How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Mary gave a little involuntary jump.
"Oh! did she die!" she exclaimed, quite without meaning to. She had just remembered a French fairy story she had once read called "Riquet a la Houppe." It had been about a poor hunchback and a beautiful princess and it had made her suddenly sorry for Mr. Archibald Craven. (2.49-50)
This moment in the carriage on the way to Misselthwaite Manor—when Mary hears the tragic story of her uncle Archibald Craven from his housekeeper Mrs. Medlock—is probably the first moment in this whole novel when we really see that Mary isn't a completely insensitive little sociopath.
Quote #2
It was Mrs. Craven's garden that she had made when first they were married an' she just loved it, an' they used to 'tend the flowers themselves. An' none o' th' gardeners was ever let to go in. Him an' her used to go in an' shut th' door an' stay there hours an' hours, readin' and talkin'. An' she was just a bit of a girl an' there was an old tree with a branch bent like a seat on it. An' she made roses grow over it an' she used to sit there. But one day when she was sittin' there th' branch broke an' she fell on th' ground an' was hurt so bad that next day she died. Th' doctors thought he'd go out o' his mind an' die, too. That's why he hates it. No one's never gone in since, an' he won't let any one talk about it. (5.34)
Mr. Craven's storyline follows exactly the opposite pattern of Mary and Colin's. Mary and Colin spend the novel learning how to be happy for the first time, without ever having experienced happiness before in their lives. Mr. Craven was happy—really happy—but he lost all of that when his wife died. When he closes off the Secret Garden after his death, it represents his belief that he can never be happy again.
Quote #3
"I got up at four o'clock," [Martha] said. "Eh! it was pretty on th' moor with th' birds gettin' up an' th' rabbits scamperin' about an' th' sun risin'. I didn't walk all th' way. A man gave me a ride in his cart an' I did enjoy myself."
She was full of stories of the delights of her day out. Her mother had been glad to see her and they had got the baking and washing all out of the way. She had even made each of the children a doughcake with a bit of brown sugar in it.
"I had 'em all pipin' hot when they came in from playin' on th' moor. An' th' cottage all smelt o' nice, clean hot bakin' an' there was a good fire, an' they just shouted for joy. Our Dickon he said our cottage was good enough for a king." (8.5-7)
Martha's speech here about the joys of her day off can be a little tough to take for today's readers. That is, she's so glad that she gets to go home at 4:00AM to help her mother bake and wash for her many brothers and sisters before coming right back to work.
Would a servant really be so happy that she gets to do yet more cleaning back at home? We can believe that Martha loves spending time with her mom and her brothers and sisters, sure, but Frances Hodgson Burnett seems to be working really hard here to convince us of the wholesome, happy lives of hardworking peasants. Martha's description of her home life here is like "Whistle While You Work," but without the adorable animated animals.