Amberwell Quotes

“Mrs. Ayrton was equally bewildered. She picked up the book and began to turn over the pages and in a very few moments her idea that Shakespeare’s Plays were suitable reading for the young received a severe shock. She replaced the book in her husband’s library and informed her daughters that they were not to read Shakespeare’s Plays.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“Connie and Nell and Anne looked on and admired and ran to get coloured string and pieces of wire and tied labels on to the little parcels which were to be given to their guests. It was all tremendous fun and, if the truth were told, Nell and Anne enjoyed the preparations very much more than the party itself. Nell and Anne were so shy, and so unused to the society of their kind, that they found parties an ordeal.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“I’ll not wheesht! Those children get no fun at all, they’re shut up in the attics from one year’s end to another — it’s a wonder to me if their mother knows them by sight. I wouldn’t be them for a good deal.” Janet rose as she spoke and flounced out of the room, adding as a parting shot, “The dog has a better life; he’s allowed to lie on the hearth-rug anyway.” An uncomfortable silence followed Janet’s departure for there was too much truth in what she said for her audience to treat it lightly. Mrs. Duff and Nannie and Mr. Gray had all thought the same — in their inmost hearts — though they were too loyal to breathe a word of it.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“The property was situated in a fold of the hills and sloped gently down to the sea. It consisted of meadows and a little wood and some moorland; there was a well, built of glowing yellow stone, which was fed by a spring and was always full of ice-cold water. The water itself was as clear as crystal but the reflection of the stone gave it the appearance of amber … it was this well which gave the property its name, Amberwell”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“The property was situated in a fold of the hills and sloped gently down to the sea. It consisted of meadows and a little wood and some moorland; there was a well, built of glowing yellow stone, which was fed by a spring and was always full of ice-cold water. The water itself was as clear as crystal but the reflection of the stone gave it the appearance of amber … it was this well which gave the property its name, Amberwell.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“Roger smiled. He reflected that his little sister was very unworldly. “Not really,” he said. “There are various snags. The people you would like to help won’t accept it — or if they’re in an awful mess they take it as a loan and come and pay you back a little at a time, which makes you feel quite sick and completely spoils your friendship. Then of course there are the other kind — the spongers — who approach with a Cheshire Cat grin and murmur, ‘I say, old boy, could you possibly lend me five quid?”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“As she went about her tasks — writing letters, answering telephone calls and putting the house in order — Nell reflected that the war had killed her father just as surely as if he had been shot through the heart by a German bullet. It seemed odd that he, who had stayed at home in peaceful Amberwell, should be the first casualty in the Ayrton family.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“It happens when you’re eighteen,” said Anne thoughtfully. “You’ll be eighteen next year.” “But I don’t want it to happen!” cried Nell in alarm. “I couldn’t go out to parties and — and talk to people — and go downstairs to dinner and all that.” “Perhaps when you’re eighteen —” “Not when I’m eighty! I’d rather things went on just as they are for ever.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“I’ll not wheesht! Those children get no fun at all, they’re shut up in the attics from one year’s end to another — it’s a wonder to me if their mother knows them by sight. I wouldn’t be them for a good deal.” Janet rose as she spoke and flounced out of the room, adding as a parting shot, “The dog has a better life; he’s allowed to lie on the hearth-rug anyway.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“On wet days Roger and Tom got out their clockwork trains and spread the rails all over the nursery floor. They built stations and goods yards and tunnels with bricks. It took a long time to get everything in running order and Connie and Nell and Anne were allowed to help if they did not offer too many suggestions. The boys found them quite useful (sometimes they were allowed to wind up the engines under careful supervision) and more often than not it was left to Connie and Nell and Anne to tidy up the mess when the game was over and the boys remembered that they had other important business to attend to.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“Now he altered his routine and began to take his walk in the afternoon. If the children were not to be allowed to come to him for religious instruction he must go to them. He knew they played in the gardens and was sure he would find them … but he was disappointed. The children saw him, of course, but they avoided him — as they avoided all grown-ups —”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“God likes boys better than girls, doesn’t He?” asked Anne suddenly. “No,” replied Mr. Orme. The question startled him — in fact it horrified him — but he answered it quite quietly. “No,” he repeated. “Certainly not.” “I thought He did,” said Anne. “Boys are more important, aren’t they?” “No, we are all of equal importance in the sight of God. He loves us all.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“Nannie loved babies and sometimes she so longed to hold a tiny baby in her arms that she was tempted to give in her notice and look for another post … but on the other hand she loved the Ayrton children and could not make up her mind to leave them.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“When Constance was born she was welcomed with enthusiasm by both her parents — it was delightful to have a little girl — but when her second daughter arrived Mrs. Ayrton was disappointed. Her third daughter was a disaster (there was no other word for it in Mrs. Ayrton’s opinion) for not only was the child of the wrong sex but she was positively ugly; a thin puling baby with a curiously broad forehead and no hair at all. Mrs. Ayrton took one look at the new arrival and then turned her head and wept. “She’s a nice little baby,” said the nurse. “No,” said Mrs. Ayrton between her sobs. “Perhaps it will be a boy next time.” “No,” said Mrs. Ayrton. She had made up her mind there was to be no “next time.” Three babies in three years was enough. If she could have been certain that the next one would be a son … but it might be a girl … she was not going to risk it.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“When Nell had undressed and put out the light she opened the window wide and lay looking out at the stars … and presently the moon rose from behind the hill like a great golden ball. Nell’s head ached and her heart ached too. She was too unhappy to sleep.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“As long as skies are blue and fields are green Evening must usher night, night urge the morrow, Month follow month with woe, and year wake year to sorrow PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“Standing with reluctant feet Where the brook and river meet; Womanhood and childhood fleet. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“Anne could not explain. It was always difficult for Anne to explain things even when they were clear to herself, and in this case she scarcely knew what she meant.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Thy hand shall guide me and Thy right hand shall hold me.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“From his earliest days William Ayrton’s ambition had been to become a landed gentleman and to found a family. To modern ears this ambition may sound peculiar in the extreme, but in the more spacious times of William Ayrton it was a laudable ambition”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell

“R. L. S. put it like this: ‘Let it be enough for faith that the whole creation groans in mortal frailty, strives with unconquerable constancy.”
― D.E. Stevenson, Amberwell