The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05

peasants Being shut out, or in. from the
world, with no desire for contact. they
90 not seem to feel the necessity Of popu-
lar education. They are shrewd as a
class, and they think their native cum
nlng will come through The well-to-do
class nave merely the rudiments of an
education, and in French, such as the
peasants of Brittany are content with.
The average visitor to this Petit Paris
is content TO be shown the grave of sweet
Eyangeline,' hear the story from some
one Of the chrOniclers, and hurriedly de-
part, like the American globe-trotter
VINO spends fifteen minutes in the great
cathedral at Rome, Acadian history is
handed down in song, as in the days when
the poets and wandering minstrels
sang, before the dawn of printed
literature BY this means the story
OF Emmeline Labiche and her false lover,
LOUIS ArceneaX, was kept alive and
handed down until Longfe low put it into
'nvlng verse; Longfellow makes mis-
take in giving to her lover the name Ga
briel His name was Louis Arceneax. and
he and his siXteen-year-old sweetheart
lived in the village of ST. Gabriel, in the
province of Acadia. This Historical in
accuracy may be attributed to poetic
license. She was the belle of the village
un her lovers eyes, and he the
handsomest man lin her eyes, The
banns of the marriage had been
proclaimed at the church But the
usual slip occurred. The British troops
drove the Acadians from the country, as
rebels. During the strike for freedom
Louis was wounded, put on vessel and
shipped to the inhospitable shores of
Maryland His fiancee witnessed his
struggle. He drfted down to Louisiana
through the aid of the Tennessee and
Mississippi, and thence up the little
Bayou Teche TO the Poste de Attakopas
as far from civilization as he could get.
The Acadians naturally sought the
French settlements in Louisiana, in
order to be among their own people In
the next band of exiles was Emmeline
Labiche, the orphaned girl, betrOthed TO
ArcencaX. She was accompanied by, or
under the charge of, Mrs Bordat, an
Acadian exile, who ComfOrted Emmeline
in her search for her lost lover, and gave
to her the Sweeter name of Evangeline-
little angel" Mrs Bordat handed
down the story to her children and grand
children, to the effect that on the death
OF Emmelne's parents she took her to her
house "as one of her own children" The
aged Acadian lady relates in words more
poetic than poetry the accidental meet
ing Of Evangeline and Arceneax under
the huge live-Oak tree and her sOrrowful
fate, Mother. mother it is he; it is
Louis ~ These were the joyous words Of
Evangeline as she pointed to the tall fig
ure of a man reclining beneath a
large oak in the church-yard -
The man did not notice her,
and when she cried: II am your En-
incline; have you forgotten meN~he hung
his head and merely replied: II can love
you no longer have pledged my faith to
another. Tear from your heart the re-
membrance of the past, and forgive mel"
So saying he walked away, leaving En-
incline crying by the side of her foster
mother
"Emmeline, my dear girl come away
there yet may be happiness in store for
YOU" said Mrs. Bordat taking the heart
stricken girl by her icy cold hands, and
leading her away as n child.
"Emmeline2 Emmeline," said the poor
girl, with vacant stare, as if trying TO
recall some happy illusion who is EN-
meiine!'
The unfortunate Emmeline was insane.
The poor girl never recognized any one
but her foster mother, and ever lived in
the past, trying to recall scenes in her old
Acadian home of her love and of Louis
OF evenings she wandered by the banks
of the Teche, gathering flowers, singing
in an undertone, with weird like sweet
ness, an Acadian song, which she and her
recreant lover Louis had no doubt often
sung together in their native village
when love was new. and before Louis saw
that ''other one who wrecked the happy
life of sweet Evangeline"
Such Is the true story as told by Mrs.
Bordat, Invested of its Acadian verbiage
and patois Evangeline soon died. and
was buried in the old churchyard under
meath the wide spreading branches of
that druidical oak tree against which her
stole lover was leaning when she discov-
cred him. Mrs. Bordat says nothing
about the lover being buried by her side,
and no doubt that is another poetic
license. But the figure Still stands
the forest primeval" is correct, for the
live oak still stands and fourishes, and
''Maidens still wear their Norman caps and
kirtles OF homespun,
And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's
story
During the life of Mrs. Bordat and her
lineal descendants, the grave of Evange-
line was properly cared for, and on every
Sabbath and festival day it was Dedecked
with wreaths of pure white roses, of
which sweet Evangeline" seemed to be
80 fond But within the past few years
the grave has been neglected, the earth
has sunken and been trodden over by the
impious foot of the sightseer, and the
primeval forest" is all that marks the
grave of sweet Evangeline," the little
angel.