wallace's schemings and
aspirations and heart burnings, the association remained a purely
business one and never advanced an inch in the direction of
friendship.

As for Pauline, she was hopelessly devoid of social ambitions and she
did not in the least mind the Morgan Knowles' remote attitude.

"Besides," continued Pauline, "she isn't a tomboy at all. She looks
like a very womanly, well-bred sort of girl. Why should you think her
a tomboy because she drives cows? Cows are placid, useful
animals--witness this delicious cream which I am pouring over my
blueberries. And they have to be driven. It's an honest occupation."

"I daresay she is someone's servant," said Mrs. Wallace
contemptuously. "But I suppose even that wouldn't matter to you,
Pauline?"

"Not a mite," said Pauline cheerfully. "One of the very nicest girls I
ever knew was a maid Mother had the last year of her dear life. I
loved that girl, Aunt Olivia, and I correspond with her. She writes
letters that are ten times more clever and entertaining than those
stupid epistles Clarisse Gray sends me--and Clarisse Gray is a rich
man's daughter and is being educated in Paris."

"You are incorrigible, Pauline," said Mrs. Wallace hopelessly.

"Mrs. Boyd," said Pauline to their landlady, who now made her
appearance, "who is that girl who drives the cows along the beech lane
mornings and evenings?"

"Ada Cameron, I guess," was Mrs. Boyd's response. "She lives with the
Embrees down on the old Embree place just below here. They're
pasturing their cows on the upper farm this summer. Mrs. Embree is her
father's half-sister."

"Is she as nice as she looks?"

"Yes, Ada's a real nice sensible girl," said Mrs. Boyd. "There is no
nonsense about her."

"That doesn't sound very encouraging," murmured Pauline, as Mrs. Boyd
went out. "I like people with a little nonsense about them. But I hope
better things of Ada, Mrs. Boyd to the contrary notwithstanding. She
has a pair of grey eyes that can't possibly always look sensible. I
think they must mellow occasionally into fun and jollity and wholesome
nonsense. Well, I'm off to the shore. I want to get that photograph of
the Cove this evening, if possible. I've set my heart on taking first
prize at the Amateur Photographers' Exhibition this fall, and if I can
only get that Cove with all its beautiful lights and shadows, it will
be the gem of my collection."

Pauline, on her return from the shore, reached the beech lane just as
the Embree cows were swinging down it. Behind them came a tall,
brown-haired, brown-faced girl in a neat print dress. Her hat was hung
over her arm, and the low evening sunlight shone redly over her smooth
glossy head. She carried herself with a pretty dignity, but when her
eyes met Pauline's, she looked as if she would smile on the slightest
provocation.

Pauline promptly gave her the provocation.

"Good evening, Miss Cameron," she called blithely. "Won't you please
stop a few moments and look me over? I want to see if you think me a
likely person for a summer chum."

Ada Cameron did more than smile. She laughed outright and went over to
the fence where Pauline was sitting on a stump. She looked down into
the merry black eyes of the town girl she had been half envying for a
week and said humorously: "Yes, I think you very likely, indeed. But
it takes two to make a friendship--like a bargain. If I'm one, you'll
have to be the other."

"I'm the other. Shake," said Pauline, holding out her hand.

That was the beginning of a friendship that made poor Mrs. Wallace
groan outwardly as well as inwardly. Pauline and Ada found that they
liked each other even more than they had expected to. They walked,
rowed, berried and picnicked together. Ada did not go to Mrs. Boyd's a
great deal, for some instinct told her that Mrs. Wallace did not look
favourably on her, but Pauline spent half her time at the little,
brown, orchard-embowered house at the end of the beech lane where the
Embrees lived. She had never met any girl she thought so nice as Ada.

"She is nice every way," she told the unconvinced Aunt Olivia. "She's
clever and well read. She is sensible and frank. She has a sense of
humour and a great deal of insight into character--witness her liking
for your niece! She can talk interestingly and she can also be silent

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