The Portland daily press., 1874-07-07
The True Story of Acadie

The True Story Of Acadie.
Whoever chances to be in central or east
ern Maine at this season of the year, witness
es the annual lncursion OF foreign people.
Along all the highways come strange little
wooden carts without springs, drawn by
tough little Canadian horses, and loaded
down with chattering Frenchmen till no part
of the structure is visible bat the wheels.
These people who come every year from the
ST. Francois and the other French settle
ments in the Province of Quebec to help The
Yankee farmers cut their hay, are for the
most part incredibly ignorant and dirty; they
have a certain Gallo aptness for the use OF
strangely involved and complicated oaths, that
excites the envy of Americans who, in gen.
eral, are limited to the straightforward An
plo-Saxon oath "wi.h it's three terrific speci-
fications." But they are harmless folk,
less quarrelsome than the Irish, more pictur-
esque than the Germans and much less intel
ligent than either. If we were not afraid of
involving ourselves with the ever-watchful
''W. g." who, in virtue of his position as an
original investigator, as well as member of
the Maine Historical Society ard the New
England Historical and Genealogical Society,
exercises meIciless censorship over the press
of these coasts in the matter of historical
statements-if we were not afraid of that, We
should state, what we believe to be true, that
many of these people, as well as those who
snhabit the rapidly growing French settle
ments at Waterville, Lewiston and other
Maine towns, are descendants of the hapless
Acadians whose removal from Nova Scotia
forms the subject of Longfellow's Evangeline.
1T this be so, there has been great change in
the manners and habits of the neat and fru-
gal Norman-French OF the "beautiful village
of Grand Pre-" since their baibarous remov-
al from their old homes. They have also in
culated to excite the wonder of the unprolific
American stock, for it was stated at the recent
meeting of French Canadians in Quebec that
no less than half a million of them had emf
grated to the United States, and it was pro-
posed to lure them back by the offer of land
bounty.
Mr. Beecher recently complained, and
with good reason, that so many of his cor
respondents are worrying about 'sthe lost
Tribes Of Israel" He hasn't any patience
with their sOlictude. Indeed, the modern
appetite is keen for something trifle
tresher. Here are the poor lost children of
The Acadians, for instance, right before our
eyes, and who can tell anything of their sad,
romantic story since their dispersion in 1855?
Hardly anybody in the world-perhaps no.
body but ''W. G."-Hon. William Goold
of Windham, now one of our State Senators.
BY dint oflong and laborous research, pros
ecuted in libraries and i'll tire course of visits
to the old Acadian homestead, he knows the
historical side of their story as well as Long
fellow knows the poetical side. With his
usual good luck he has come into possession
of genuine treasure trove, nothing less than
the journal of an officer of one of the English
vessels kept during the trip from Grand Pre-
10 Georgia with the captive French GA board.
This, with other journals and log books,
also in his possession, together with the ira.
dtions of the descendants of the Acadians,
settlement of whom yet remains in Nova
Scotia with all the original habits aud dress
will enable so enthusiastic and accomplished
historian as Mr.. Goold to execute success
fully his project, which is to give us ga de-
scription of the Acadians or neutral French.
and history of their removal from their
homes on the Bay of Fundy," together with
some account of the condition of their de-
scendants in the United States.
he tr4e story will be found stranger than
fiction. TIE people were more numerous
than is generally supposed, numbering eigh-
teen thousand in three or four districts and
two thousand at Grand Pre- alone. They
were kept ignorant of their fate till the mo-
ment of their captivity which was simultane-
Gus in all the districts. They were alured to
labor at the gathering in Of their crops, which
were secretly allotted to the use of their
captors. The five hundred men of Grand
Pre-, like those of the other districts, were
separated from their wives and children who
went in separate ships, and most of the fami-
lies were never after reunited. From the
decks of the ships at anchor, they witnessed
the burning of their village before sailing. 1t
is the log-book of one of these vessels that,
after quiet sleep of a hundred and twenty
years in some garnet, has fallen into the right
hands. Brgader Preble of Portland, father
of the "old Commodore" was second in
command of the expedition.
OF the fitness of Mr.. Goold for the pleasant
and congenial task he has undertaken, we do
not need to speak TO the people of this state.
They will be glad to learn that he will con-
dense his work into a lecture to be delivered
before lyceums and other associations before
publication.