After the Dancing Days Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter 5 Summary

Summer arrives and Annie's interests move away from her neighborhood friends, Emily and Darby. Annie finds herself spending much time alone. One of Annie's favorite pastimes is to visit the library where Mrs. Metcalf's friend, Ruth, who is a librarian, introduces Annie to all the beautiful maps available for view. Annie is fascinated by the countries, with their exotic-sounding names and the lure of potentially visiting them someday.

One afternoon, Annie plays checkers with her Grandfather, who shares his experience of visiting the soldiers at St. John's. In the evenings, Dr. Metcalf also tells Annie about the hospital, but mostly talks about the nuns who actually run St. John's. Reluctantly, Dr. Metcalf tells Annie little stories about some of the wounded soldiers; and Mrs. Metcalf almost always leaves the room when the conversation turns to the subject of the injured men. Contrary to her mother's position, Annie is very interested...
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