Spencervale

Spencervale is the destination of Anne Shirley and Diana Barry’s search for a replacement willow-ware platter, and the narrative evokes it through the quiet, sparsely traveled Tory Road and a countryside parched by weeks without rain. It is both a practical place on the girls’ route and a landscape whose condition sharpens Anne’s concern for the surrounding farms and gardens.

Setting and approach

The girls travel ten miles to Spencervale on a hot, windless afternoon after six weeks of dry weather. Dust lies thick on the road, and Anne’s attention turns to the strain on the land: she sees the fields as pitiful, imagines the trees pleading for rain, and worries about her garden. She also recalls that J. A. Harrison’s pastures are so scorched that his cows can scarcely find enough to eat.

After reaching Spencervale, Anne and Diana turn down the Tory Road. The green, solitary highway bears little sign of use: strips of grass run between its wheel tracks, and thick-set young spruces crowd the roadside. Occasional openings reveal a Spencervale farm’s back field or stretches of stumps bright with fireweed and goldenrod. The route makes the settlement’s rural quiet tangible through its vegetation, sparse traffic, and intermittent clearings.

Residents and local explanation

The Tory Road is associated with only a few residents. Diana says that the Copp girls live along it and that old Martin Bovyer lives at the far end; she describes Bovyer as a Liberal. When Anne asks about the road’s name, Diana relays Mr. Allan’s explanation: the name is ironic, since the Tory government had the road put through while in power to demonstrate that it was doing something. The account links a local place-name to political rivalry, while presenting that explanation as reported local lore rather than an independently confirmed history.

The platter search

Spencervale enters the episode as a possible source of a replacement for the willow-ware platter used at a supper. Diana has heard from Mary Sentner, who saw her in Mr. Blair’s store, that the Copp girls on the Tory Road own a platter thought to resemble the one the girls need. Martha Copp may be willing to sell it; if not, Diana knows of another possible platter at Wesley Keyson’s in Spencervale, although she cannot be sure it matches Aunt Josephine’s.

The search gives the place a practical significance within the story: Anne is anxious to find a replacement before visiting Aunt Josephine, and the prospect of one at Wesley Keyson’s helps send the friends out on their journey. The journey also gives Spencervale its defining narrative texture—not as a bustling town, but as the destination of a determined errand through a lonely, drought-stricken landscape.