Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-09-18
A. W. Lee Visits Site ofOne of the
Greatest Tragedies in History
of America.
BRINGS HISTORIC SCENE TO MIND
Two Sides to the story-Exisencies of
War Made Necessary the Deporta-
ton of Over 5000 People and Confs-
cation Of Their Property.

Wolfyille, Nova Scotia. Sept. o.
Letter, No.4.-Special Correspondence.
Il sat today beneath the shadow of
the whispering willows" that were
planted by the French 200 years ago
on the site of the French-Acaolan vii
lage of Grand Pre-.
AS the wind rose and fell the sigh
ing boughs seemed to weep and sob
over the memory of the great human
tragedy which they alone, of all living
things, witnessed in those sorrowful
autumn days in the year 1855, when
from this very spot $500 men, women
and children were ruthlessly torn
from home, stripped of their proper
ty, and transplanted to foreign shore
in forced exile.
All! thought /, if these old willows
could but speak,w a tale they could
and would unfold. There, but stones
throw distant is the site of. the old
church where the French-Acadian
men We're imprisoned; there is today
the old we'll known as Evangeline's
we'll; there, the spot where stood the
smithy of Basil, the blacksmith; here
the good priests house; and in imag-
nation could see the street of the
quaint old Acadian village, with its
small, but neatly kept houses, their
low ceilings and matched roofs. Sen
timent will go a long ways, and in my
musings it seemed to me an easy task
to picture the beautiful and gentle
Evangeline moving about upon a
scene of such sweet and rustic sim
plicity. At the same time it flashed
upon me in the most unpoetic manner
that if these old willows only could
and would speak, what an everlasting
scoop | would score on all the other
papers in existence.
But the willows simply sighed and
remained as dumb as when their strip
ling roots first took hold in this fer
tile soil. They have grown old and
bent and twisted with age, and the
tragedy enacted on this spot has pass
ed into history. In the light of mod
ern civilization it is hard to compre
bend how this forced and ruthless de
portation of over 5000 French from
Nova Scotia with all their property
confiscated or destroyed, save only
, their simplest household effects, coulC
have been possible. Today the hui
manity of civilization would cry ou
against such war measure so strenu
ously and effectively that no Christian
nation would attempt to carry out sucf
a policy. say christian Nation
for the atrocities committed on thu
helpless Armenians by the unspeals
able Turk during the past five year.
are vastly worse than the events tina
mark the great Acadian tragedy OILS
years ago.
Two Sides to the Story.
How true it is that there are twt
sides to almost every story Unde
the conditions then existing, with En-
gland and her American colonies en-
gagged in a life and death struggle witt
England's hereditary enemy, tn
French monarchy, there are strong
grounds for believing that the force,
removal of the French-Acadians was
war measure that could not be avoid
ed. Then as now, war meant cruelt
and suffering. This deportation of in
nocent women and children, with al
Its attendant misery, was but a par
of that inevitable condition so fore
bly, stated by General Sherman whe
he said, War is hell"
1t is somewhat amusing to note tina
the good people of English descen
who now occupy this garden spot i
Nova Scotia, are just little bit ser
sitive about this matter, and the toul
list is soon informed that the exile c
the Acadians was done by New Ell
gland soldiers, on the imperative d,
mand of the people of Massachusetts
and the other New England colonies
Noting this fact, said to Ne,
Highlander today, Now. will you b
good" but he persisted in pleadin;
Not guilty"
The other side of the story, as give
In a very comprehensive Nova Scot
guide book. issued by the passeng,
department of the Dominion Atlant
railway, will, | believe, be read vii
much interest 1t is as follows:
When Longfellow wrote the stol
of Evangeline he did not fully unde
stand all the facts. The expulsion
the Acadians was not a piece of wa
r