Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-03-11

poet with an account of how he had
been endeavoriDg to interest Haw-
thorne In legend of Acadia. A young
maiden, he said, in the hurry and con-
fusion of the enforced embarkation,
had been separated from her lover.
The years went by and constantly she
sought him, but not until they were
both old did the twain meet again.
The gentleman, whose name has not
been preserved, said that he had recon-
mended the subject to Hawthorne as
a fit topic for novel, but that the lat
ter did not see his way clear to put 1t
in literary shape, having other work on
hand at the time. Longfellow caught
at the subject, and asked If 1t would be
agreeable for him to use 1t In poem.
The gentleman cheerfully consented,
and Hawthorne, too. willingly turned
over the subject to Longfellow for
poetical treatment. This, 1t is stated
on apparently good authority, was the
origin of "Evangeline," but this anec-
dote gives no idea of the manner in
which the subject must have spread out
before the mind of the poet as he was
working it up in all its fullness of de-
tail for the eyes of his readers.
The story of "Evangeline" is by no
means the only literary relic of Area
die, or, as the English call 1t, Acadia,
for among the $4,000 present French
inhabitants of that region there still
linger many legends of the day when
the French residents were ruthlessly
driven from the homes they had found
ed for themselves, from the farms they
had taken pains to render fertile and
valuable by the labor Of their hands.
With remarkable pertinacity do the
French of Nova Scotia cling to the
language, the dress, the manners and
customs of their ancestors, and travel
ers assure us that when among them
the impression is strong that one Is In
France, but in q France grown old,
the France of 200 years ago, the Brit
tany or Normandy of the days when
Louis le Grand strutted along the
walks Of Fontainebleau and imagined
himself the greatest of monarchs who
had ever lived. For it is a curious fact
that among colonists separated from
the mother country there have fingered
relics of observance in unimpaired
exactitude just as they were brought
from the mother country. The mother
country changes; the colony does not.
When the American revolution broke
out little colonies of Dutch in New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania
already spoke an antiquated dialect;
in Acadia and also Canada, French is
spoken, but 1t is an antiquated French
the French of two centuries ago.
The story of Acadia is one Of those
pathetic narratives which are some.
times found In tradition, less frequent.
ly in actual history. The western
coast Of Nova Scotia was claimed and
settled by the French as early as 1904,
but not long after this date 1t was
also claimed by the English. The
land of that region was regarded as
valuable. principally from its proximi.
ty to the water, for even at that early
date the immense value of the fisheries
on the banks of Newfoundland and In
the surrounding waters had already
been recognized, and as the whole
country was claimed both by the
French and by the English, quarrels
as TO Jurisdiction, the right to fish in
the neighborlng sea and the right to
land for water, for provisions, and to
dress and dry the fish, were very fre.
quent. During the wars between
England and France, all the American
colonies suffered to a greater or less
extent, but Acadians, perhaps, most OF
all, for they were In position where,
although situated close to their French
friends on the mainland, they were yet
closer to the English. With the former
they could not side: with the latter they