River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-10-14
THE AROOSTOOK FRENCH.
Queer People who Live in the DemO-
cratic stronghold of Maine.
Rostnp Uarald

The Madawaska settlement in Maine
comprises strip of country lying
along the st. John river, beginning ut
Hamlin, half dozen miles from
Grand Falls, n. b., aud extending in Il
northwCsterly direction fifty miles up
the river. There are eleven towns or
organized plantations with an aggre-
gate population Of something like 800,
of which tbrec-quarters or more is of
French descent, The exiles from
Acadia, immOrtalizcd i'll "Evangeline,"
were the first settlers in this valley,
which, though i'll higher latitude than
Quebec, and oppressed by long and
severe winters, of which some wonder
full stories are told, is one Of the most
fertile and beautiful in New England
The original settlers and Canadians
who have joined them occupy
wide strip of intervale land along
the banks of the st. John.
Travellers have often described the
manners Of this simple people. They
are as unlike the Yankee of fifty miles
to the south Of they us can well be inn
agined. They have no genius for accu-
mutation, no desire for imprOveme emit
They were born without ambitson, and
enjoy life correspOndinglv "The Lord
got along well enough before we were
born" they say, "and he will after
we are gone" 4 New England man
would call them shiftless. Their farm
ing is of the most primative order
There has been no change i'll the style
of their buildings for a century and
manufactures they have known. Yet
they are industrious in their way
Their wants are few and easily supplied.
A few months work at numbering in
winter provides what ready money they
see during the year. The traders handle
less money than any where else in the
country. Barter is the rule not the ex-
ception. They are a happy people, and
the strains of a fiddle, such as can fire.
quently be heard by the traveller, will
at any time keep a dozen of them in
contented idleness for half day.
They are religious, not to say super
stitious. They are ardent Catholics,
and the churches which they have
erected are in striking contrast to the
prevailing architecture. A convent and
school on the New Brunswick side of
the river are noted throughout the
whole section, and the latter is well
patronized by parents all the way from
Grand Falls to Quebec 1t is a sight to
see the throngs making their way to-
ward church of a Sunday morn
ing. Some on foot, some on horse
back, some in carriages which carried
fashionable people half Il centu-
ny ago, some IN gigs of the rudest home
manufacture, here half dozen in a
wagon, there a large party on 4 hay
rack. They will start many of them,
three or four hours before mass, and
drive all distances, from one to a dozen
miles. The feast days of the church
are celebrated as nowhere else in New
England. After mass the priest gives
notice of any coming occurrences
likely to be of interest to his flock, such
as the fact that trader will be at n
designated place on a given day to buy
cattle, for the people, it should be re
membered have no newspapers, and
could not read thom if they had. At
ter mass, too, when an election APP
proaches, the candidates for Office are
allowed and expected to harangue the
people from the steps of the church.