Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-01-24

allure, including Shakespeare, is distorted history
He declares that he knows no poem with a more
subtle influence to create wrong yet indelible
impression of British justice chivalry and admin
istration
Dr. Cody's Indictment of s'Evangeline' is stated
to rest principally on three counts: That 1t rep
resen$s the Acadans as VIGOROUSLY disloyal and
abusing the indulgence Of the British authorities;
chat it exaggerates the severity and cruelties of
the deportation; that the expulsion largely due
to the insistence of the New Englanders.
R. H. Crowley chief school inspector of Toronto,
says: 81 understand 'Evangeline' is very popular
poem in American schools and is used to portray
what they like to believe the character of the
British of those days Those Americans forget that
the people who acted in that way were their own
ancestors They got such scare from the French
that was at their instance that the Acadians
taken away"
good deal of this is sheer nonsense especially
that about the purpose of the POEMS in Ameri-
can schools. Canadians that themselves.
The Toronto Telegram tells the abso-truth when
it says:
Common sense respectfully offers its dissent from
the conclusions of the scholars who insist that
large quantities of ti-British sentiment be
traced to the misuse of Longfellow's Evan
geline" the schools Of the United States Anti
British sentiment has it's chief citadel among Amer
leans who heard of Longfellow and do
not know and do not whether "Evangeline"
is a chewing gum burlesque show, or a ladies'
baseball team.
AS to "Evangelne's" being "distorted history"
the Canadian historians may fight it out among
themselves. DR.. George Ell. Locke, chief librarian
of Toronto, defends Longfellow, If not 'Evangel-
ine" and says the poet got his facts from IAN
Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia"
by Chief Justice T. c. Halliburton published in
1929 in Halifax. Halliburton was born in Nova
Scotia, rose to the supreme court, retired, settled
in England and elected as a conservative to
the British parliament. He was an ardent loyal
gcfo ndh ic ic Sh 0f md horos
a sample Of Halliburton
-Four hundred and eighty-three men and SS7
women finally collected at Grand Pre-. With
them were SGT sons and SIC daughters. boys, girls
and young children
to the woods all possible measures We're adopted
to force them back into captivity. The country
laid waste to prevent their subsistence In the
District of Minas alone there were destroyed 225
houses, 276 barns, 155 outbuildings, IL mills and
one church and the friends of those who refused
to surrender were threatened as the victims of
their obstinacy
In short so operative were the terrors that sur
rounded them that of "a young men who deserted
from the transport % glad to return of them
selves. the others being shot by sentinels
The crowning absurdity of all this foolishness
Is an attack upon the reputation of "Evangene"
as great poem One Canadian writer scathingly
criticizes its tedious hexameters." w. ]. Alex
ander professor of English in Toronto university,
declares that he does not regard the poem as
''very good literature" In the language of Mr.
Average Man, "How do these Canadians get that
way?"
In the first place. 1t was the worldwide popu
Iarity of ''Evangelne" that secured for the dac-
tylic hexameter a recognized place among Eng
lish meters.
In the second place, "Evangeline" has an hon.
ored place among the great poems of the English
speaking peoples. 1t Is the story of a great trag
edy, full of heart throbs and pathos, with a hero
inc of the worlds most perfect types of wom
anhood Every generation in America and Canada
reads it, recites it and weeps over it.
Not longer than twenty years ago in the United
States critics had the same old idea that it was