Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-04-18
Gales and Sketfkes.
rae HOME OF EvAxGELISE.

IL inc poet uTedfu Ol al earthly para
disc was ever realized. it was in the home
of Evangeline, the lovely heroine of Long
fellows most pathetic poem. This beau
tiful land of flowers was truly the 'home
Of the happy:
.Ther d-et tog ther in love, these simple Acsdiau
Dwell, =. IA 1--we of God and man.
Neither had they locks 10 their doors. nor bars to
But t. d~tllinss were open as day and the hearts
There The ricet poor, and the poorest lived in
abundance"
It is difficult to appreciate, amid the splen-
did material progress Of the nineteenth
century, a community so secluded and yet
30 happy.-possessing 80 little, yet so con-
tented. Theirs was not that state of nature
80 enthusiastically advocated by Rousseau,
who unnaturally abandoned his children
30 the mercy of strangers. Theirs was
rot the stern virtue of ancient Rome.
which applauded a father for buIchering
his sons. While not possessing the ''pe-
cuiar" VIRTUES of Rome, they were also
| free from its atrocious vices. Suicide. in
| lanticide and averice were unknown
,mong the Acadans. Pride, which caused
| The tall OF Adam, the ruin of Greece, and
he destruction of Babylon and Rome. was
inheard OF in the happy Valley of Grand
Pre-. where
- Il men were equal, and all were brothers and
| sisters"
Imagine people living in peace and
plenty, free from all the care and ankle
les ofcivilized life, while enjoying all its
Misunderstanding together as in a
| ommon brotherhood, but without the
noroseness of Sparta.-bright. cheerful.
lively. but without the frivolty OF Athens,
| people, so good, so simple. so honest.
| hat laws were unnecessary and lawyers
Unknown, Plato never dreamed OF u re-
| public so truly admirable as Acadia. while
he famous Arcadia OF the ancients did not
| approach IT in the sweetness, beauty and
implicitly of its pastoral life.
| The Valley of Grand Pre- is the most
beautiful in British America. The patient
industry of the Acadians had reclaimed it
| from marsh and sea, and turned it into
fertile meadows. They led simple, pas
toral and pairiUchal life, with no desire
tor wealth and no ambitious aspirations ::
their lovely wales were covered with flocks
of sheep ann herds of cattle.
| Eli. was Aeadia.-this the land
Tnst weary sOuls have .igh-d for;
| This was Acadis this the land
| Her, c h, hts have died for
Our own Valley OF Wyoming alone can
compare with the Valley of Grand Pre- in
beauty and sorrow.
The happy. pastoral life OF this commu-
nifty must have suggested to Goldsmith
.ome OF the most touching scenes in the
.Des erted Village" Young men and
women married early. As soon as Il
Young man was old enough to marry, the
community built him house, cultivated
the lands about it, and furnished him with
| all the necessaries OF life for one year.
| r.iher he brought his chosen partner.
who contributed her portion in fiocks.
| Longfellow furnishes us, in his descrip-
ion of Evangeline. with an idea of the
loneliness of the Acadan girls:
"far WAS she to behold. that maiden of seventeen
| summers,
Black were her eyes the berry that grows on the
thorn by the waysite;
| b ack, Yet how softly They cleaned beneath the
| brown shade OF her tresses."
Her eyes were bright. her teeth white and
red brown were her cheeks. She wore
| Norman cap, blue kirtle, and earrings
brought in the o,len times from France,
which were priced as an heirloom and
handed down from mother to child through
long generations. The days Of those hap
py maidens were passed in simple house,
hold duties. spinning flax. milking.
ch,rning. etc., each and all accompanied
by the tender ballads of France. which
"era sung with the untaught pathos OF
the birds.
BY the Treaty of Utrecht. in 17l3. the
Acadians became subjects of the English
Crown; but it was expressly stipulated
that they should notbe compelled to fight
against their French countrymen, that
they should retain possession of their
lands. and be permitted the free exercise
of their religion. From that time they
were called the neutral French" AT
first, they were treated with some con-
>ideration; for the English wanted their
valuable services in the construction OF
roads, bikes, forts. and in the cultivation
of the soil. But in n few years the con-
1uerors had established themselves Sc
curely in Nova Scotia. and were not long
in showing that they not only had the
strength. but intended to use it. The
| Acadians were excluded from holding
office, deprived Of the right of representa-
ton, and not allowed to appeal 10 the
courts for the redress of wrongs. They
were Obliged to cut wood for the building
of English forts. failing to do which they
were told that their houses would be
pulled down for the purpose. They were
ordered to furnish provisions. and threat.
ened with the destruction of their crops
and cattle if they refused. All these in
| justices were endured with unfailing pa
| thence.
When Charles Edward. in 1745. at
tempted to regain the throne of his ances.
tors, George H. insisted upon the Aca
iians taking an oath by which they wert
required to become loyal subjects OF
Great Britain.-to bear arms against theil
counirymen and the Indians. to whom
they were bound by many ties of graft
tudc and affection. The conscences Of
the Acadians rebelled at a requisition ''s"
repugnant TO the feelings of human nh
ture." Three hundred of the younger
and more imprlsive of their number re-
solved to fight rather than to submit to
such terms, and were found in arms al
the taking OF Fort Beau Sejour
This offered the occasion which
was wanted. The whole OF
the twenty thousand neutral French
were made to suffer for the act OF
the 800. In vain was their protest thai
this resistance was contrary to their wishe'
their habits and beyond their control
Their entire destruction or dispersion wa