Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-12-04
A Pathetic Instance of Thankfulness.

A Pathetic Instance of Thankulness.
In primeval times there dwelt in
The land of Acadia, now part of
Nova Scotia, large number Of
farmers, who were descendants Of
early French colonists. According
to Longfellow they we're an admir-
able people; they dwelt together in
love of God and man; they were
free from fear and envy, they did
not lock the doors or bar the win
dows. Their dwellings were open
as day and the hearts Of the owners.
There the richest was poor, and the
poorest lived in abundance"
Amid such surroundings the gen
tie Eyangeline lived. Fair was she
to behold. maiden Of seventeen,
wearing her Norman cap and her
kirtle Of blue. Many sutton came
to her door, but among all who
came young Gabriel only was well
come. They had grown up togeth-
err, learned their letters from the
same book, and together sang the
same church hymns. And when
they were no longer children, when
Gabriel was q valiant youth, with
face like the morning, and when
Evangeline was woman, with the
heart and the hopes of woman,
there came an evil day for Acadia.
A day without an example in story"
BY the terms Of "a treaty, Acadia
was coded by the mother country to
England; but the love of the Acad-
ians for France, for the home of
their forbears, was stronger than
any treaty, and they refused to take
the oath of allegiance to England
and be subject to bear arms for that
country Their refusal brought an
order which scattered them like
snow fakes far and wide. Scattered
were they from the cold lakes Of the
north to the sultry shores of the
Gulf of Mexico; and some of them to
"the lands where the Father of
Waters seizes the hills in his hands
and drags them down to the ocean. :"
In the haste and confusion of en-
barking. wives were torn from their
husbands, children were separated
from their parents and lovers parted
never to meet again. The soldiers
obeyedSorders; they filled the ships
without regard for the wishes Of
anyone, and the ships landed the
Acadians far asunder, on separate
coasts.
When Evangeline saw Gabriel
pale with emotion, and about to be
taken away from her, she whispered
to him to "be of good cheer" and
assured him that while they loved
each other there was not anything
that could harm them. Bound in
the bonds OF a faith like that and
guided by hope, she sought for her
lover by mountain, stream and sea.
AT times she saw Gabriel in visions
while she slept, and again during
her waking hours something would
say to her that Gabriel was near.
And at such times she was in fact
very near to him, 30 near that it
would almost seem as though an an
gel had passed and revealed the
truth to her spirit. Many years
were added to the life of Evangelire.
but they wrought no change in her
faith or her endeavors. She search
ed for her Gabriel in the land Of Il Q
Spanish Grey Moss and the mystic
mistletoe. and she searched for him
far to the westward, far beyond the
the desert where the gateways of the
mountains open to let the rivers
come out. But all without avail.
Seasons came and went but Gabriel
was not found. Finally in her
old age. while ministering to
the wants OF the sick and dy-
ing in a Philadelphia hos
pital or alms-house, Evangeline felt
something within her saying: "At
length thy trials are ended" and
soon thereafter she bel,eld the out
stretched form of an old man, long
and thin and gray, but through the
changes which time had wrought
she easily recognized the features
of her long lost lover. With
gentle voice and in accents tender
and saint-like she bent over him and
whispered, Gabriel, Omy belovedl"
Evangaline came into his mind,
tsars filled his eyes, and vainly he
stroye TO speak, but his wsrls re-
NAMED unutterel. Evanealine
knelt beside him, kissed his dying
llpa, and pressed his liGeless head to
her bosom. Lonefellow whose poem
immortalized Eyangeline tells what