St. Landry democrat., 1891-02-07

a VA 'i1N
Give us the land that hath legends and lays,
That tell of the memories of onS-vanishcd
GIVE us a land with a grave in each spot,
And names on the graves that shall nccr be
Give us the land of the wreck aud the tomb,
there's grandeur i'll gravcS-therc's glory in
gloom
The thousands who have been thrilled
w the beautiful poem of LongtelloW,
"A Tale of Acadia" know but little,
:,crtaps, of the subject of it, aud the cir
cumstances that led to its production.
The story here is that the son of a
wealthy Acadian, who was a classmate
IF LongfelloW, gave the legend to him,
aud in after years he used it as the sub
sect OF the poem. The first time | read
ne poem, entranced by its beauty, but
SnddeDed by the mourntul story Of
,.vangeline, | little thought L should
ever visit the land and stand upon the
Around where her sacred ashes minsle
with parent dust. In the quiet, quaint
old French town of st. Martinsville, on
the banks of the Teche, W here Evauge-
line met her lost lover, after her long,
weary journey, under the shadow of the
walls of st. Martins church, the unfor-
tunate girl sleeps the last, long, unbro-
ken sleep.
The Acadians came to the new world
before the landing OF the Pilgrims on
ment at jamestown in Virginia. They
settled in the peninsuIar OF Nova Scotia,
and, as all readers of colonial history
know, Nova Scotia was ceded by
France to England in 1918. The inhab
ltants refused to acknowledge the Eng
iish monarch, and believed they would
again be reunited with France. An ex-
peditiOn was fitted out by the English in
l775, which sailed from Massachusetts
ON the Goth Of May, OF that year, under
the command of Gen. Moncton. They
soon conquered the whole OF the PENN
sula. The English required the AGA
dians, who sympathized with their coun-
trymen of French descent, to take the
oath of allegiance to the monarch of
England, and those who refused were
without knowing their fate or destina-
ton, were transported to Louisiana,
then province of France, and landed
upon the marshy shores, Inhabited by
the most barbarOus savages and wild
beasts. Among these was Louis
Arceneau, the legendary lover of Evan
geline, of St. Gabriel, the native place of
the unfortunate lovers. Descendants of
these exiles from Acadia, in Nova SEQ
tia, are still to be found in Southwest
Louisiana, and more quiet and hospi-
table people exists nowhere have been.
SO much for the historical facts upon
which the poem Of Longfe!loW was
founded.
And now for the legend Of Evange-
line:
1t was told me by Col. Felix Voor-
hies, of St. ENTHUSIASTICALLY the way, a
second cousin to the Tall Sycamore of
the Wabash" and who visit each other
occasionally. Col. VOORHEES, had the
story from his mother, and she from her
grandmother, Mrs. Bordat, who accom-
panied Evangeline in her wanderings to
that land, described to her by Father
Felician
ests of fruit trees;
Under the feet a garden Of flowers, and the
. bluest of heavens
Bending above, and resting its dome on the
walls of the forest;
They who dwell there have named it the Eden
of Louisiana"
gave the legend in my own words
instead of those of Mrs. Bordat, which
is plentifully interspersed with French
words and phrases:
Evangeline is no mysthical character.
Though considerable pOetical license is
used by Longfellow, the poem is found
cd on facts which, in great measure, are
AS follows: The true name of Evauge-
line was Emmeline Labiche. Her pa
rents had died when she was a small
child, and she had been brought up by
Mrs. BOrdat, upon whose statement the
story of her life is founded. She is des-
crlbed as sweet tempered child, who
grew to womanhood with all the attrac-
lions of her sex, and, while no beauty, in
the usual sense given to that word, was
looked upon as the handsomest girl in
st. Gabriel.
Evangeline, or Emmeline Labiche,
had completed her sixteenth year aud |
was betrothed to Louis Arceneau'
Their nuptlals were to be celebrated in |
a short time, when their beautiful Ar
cadia was ravaged by the English SOL
dlers, and all who refused allegiance to
England We're hurried on board the
English ships. In the hurry of embar-
katlon friends and families were separa-
tea and never saw each other again un-
til their exile was ACCOMPLISHED and
they met in the wilds of Louisiana.
And some never met again on earth.
Louis Arceneau refused to leave his
native home, and resisted his enemies
with rage and despair, until severely
wounded, when he was taken up and
carried aboard the ship. Emmeline
Witnessed the Whole scene, and when
the white sails of the ship which bore
her lover away faded in the distance,
she uttered piercing scream and fell
senseless. upon the beach. When she.
recovered her senses she clasped Mother
BOrdat in her arms, exclaining in broken
words: Mother! mother! thew have t,
killed him What will become Of me2U
The remembrance of her lost lover re-
mained enshrined in her young heart.
never to be contaminated with love for
mother. She lived among her frie nds.
sweet tempered, but with sadness de-
olcted on her cOuntenance, and smiles
20 sOrrowful that they came to look up-
~ her as their guardian angel, SO that,
where she dWelt no harm could come
md for these angelic traits, they agreed
o call her no longer Emmeline, but
Evangeline," or Goods little angel"
Thus was her name changed, and ever /
.tter known in the sad story OF her I
ife.
After the Acadians were driven from Il
SoVa Scotia, as detailed above, those C
Gmaining were eventually exiled to 4
iaryland, among whom were Evange- i
me and her foster mother, Bordat
from the stories they learned in NARY
ana, or emigrants who had gone to D
louisiana, Evangeline became Impress b
~ with the idea that in the land of
ternal summer she should find her lost W
over: through vast wilderness, be- fl
et with dangers Of every kind, and in oil
aolted only by barbarous sayages and S.
casts OF prey, accompanied nv Mother