Evangeline.

A Tale of Acadie.

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded
with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of
eld, with voices sad and prophetic,

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean Speaks, and in
accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it Leaped like
the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers,—

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, Darkened by
shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven?

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed!

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October Seize them,
and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o’er the ocean.

Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient, Ye who
believe in the beauty and strength of woman’s devotion, List to the mournful
tradition still sung by the pines of the forest; List to a Tale of Love in Acadie,
home of the happy.

PART THE FIRST.

I

IN the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,

Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre

Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward, Giving the
village its name, and pasture to flocks without number.

Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant, Shut out the
turbulent tides; but at stated seasons the flood-gates Opened, and welcomed the
sea to wander at will o’er the meadows.

West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards and cornfields Spreading
afar and unfenced o’er the plain; and away to the northward Blomidon rose, and
the forests old, and aloft on the mountains Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists
from the mighty Atlantic Looked on the happy valley, but ne’er from their
station descended.

There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian village.

Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and of chestnut, Such as the
peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries.

Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and gables projecting Over the
basement below protected and shaded the door-way.

There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when brightly the sunset Lighted the
village street, and gilded the vanes on the chimneys, Matrons and maidens sat in
snow-white caps and in kirtles

Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the golden Flax for the
gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles within doors Mingled their sound with the
whir of the wheels and the songs of the maidens.

Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and the children Paused in their
play to kiss the hand he extended to bless them.
Reverend walked he among them; and up rose matrons and maidens, Hailing his
slow approach with words of affectionate welcome.

Then came the laborers home from the field, and serenely the sun sank Down to
his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from the belfry Softly the Angelus
sounded, and over the roofs of the village Columns of pale blue smoke, like
clouds of incense ascending, Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace
and contentment.

Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers,—

Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were they free from Fear, that reigns
with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics.

Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows; But their
dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners; There the richest was
poor, and the poorest lived in abundance.

Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the Basin of Minas, Benedict
Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pre,

Dwelt on his goodly acres; and with him, directing his household, Gentle
Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of the village.

Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy winters; Hearty and hale
was he, an oak that is covered with snow-flakes; White as the snow were his
locks, and his cheeks as brown as the oak-leaves.

Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers.

Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside, Black,
yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses!

Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows.

When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noontide

Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was the maiden.

Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell from its turret Sprinkled
with holy sounds the air, as the priest with his hyssop Sprinkles the
congregation, and scatters blessings upon them, Down the long street she passed,
with her chaplet of beads and her missal, Wearing her Norman cap, and her kirtle
of blue, and the ear-rings, Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as
an heirloom, Handed down from mother to child, through long generations.

But a celestial brightness—a more ethereal beauty—

Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confession, Homeward
serenely she walked with God’s benediction upon her.

When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music.

Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer

Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and a shady

Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it.

Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and a footpath Led through an
orchard wide, and disappeared in the meadow.

Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a penthouse,

Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the roadside, Built o’er a box for
the poor, or the blessed image of Mary.

Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well with its moss-grown Bucket,
fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the horses.

Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were the barns and the farm-yard,
There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique ploughs and the harrows;
There were the folds for the sheep; and there, in his feathered seraglio, Strutted
the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with the selfsame Voice that in ages of
old had startled the penitent Peter.

Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a village. In each one Far o’er the
gable projected a roof of thatch; and a staircase, Under the sheltering eaves, led
up to the odorous corn-loft.

There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and innocent inmates Murmuring
ever of love; while above in the variant breezes

Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation.

Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer of Grand-Pre Lived on his
sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his household.

Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened his missal, Fixed his eyes
upon her, as the saint of his deepest devotion; Happy was he who might touch
her hand or the hem of her garment!

Many a suitor came to her door, by the darkness befriended,

And, as he knocked and waited to hear the sound of her footsteps, Knew not
which beat the louder, his heart or the knocker of iron; Or at the joyous feast of
the Patron Saint of the village,

Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the dance as he whispered Hurried words
of love, that seemed a part of the music.

But, among all who came, young Gabriel only was welcome;

Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the blacksmith,

Who was a mighty man in the village, and honored of all men;

For, since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations, Has the craft of the
smith been held in repute by the people.

Basil was Benedict’s friend. Their children from earliest childhood Grew up
together as brother and sister; and Father Felician,

Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had taught them their letters Out of the
selfsame book, with the hymns of the church and the plain-song.
But when the hymn was sung, and the daily lesson completed,

Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the blacksmith.

There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to behold him Take in his
leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a plaything, Nailing the shoe in its place;
while near him the tire of the cart-wheel Lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a
circle of cinders.

Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering darkness

Bursting with light seemed the smithy, through every cranny and crevice, Warm
by the forge within they watched the laboring bellows,

And as its panting ceased, and the sparks expired in the ashes, Merrily laughed,
and said they were nuns going into the chapel.

Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the eagle, Down the hillside
bounding, they glided away o’er the meadow.

Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests on the rafters, Seeking with
eager eyes that wondrous stone, which the swallow Brings from the shore of the
sea to restore the sight of its fledglings; Lucky was he who found that stone in
the nest of the swallow!

Thus passed a few swift years, and they no longer were children.

He was a valiant youth, and his face, like the face of the morning, Gladdened the
earth with its light, and ripened through into action.

She was a woman now, with the heart and hopes of a woman.

“Sunshine of Saint Eulalie” was she called; for that was the sunshine Which, as
the farmers believed, would load their orchards with apples; She, too, would
bring to her husband’s house delight and abundance, Filling it full of love and
the ruddy faces of children.

II.
NOW had the season returned, when the nights grow colder and longer, And the
retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion enters.

Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from the ice-bound, Desolate
northern bays to the shores of tropical islands.

Harvests were gathered in; and wild with the winds of September Wrestled the
trees of the forest, as Jacob of old with the angel.

All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement.

Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded their honey Till the hives
overflowed; and the Indian hunters asserted

Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the foxes.

Such was the advent of autumn. Then followed that beautiful season, Called by
the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of All-Saints!

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if
new-created in all the freshness of childhood.

Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless heart of the ocean Was for a
moment consoled. All sounds were in harmony blended.

Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in the farm-yards, Whir of wings
in the drowsy air, and the cooing of pigeons,

All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, and the great sun Looked
with the eye of love through the golden vapors around him; While arrayed in its
robes of russet and scarlet and yellow,

Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree of the forest Flashed like
the plane-tree the Persian adorned with mantles and jewels.

Now recommenced the reign of rest and affection and stillness.

Day with its burden and heat had departed, and twilight descending Brought
back the evening star to the sky, and the herds to the homestead.

Pawing the ground they came, and resting their necks on each other, And with
their nostrils distended inhaling the freshness of evening.

Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline’s beautiful heifer,

Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that waved from her collar, Quietly
paced and slow, as if conscious of human affection.

Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the seaside, Where
was their favorite pasture. Behind them followed the watch-dog, Patient, full of
importance, and grand in the pride of his instinct, Walking from side to side with
a lordly air, and superbly

Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the stragglers;

Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept; their protector, When from the
forest at night, through the starry silence, the wolves howled.

Late, with the rising moon, returned the wains from the marshes, Laden with
briny hay, that filled the air with its odor.

Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on their manes and their fetlocks, While
aloft on their shoulders the wooden and ponderous saddles, Painted with brilliant
dyes, and adorned with tassels of crimson, Nodded in bright array, like
hollyhocks heavy with blossoms.

Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and yielded their udders

Unto the milkmaid’s hand; whilst loud and in regular cadence

Into the sounding pails the foaming streamlets descended.

Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard in the farm-yard, Echoed back
by the barns. Anon they sank into stillness;

Heavily closed, with a jarring sound, the valves of the barn-doors, Rattled the
wooden bars, and all for a season was silent.
In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly the farmer Sat in his elbow-
chair; and watched how the flames and the smoke-wreaths Struggled together
like foe in a burning city. Behind him,

Nodding and mocking along the wall, with gestures fantastic,

Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into darkness.

Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his arm-chair

Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates on the dresser Caught and
reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine.

Fragments of song the old man sang, and carols of Christmas,

Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before him

Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgundian vineyards.

Close at her father’s side was the gentle Evangeline seated,

Spinning flax for the loom, that stood in the corner behind her.

Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was its diligent shuttle, While the
monotonous drone of the wheel, like the drone of a bagpipe, Followed the old
man’s song, and united the fragments together.

As in a church, when the chant of the choir at intervals ceases, Footfalls are
heard in the aisles, or words of the priest at the altar, So, in each pause of the
song, with measured motion the clock clicked.

Thus as they sat, there were footsteps heard, and, suddenly lifted, Sounded the
wooden latch, and the door swung back on its hinges.

Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil the blacksmith, And by her
beating heart Evangeline knew who was with him.
“Welcome!” the farmer exclaimed, as their footsteps paused on the threshold,
“Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take thy place on the settle Close by the
chimney-side, which is always empty without thee; Take from the shelf overhead
thy pipe and the box of tobacco; Never so much thyself art thou as when through
the curling

Smoke of the pipe or the forge thy friendly and jovial face gleams Round and red
as the harvest moon through the mist of the marshes.”

Then, with a smile of content, thus answered Basil the blacksmith, Taking with
easy air the accustomed seat by the fireside:—

“Benedict Bellefontaine, thou hast ever thy jest and thy ballad!

Ever in cheerfullest mood art thou, when others are filled with Gloomy
forebodings of ill, and see only ruin before them.

Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked up a horseshoe.”

Pausing a moment, to take the pipe that Evangeline brought him, And with a
coal from the embers had lighted, he slowly continued:—

“Four days now are passed since the English ships at their anchors Ride in the
Gaspereau’s mouth, with their cannon pointed against us, What their design may
be is unknown; but all are commanded

On the morrow to meet in the church, where his Majesty’s mandate Will be
proclaimed as law in the land. Alas! in the mean time Many surmises of evil
alarm the hearts of the people.”

Then made answer the farmer:—“Perhaps some friendlier purpose Brings these
ships to our shores. Perhaps the harvests in England By untimely rains or
untimelier heat have been blighted,

And from our bursting barns they would feed their cattle and children.”

“Not so thinketh the folk in the village,” said, warmly, the blacksmith, Shaking
his head, as in doubt; then, heaving a sigh, he continued:—

“Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, nor Port Royal.

Many already have fled to the forest, and lurk on its outskirts, Waiting with
anxious hearts the dubious fate of to-morrow.

Arms have been taken from us, and warlike weapons of all kinds; Nothing is left
but the blacksmith’s sledge and the scythe of the mower.”

Then with a pleasant smile made answer the jovial farmer:—

“Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our flocks and our cornfields, Safer
within these peaceful dikes, besieged by the ocean,

Than our fathers in forts, besieged by the enemy’s cannon.

Fear no evil, my friend, and to-night may no shadow of sorrow Fall on this
house and hearth; for this is the night of the contract.

Built are the house and the barn. The merry lads of the village Strongly have
built them and well; and, breaking the glebe round about them, Filled the barn
with hay, and the house with food for a twelvemonth.

Rene Leblanc will be here anon, with his papers and inkhorn.

Shall we not then be glad, and rejoice in the joy of our children?”

As apart by the window she stood, with her hand in her lover’s, Blushing
Evangeline heard the words that her father had spoken, And, as they died on his
lips, the worthy notary entered.

III.

BENT like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of the ocean, Bent, but not broken,
by age was the form of the notary public; Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken
floss of the maize, hung Over his shoulders; his forehead was high; and glasses
with horn bows Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom supernal.

Father of twenty children was he, and more than a hundred

Children’s children rode on his knee, and heard his great watch tick.

Four long years in the times of the war had he languished a captive, Suffering
much in an old French fort as the friend of the English.

Now, though warier grown, without all guile or suspicion,

Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and childlike.

He was beloved by all, and most of all by the children;

For he told them tales of the Loup-garou in the forest,

And of the goblin that came in the night to water the horses, And of the white
Letiche, the ghost of a child who unchristened Died, and was doomed to haunt
unseen the chambers of children; And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in
the stable,

And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in a nutshell, And of the
marvellous powers of four-leaved clover and horsehoes, With whatsoever else
was writ in the lore of the village.

Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the blacksmith, Knocked from
his pipe the ashes, and slowly extending his right hand, “Father Leblanc,” he
exclaimed, “thou hast heard the talk in the village, And, perchance, canst tell us
some news of these ships and their errand.”

Then with modest demeanor made answer the notary public:—

“Gossip enough have I heard, in sooth, yet am never the wiser; And what their
errand may be I know not better than others.

Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil intention

Brings them here, for we are at peace; and why then molest us?”

“God’s name!” shouted the hasty and somewhat irascible blacksmith; “Must we
in all things look for the how, and the why, and the wherefore?

Daily injustice is done, and might is the right of the strongest!”

But, without heeding his warmth, continued the notary public:—

“Man is unjust, but God is just; and finally justice

Triumphs; and well I remember a story, that often consoled me, When as a
captive I lay in the old French fort at Port Royal.”

This was the old man’s favorite tale, and he loved to repeat it When his
neighbors complained that any injustice was done them.

“Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer remember,

Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statue of Justice

Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in its left hand, And in its right a
sword, as an emblem that justice presided

Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and homes of the people.

Even the birds had built their nests in the scales of the balance, Having no fear of
the sword that flashed in the sunshine above them.

But in the course of time the laws of the land were corrupted; Might took the
place of right, and the weak were oppressed, and the mighty Ruled with an iron
rod. Then it chanced in a nobleman’s palace That a necklace of pearls was lost,
and erelong a suspicion

Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the household.

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the scaffold,

Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of Justice.

As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit ascended,

Lo! o’er the city a tempest rose; and the bolts of the thunder Smote the statue of
bronze, and hurled in wrath from its left hand Down on the pavement below the
clattering scales of the balance, And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of
a magpie,

Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was inwoven.”

Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was ended, the blacksmith Stood
like a man who fain would speak, but findeth no language; All his thoughts were
congealed into lines on his face, as the vapors Freeze in fantastic shapes on the
window-panes in the winter.

Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the table,

Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with home-brewed Nut-brown ale,
that was famed for its strength in the village of Grand-Pre; While from his
pocket the notary drew his papers and inkhorn, Wrote with a steady hand the
date and the age of the parties, Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep
and in cattle.

Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were completed, And the great
seal of the law was set like a sun on the margin.

Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on the table

Three times the old man’s fee in solid pieces of silver;

And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and the bridegroom, Lifted aloft the
tankard of ale and drank to their welfare.

Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed and departed, While in silence
the others sat and mused by the fireside,

Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its corner.

Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the old men

Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuver,

Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was made in the king-row.

Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window’s embrasure, Sat the lovers,
and whispered together, beholding the moon rise Over the pallid sea and the
silvery mist of the meadows.
Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.

Thus passed the evening away. Anon the bell from the belfry

Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew, and straightway Rose the guests
and departed; and silence reigned in the household.

Many a farewell word and sweet good night on the door-step

Lingered long in Evangeline’s heart, and filled it with gladness.

Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed on the hearth-stone; And on
the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the farmer.

Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline followed.

Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the darkness,

Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the maiden.

Silent she passed the hall, and entered the door of her chamber.

Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white, and its clothes-press Ample
and high, on whose spacious shelves were carefully folded Linen and woollen
stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline woven.

This was the precious dower she would bring to her husband in marriage, Better
than flocks and herds, being proofs of her skill as a housewife.

Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and radiant moonlight Streamed
through the windows, and lighted the room, till the heart of the maiden Swelled
and obeyed its power, like the tremulous tides of the ocean.

Ah! she was fair, exceeding fair to behold, as she stood with Naked snow-white
feet on the gleaming floor of her chamber!

Little she dreamed that below, among the trees of the orchard, Waited her lover
and watched for the gleam of her lamp and her shadow.

Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeling of sadness Passed o’er her
soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in the moonlight Flitted across the floor and
darkened the room for a moment.

And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely the moon pass Forth from
the folds of a cloud, and one star follow her footsteps, As out of Abraham’s tent
young Ishmael wandered with Hagar!

IV.

PLEASANTLY rose next morn the sun on the village of Grand-Pre.

Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the Basin of Minas, Where the ships,
with their wavering shadows, were riding at anchor.

Life had long been astir in the village, and clamorous labor

Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gates of the morning.

Now from the country around, from the farms and neighboring hamlets, Came in
their holiday dresses the blithe Acadian peasants.

Many a glad good morrow and jocund laugh from the young folk

Made the bright air brighter, as up from the numerous meadows, Where no path
could be seen but the track of wheels in the greensward, Group after group
appeared, and joined, or passed on the highway.

Long ere noon, in the village all sounds of labor were silenced.

Thronged were the streets with people; and noisy groups at the house-doors Sat
in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped together,

Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed and feasted;
For with this simple people, who lived like brothers together, All things were
held in common, and what one had was another’s.

Yet under Benedict’s roof hospitality seemed more abundant:

For Evangeline stood among the guests of her father;

Bright was her face with smiles, and words of welcome and gladness Fell from
her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as she gave it.

Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the orchard,

Bending with golden fruit, was spread the feast of betrothal.

There in the shade of the porch were the priest and the notary seated; There good
Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the blacksmith.

Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press and the beehives, Michael the
fiddler was placed, with the gayest of hearts and of waistcoats.

Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played on his snow-white Hair, as it
waved in the wind; and the jolly face of the fiddler Glowed like a living coal
when the ashes are blown from the embers.

Gayly the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his fiddle,

Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres, and Le Carillon de Dunkerque, And anon with
his wooden shoes beat time to the music.

Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying dances

Under the orchard-trees and down the path to the meadows;

Old folk and young together, and children mingled among them.

Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, Benedict’s daughter!

Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the blacksmith!

So passed the morning away. And lo! with a summons sonorous

Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat.

Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in the churchyard, Waited
the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on the headstones Garlands of
autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from the forest.

Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly among them Entered
the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant clangor

Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and casement,—

Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous portal

Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of the soldiers.

Then uprose their commander, and spake from the steps of the altar, Holding
aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal commission.

“You are convened this day,” he said, “by his Majesty’s orders.

Clement and kind has he been; but how you have answered his kindness, Let
your own hearts reply! To my natural make and my temper

Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be grievous.

Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our monarch; Namely, that all
your lands, and dwellings, and cattle of all kinds Forfeited be to the crown; and
that you yourselves from this province Be transported to other lands. God grant
you may dwell there Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable people!

Prisoners now I declare you; for such is his Majesty’s pleasure!”

As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of summer,

Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the hailstones Beats down the
farmer’s corn in the field and shatters his windows, Hiding the sun, and strewing
the ground with thatch from the house-roofs, Bellowing fly the herds, and seek
to break their enclosures;

So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker.

Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then rose Louder and ever
louder a wail of sorrow and anger,

And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to the door-way.

Vain was the hope of escape; and cries and fierce imprecations Rang through the
house of prayer; and high o’er the heads of the others Rose, with his arms
uplifted, the figure of Basil the blacksmith, As, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed
by the billows.

Flushed was his face and distorted with passion; and wildly he shouted,—

“Down with the tyrants of England! we never have sworn them allegiance!

Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our homes and our harvests!”

More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand of a soldier Smote him
upon the mouth, and dragged him down to the pavement.

In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry contention,

Lo! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician

Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of the altar.

Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into silence All that
clamorous throng; and thus he spake to his people;

Deep were his tones and solemn; in accents measured and mournful Spake he,
as, after the tocsin’s alarum, distinctly the clock strikes.

“What is this that ye do, my children? what madness has seized you?

Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and taught you, Not in word
alone, but in deed, to love one another!
Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers and privations?

Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and forgiveness?

This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would you profane it Thus with
violent deeds and hearts overflowing with hatred?

Lo! where the crucified Christ from his cross is gazing upon you!

See! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy compassion!

Hark! how those lips still repeat the prayer, `O Father, forgive them!’

Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked assail us, Let us repeat it
now, and say, `O Father, forgive them!’ “

Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts of his people Sank they,
and sobs of contrition succeeded the passionate outbreak, And they repeated his
prayer, and said, “O Father, forgive them!”

Then came the evening service. The tapers gleamed from the altar.

Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and the people responded, Not with
their lips alone, but their hearts; and the Ave Maria Sang they, and fell on their
knees, and their souls, with devotion translated, Rose on the ardor of prayer, like
Elijah ascending to heaven.

Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidings of ill, and on all sides Wandered,
wailing, from house to house the women and children.

Long at her father’s door Evangeline stood, with her right hand Shielding her
eyes from the level rays of the sun, that, descending, Lighted the village street
with mysterious splendor, and roofed each Peasant’s cottage with golden thatch,
and emblazoned its windows.

Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on the table; There stood the
wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant with wild-flowers; There stood the tankard
of ale, and the cheese fresh brought from the dairy, And, at the head of the board,
the great arm-chair of the farmer.

Thus did Evangeline wait at her father’s door, as the sunset

Threw the long shadows of trees o’er the broad ambrosial meadows.

Ah! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had fallen,

And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial ascended,—

Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, and patience!

Then, all-forgetful of self, she wandered into the village,

Cheering with looks and words the disconsolate hearts of the women, As o’er the
darkening fields with lingering steps they departed, Urged by their household
cares, and the weary feet of their children.

Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glimmering vapors Veiled the light
of his face, like the Prophet descending from Sinai.

Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus sounded.

Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evangeline lingered.

All was silent within; and in vain at the door and the windows Stood she, and
listened and looked, till, overcome by emotion, “Gabriel!” cried she aloud with
tremulous voice; but no answer Came from the graves of the dead, nor the
gloomier grave of the living.

Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house of her father.

Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board stood the supper untasted, Empty
and drear was each room, and haunted with phantoms of terror.

Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the floor of her chamber.
In the dead of the night she heard the whispering rain fall

Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore-tree by the window.

Keenly the lightning flashed; and the voice of the echoing thunder Told her that
God was in heaven, and governed the world he created!

Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the justice of Heaven; Soothed
was her troubled soul, and she peacefully slumbered till morning.

V.

FOUR times the sun had risen and set; and now on the fifth day Cheerily called
the cock to the sleeping maids of the farm-house.

Soon o’er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful procession, Came from the
neighboring hamlets and farms the Acadian women, Driving in ponderous wains
their household goods to the sea-shore, Pausing and looking back to gaze once
more on their dwellings, Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road and
the woodland.

Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on the oxen, While in their little
hands they clasped some fragments of playthings.

Thus to the Gaspereau’s mouth they hurried; and there on the sea-beach Piled in
confusion lay the household goods of the peasants.

All day long between theshore and the ships did the boats ply; All day long the
wains came laboring down from the village.

Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near to his setting,

Echoed far o’er the fields came the roll of drums from the churchyard.

Thither the women and children thronged. On a sudden the church-doors

Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in gloomy procession Followed
the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian farmers.

Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes and their country, Sing as
they go, and in singing forget they are weary and wayworn, So with songs on
their lips the Acadian peasants descended

Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives and their daughters.

Foremost the young men came; and, raising together their voices, Sang they with
tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic Missions:—

“Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible fountain!

Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission and patience!”

Then the old men, as they marched, and the women that stood by the wayside
Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sunshine above them Mingled
their notes therewith, like voices of spirits departed.

Halfway down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence,

Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction,—

Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her, And she
beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion.

Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to meet him, Clasped she his
hands, and laid her head on his shoulder and whispered,—

“Gabriel! be of good cheer! for if we love one another,

Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances may happen!”

Smiling she spake these words; then suddenly paused, for her father Saw she
slowly advancing. Alas! how changed was his aspect!

Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the fire from his eye, and his footstep
Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy heart in his bosom.
But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his neck and embraced him, Speaking
words of endearment where words of comfort availed not.

Thus to the Gaspereau’s mouth moved on that mournful procession.

There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir of embarking.

Busily plied the freighted boats; and in the confusion

Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, too late, saw their children
Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest entreaties.

So unto separate ships were Basil and Gabriel carried,

While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with her father.

Half the task was not done when the sun went down, and the twilight Deepened
and darkened around; and in haste the refluent ocean Fled away from the shore,
and left the line of the sand-beach Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp and
the slippery sea-weed.

Farther back in the midst of the household goods and the wagons, Like to a
gypsy camp, or a leaguer after a battle,

All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near them,

Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian farmers.

Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellowing ocean,

Dragging adown the beach the rattling pebbles, and leaving

Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of the sailors.

Then, as the night descended, the herds returned from their pastures; Sweet was
the moist still air with the odor of milk from their udders; Lowing they waited,
and long, at the well-known bars of the farm-yard,—

Waited and looked in vain for the voice and the hand of the milkmaid.
Silence reigned in the streets; from the church no Angelus sounded, Rose no
smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights from the windows.

But on the shores meanwhile the evening fires had been kindled, Built of the
drift-wood thrown on the sands from wrecks in the tempest.

Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces were gathered, Voices of
women were heard, and of men, and the crying of children.

Onward from fire to fire, as from hearth to hearth in his parish, Wandered the
faithful priest, consoling and blessing and cheering, Like unto shipwrecked Paul
on Melita’s desolate sea-shore.

Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat with her father, And in the
flickering light beheld the face of the old man,

Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either thought or emotion, E’en as the
face of a clock from which the hands have been taken.

Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to cheer him, Vainly offered
him food; yet he moved not, he looked not, he spake not, But, with a vacant
stare, ever gazed at the flickering fire-light.

“Benedicite!” murmured the priest; in tones of compassion.

More he fain would have said, but his heart was full, and his accents Faltered
and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child on a threshold, Hushed by the scene
he beholds, and the awful presence of sorrow.

Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of the maiden, Raising his eyes
full of tears to the silent stars that above them Moved on their way, unperturbed
by the wrongs and sorrows of mortals.

Then sat he down at her side, and they wept together in silence.

Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in autumn the blood-red Moon climbs
the crystal walls of heaven, and o’er the horizon Titan-like stretches its hundred
hands upon mountain and meadow, Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling
huge shadows together.

Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the roofs of the village, Gleamed on the
sky and the sea, and the ships that lay in the roadstead.

Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes of flame were

Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the quivering hands of a martyr.

Then as the wind seized the gleeds and the burning thatch, and, uplifting,
Whirled them aloft through the air, at once from a hundred house-tops Started
the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame intermingled.

These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the shore and on shipboard.

Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in their anguish, “We shall behold
no more our homes in the village of Grand-Pre!”

Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the farm-yards,

Thinking the day had dawned; and anon the lowing of cattle

Came on the evening breeze, by the barking of dogs interrupted.

Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the sleeping encampments Far in the
western prairies or forests that skirt the Nebraska, When the wild horses
affrighted sweep by with the speed of the whirlwind, Or the loud bellowing
herds of buffaloes rush to the river.

Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the herds and the horses Broke
through their folds and fences, and madly rushed o’er the meadows.

Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the priest and the maiden Gazed on
the scene of terror that reddened and widened before them; And as they turned at
length to speak to their silent companion, Lo! from his seat he had fallen, and
stretched abroad on the sea-shore Motionless lay his form, from which the soul
had departed.

Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the maiden

Knelt at her father’s side, and wailed aloud in her terror.

Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her head on his bosom.

Through the long night she lay in deep, oblivious slumber;

And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a multitude near her.

Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully gazing upon her, Pallid, with
tearful eyes, and looks of saddest compassion.

Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the landscape, Reddened the sky
overhead, and gleamed on the faces around her, And like the day of doom it
seemed to her wavering senses.

Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to the people,—

“Let us bury him here by the sea. When a happier season

Brings us again to our homes from the unknown land of our exile, Then shall his
sacred dust be piously laid in the churchyard.”

Such were the words of the priest. And there in haste by the seaside, Having the
glare of the burning village for funeral torches,

But without bell or book, they buried the farmer of Grand-Pre.

And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of sorrow, Lo! with a
mournful sound, like the voice of a vast congregation, Solemnly answered the
sea, and mingled its roar with the dirges.

‘Twas the returning tide, that afar from the waste of the ocean, With the first
dawn of the day, came heaving and hurrying landward.

Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of embarking;

And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of the harbor, Leaving behind
them the dead on the shore, and the village in ruins.

PART THE SECOND.

I.

MANY a weary year had passed since the burning of Grand-Pre,

When on the falling tide the freighted vessels departed,

Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile,

Exile without an end, and without an example in story.

Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians landed;

Scattered were they, like flakes of snow, when the wind from the northeast
Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks of Newfoundland.

Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from city to city, From the cold
lakes of the North to sultry Southern savannas,—

From the bleak shores of the sea to the lands where the Father of Waters Seizes
the hills in his hands, and drags them down to the ocean, Deep in their sands to
bury the scattered bones of the mammoth.

Friends they sought and homes; and many, despairing, heart-broken, Asked of
the earth but a grave, and no longer a friend nor a fireside.

Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the churchyards.

Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and wandered,

Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently suffering all things.

Fair was she and young; but, alas! before her extended,

Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its pathway Marked by the
graves of those who had sorrowed and suffered before her, Passions long
extinguished, and hopes long dead and abandoned, As the emigrant’s way o’er
the Western desert is marked by

Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in the sunshine.

Something there was in her life incomplete, imperfect, unfinished; As if a

morning of June, with all its music and sunshine,

Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, slowly descended

Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen.

Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the fever within her, Urged by a
restless longing, the hunger and thirst of the spirit, She would commence again
her endless search and endeavor;

Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the crosses and tombstones, Sat
by some nameless grave, and thought that perhaps in its bosom He was already
at rest, and she longed to slumber beside him.

Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whisper,

Came with its airy hand to point and beckon her forward.

Sometimes she spake with those who had seen her beloved and known him, But
it was long ago, in some far-off place or forgotten.

“Gabriel Lajeunesse!” they said; “O yes! we have seen him.

He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have gone to the prairies; Coureurs-
des-Bois are they, and famous hunters and trappers,”

“Gabriel Lajeunesse!” said others; “O yes! we have seen him.

He is a Voyageur in the lowlands of Louisiana.”

Then would they say: “Dear child! why dream and wait for him longer?
Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel? others

Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as loyal?

Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary’s son, who has loved thee Many a tedious
year; come, give him thy hand and be happy!

Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine’s tresses.”

Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, “I cannot!

Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, and not elsewhere.

For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and illumines the pathway, Many
things are made clear, that else lie hidden in darkness.”

Thereupon the priest, her friend and father-confessor,

Said, with a smile, “O daughter! thy God thus speaketh within thee!

Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted;

If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning

Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment; That which
the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.

Patience; accomplish thy labor; accomplish thy work of affection!

Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike.

Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart is made godlike, Purified,
strengthened, perfected, and rendered more worthy of heaven!”

Cheered by the good man’s words, Evangeline labored and waited.

Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the ocean,

But with its sound there was mingled a voice that whispered, “Despair not!”

Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheerless discomfort, Bleeding,
barefooted, over the shards and thorns of existence.

Let me essay, O Muse! to follow the wanderer’s footsteps;—

Not through each devious path, each changeful year of existence; But as a
traveller follows a streamlet’s course through the valley: Far from its margin at
times, and seeing the gleam of its water Here and there, in some open space, and
at intervals only;

Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan glooms that conceal it, Though he
behold it not, he can hear its continuous murmur;

Happy, at length, if he find the spot where it reaches an outlet.

II.

IT was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful River,

Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wabash,

Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mississippi,

Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Acadian boatmen.

It was a band of exiles: a raft, as it were, from the shipwrecked Nation, scattered
along the coast, now floating together,

Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a common misfortune; Men and
women and children, who, guided by hope or by hearsay, Sought for their kith
and their kin among the few-acred farmers On the Acadian coast, and the
prairies of fair Opelousas.

With them Evangeline went, and her guide, the Father Felician.

Onward o’er sunken sands, through a wilderness somber with forests, Day after
day they glided adown the turbulent river;
Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped on its borders.

Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, where plumelike Cotton-trees
nodded their shadowy crests, they swept with the current, Then emerged into
broad lagoons, where silvery sand-bars

Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling waves of their margin, Shining with
snow-white plumes, large flocks of pelicans waded.

Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of the river,

Shaded by china-trees, in the midst of luxuriant gardens,

Stood the houses of planters, with negro-cabins and dove-cots.

They were approaching the region where reigns perpetual summer, Where
through the Golden Coast, and groves of orange and citron, Sweeps with
majestic curve the river away to the eastward.

They, too, swerved from their course; and, entering the Bayou of Plaquemine,
Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious waters,

Which, like a network of steel, extended in every direction.

Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of the cypress Met in a
dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid-air

Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals.

Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by the herons Home to their
roosts in the cedar-trees returning at sunset,

Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac laughter.

Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed on the water, Gleamed on
the columns of cypress and cedar sustaining the arches, Down through whose
broken vaults it fell as through chinks in a ruin.

Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were all things around them; And o’er
their spirits there came a feeling of wonder and sadness,—
Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be compassed.

As, at the tramp of a horse’s hoof on the turf of the prairies, Far in advance are
closed the leaves of the shrinking mimosa, So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad
forebodings of evil,

Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom has attained it.

But Evangeline’s heart was sustained by a vision, that faintly Floated before her
eyes, and beckoned her on through the moonlight.

It was the thought of her brain that assumed the shape of a phantom.

Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel wandered before her, And every
stroke of the oar now brought him nearer and nearer.

Then in his place, at the prow of the boat, rose one of the oarsmen, And, as a
signal sound, if others like them peradventure

Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew a blast on his bugle.

Wild through the dark colonnades and corridors leafy the blast rang, Breaking
the seal of silence, and giving tongues to the forest.

Soundless above them the banners of moss just stirred to the music.

Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance,

Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverberant branches;

But not a voice replied; no answer came from the darkness;

And, when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain was the silence.

Then Evangeline slept; but the boatmen rowed through the midnight, Silent at
times, then singing familiar Canadian boat-songs,

Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers,

And through the night were heard the mysterious sounds of the desert, Far off,—
indistinct,—as of wave or wind in the forest,

Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of the grim alligator.

Thus ere another noon they emerged from the shades; and before them Lay, in
the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya.

Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations

Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, the lotus Lifted her golden
crown above the heads of the boatmen.

Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia blossoms, And with the
heat of noon; and numberless sylvan islands,

Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses, Near to

whose shores they glided along, invited to slumber.

Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were suspended.

Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by the margin, Safely their boat
was moored; and scattered about on the greensward, Tired with their midnight
toil, the weary travellers slumbered.

Over them vast and high extended the cope of a cedar.

Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and the grape-vine Hung their
ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of Jacob,

On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, descending,

Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blossom to blossom.

Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered beneath it.

Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an opening heaven Lighted her
soul in sleep with the glory of regions celestial.
Nearer and ever nearer, among the numberless islands,

Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o’er the water,

Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters and trappers.

Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the bison and beaver.

At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thoughtful and care-worn.

Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his brow, and a sadness Somewhat
beyond his years on his face was legibly written.

Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, unhappy and restless, Sought in the
Western wilds oblivion of self and of sorrow.

Swiftly they glided along, close under the lee of the island, But by the opposite
bank, and behind a screen of palmettos,

So that they saw not the boat, where it lay concealed in the willows, And
undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and unseen, were the sleepers, Angel of
God was there none to awaken the slumbering maiden.

Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud on the prairie.

After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died in the distance, As from a
magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the maiden

Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, “O Father Felician!

Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel wanders.

Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague superstition?

Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my spirit?”

Then, with a blush, she added, “Alas for my credulous fancy!

Unto ears like thine such words as these have no meaning.”

But made answer the reverend man, and he smiled as he answered,—

“Daughter, thy words are not idle; nor are they to me without meaning.

Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on the surface Is as the tossing
buoy, that betrays where the anchor is hidden.

Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world calls illusions.

Gabriel truly is near thee; for not far away to the southward, On the banks of the
Teche are the towns of St. Maur and St. Martin.

There the long-wandering bride shall be given again to her bridegroom, There
the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his sheepfold.

Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit-trees; Under the feet a
garden of flowers, and the bluest of heavens Bending above, and resting its
dome on the walls of the forest.

They who dwell there have named it the Eden of Louisiana.”

With these words of cheer they arose and continued their journey.

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon

Like a magician extended his golden wand o’er the landscape;

Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest

Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together.

Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of silver,

Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the motionless water.

Filled was Evangeline’s heart with inexpressible sweetness.

Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of feeling

Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters around her.

Then from a neighboring thicket the mockingbird, wildest of singers, Swinging

aloft on a willow spray that hung o’er the water,

Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music,

That the whole air and the woods and the waves seemed silent to listen.

Plaintive at first were the tones and sad; then soaring to madness Seemed they to
follow or guide the revel of frenzied Bacchantes.

Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamentation;

Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in derision, As when, after a
storm, a gust of wind through the tree tops

Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on the branches.

With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed with emotion, Slowly they
entered the Teche, where it flows through the green Opelousas, And, through the
amber air, above the crest of the woodland,

Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neighboring dwelling;—

Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing of cattle.

III.

NEAR to the bank of the river, o’ershadowed by oaks, from whose branches
Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic mistletoe flaunted,

Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at Yule-tide, Stood, secluded
and still, the house of the herdsman. A garden Girdled it round about with a belt
of luxuriant blossoms,

Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself was of timbers Hewn from the
cypress-tree, and carefully fitted together.

Large and low was the roof; and on slender columns supported, Rose-wreathed,
vine-encircled, a broad and spacious veranda,

Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, extended around it.

At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the garden,

Stationed the dove-cots were, as love’s perpetual symbol,

Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentions of rivals.

Silence reigned o’er the place. The line of shadow and sunshine Ran near the
tops of the trees; but the house itself was in shadow, And from its chimney-top,
ascending and slowly expanding

Into the evening air, a thin blue column of smoke rose.

In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a pathway Through the great
groves of oak to the skirts of the limitless prairie, Into whose sea of flowers the
sun was slowly descending.

Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy canvas

Hanging loose from their spars in a motionless calm in the tropics, Stood a
cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of grape-vines.

Just where the woodlands met the flowery surf of the prairie, Mounted upon his
horse, with Spanish saddle and stirrups,

Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doublet of deerskin.

Broad and brown was the face that from under the Spanish sombrero Gazed on
the peaceful scene, with the lordly look of its master.

Round about him were numberless herds of kine, that were grazing Quietly in
the meadows, and breathing the vapory freshness
That uprose from the river, and spread itself over the landscape.

Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, and expanding

Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast, that resounded

Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air of the evening.

Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the cattle

Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse currents of ocean.

Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed o’er the prairie, And the
whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the distance.

Then as the herdsman turned to the house, through the gate of the garden Saw he
the forms of the priest and the maiden advancing to meet him.

Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in amazement, and forward Rushed
with extended arms and exclamations of wonder;

When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the blacksmith.

Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the garden.

There in an arbor of roses with endless question and answer

Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their friendly embraces, Laughing
and weeping by turns, or sitting silent and thoughtful.

Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not; and now dark doubts and misgivings Stole
o’er the maiden’s heart; and Basil, somewhat embarrassed, Broke the silence and
said, “If you came by the Atchafalaya,

How have you nowhere encountered my Gabriel’s boat on the bayous?”

Over Evangeline’s face at the words of Basil a shade passed.

Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a tremulous accent, “Gone? is
Gabriel gone?” and, concealing her face on his shoulder, All her o’erburdened
heart gave way, and she wept and lamented.
Then the good Basil said,—and his voice grew blithe as he said it,—

“Be of good cheer, my child; it is only to-day he departed.

Foolish boy! he has left me alone with my herds and my horses.

Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, his spirit

Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet existence.

Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful ever,

Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troubles,

He at length had become so tedious to men and to maidens,

Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me, and sent him Unto the town of
Adayes to trade for mules with the Spaniards.

Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the Ozark Mountains, Hunting for furs
in the forests, on rivers trapping the beaver.

Therefore be of good cheer; we will follow the fugitive lover; He is not far on
his way, and the Fates and the streams are against him.

Up and away to-morrow, and through the red dew of the morning We will follow
him fast and bring him back to his prison.”

Then glad voices were heard, and up from the banks of the river, Borne aloft on
his comrades’ arms, came Michael the fiddler.

Long under Basil’s roof had he lived like a god on Olympus,

Having no other care than dispensing music to mortals.

Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his fiddle.

“Long live Michael,” they cried, “our brave Acadian minstrel!”

As they bore him aloft in triumphal procession; and straightway Father Felician
advanced with Evangeline, greeting the old man Kindly and oft, and recalling
the past, while Basil, enraptured, Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions
and gossips,

Laughing loud and long, and embracing mothers and daughters.

Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the ci-devant blacksmith, All his
domains and his herds, and his patriarchal demeanor;

Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the soil and the climate, And of the
prairies, whose numberless herds were his who would take them; Each one
thought in his heart, that he, too, would go and do likewise.

Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the airy veranda, Entered the hall of
the house, where already the supper of Basil Waited his late return; and they
rested and feasted together.

Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness descended.

All was silent without, and, illuming the landscape with silver, Fair rose the
dewy moon and the myriad stars; but within doors, Brighter than these, shone
the faces of friends in the glimmering lamplight.

Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, the herdsman Poured forth
his heart and his wine together in endless profusion.

Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet Natchitoches tobacco, Thus he
spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled as they listened:—

“Welcome once more, my friends, who long have been friendless and homeless,
Welcome once more to a home, that is better perchance than the old one!

Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the rivers;

Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer.

Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a keel through the water.
All the year round the orange-groves are in blossom; and grass grows More in a
single night than a whole Canadian summer.

Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed in the prairies; Here, too,
lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber With a few blows of the
axe are hewn and framed into houses.

After your houses are built, and your fields are yellow with harvests, No King
George of England shall drive you away from your homesteads, Burning your
dwellings and barns, and stealing your farms and your cattle.”

Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from his nostrils, While his
huge, brown hand came thundering down on the table, So that the guests all
started; and Father Felician, astounded, Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff
halfway to his nostrils.

But the brave Basil resumed, and his words were milder and gayer: “Only
beware of the fever, my friends, beware of the fever!

For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate,

Cured by wearing a spider hung round one’s neck in a nutshell!”

Then there were voices heard at the door, and footsteps approaching Sounded
upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy veranda.

It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian planters,

Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil the Herdsman.

Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and neighbors:

Friend clasped friend in his arms; and they who before were as strangers,
Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to each other, Drawn by the
gentle bond of a common country together.

But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, proceeding

From the accordant strings of Michael’s melodious fiddle,

Broke up all further speech. Away, like children delighted,

All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves to the maddening Whirl of the
dizzy dance, as it swept and swayed to the music, Dreamlike, with beaming eyes
and the rush of fluttering garments.

Meanwhile, apart, at the head of the hall, the priest and the herdsman Sat,
conversing together of past and present and future;

While Evangeline stood like one entranced, for within her

Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst of the music

Heard she the sound of the sea, and an irrepressible sadness

Came o’er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into the garden.

Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall of the forest, Tipping its summit
with silver, arose the moon. On the river Fell here and there through the branches
a tremulous gleam of the moonlight, Like the sweet thoughts of love on a
darkened and devious spirit.

Nearer and round about her, the manifold flowers of the garden Poured out their
souls in odors, that were their prayers and confessions Unto the night, as it went
its way, like a silent Carthusian.

Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with shadows and night-dews, Hung
the heart of the maiden. The calm and the magical moonlight Seemed to
inundate her soul with indefinable longings,

As, through the garden gate, beneath the shade of the oak-trees, Passed she along
the path to the edge of the measureless prairie.

Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and the fire-flies Gleaming and floating
away in mingled and infinite numbers.

Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the heavens,
Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to marvel and worship, Save when a
blazing comet was seen on the walls of that temple, As if a hand had appeared
and written upon them, “Upharsin.”

And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and the fire-flies, Wandered alone,
and she cried, “O Gabriel! O my beloved!

Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot behold thee?

Art thou so near unto me, and yet thy voice does not reach me?

Ah! how often thy feet have trod this path to the prairie!

Ah! how often thine eyes have looked on the woodlands around me!

Ah! how often beneath this oak, returning from labor,

Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me in thy slumbers!

When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded about thee?”

Loud and sudden and near the note of a whippoorwill sounded

Like a flute in the woods; and anon, through the neighboring thickets, Farther
and farther away it floated and dropped into silence.

“Patience!” whispered the oaks from oracular caverns of darkness; And, from
the moonlit meadow, a sigh responded, “To-morrow!”

Bright rose the sun next day; and all the flowers of the garden Bathed his shining
feet with their tears, and anointed his tresses With the delicious balm that they
bore in their vases of crystal.

“Farewell!” said the priest, as he stood at the shadowy threshold; “See that you
bring us the Prodigal Son from his fasting and famine, And, too, the Foolish
Virgin, who slept when the bridegroom was coming.”

“Farewell!” answered the maiden, and, smiling, with Basil descended Down to
the river’s brink, where the boatmen already were waiting.
Thus beginning their journey with morning, and sunshine, and gladness, Swiftly
they followed the flight of him who was speeding before them, Blown by the
blast of fate like a dead leaf over the desert.

Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that succeeded,

Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or river,

Nor, after many days, had they found him; but vague and uncertain Rumors
alone were their guides through a wild and desolate country; Till, at the little inn
of the Spanish town of Adayes,

Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned from the garrulous landlord, That on
the day before, with horses and guides and companions, Gabriel left the village,
and took the road of the prairies.

IV.

FAR in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains Lift, through
perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits.

Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the gorge, like a gateway, Opens a
passage rude to the wheels of the emigrant’s wagon,

Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and Owyhee.

Eastward, with devious course, among the Windriver Mountains, Through the
Sweet-water Valley precipitate leaps the Nebraska; And to the south, from
Fontaine-qui-bout and the Spanish sierras, Fretted with sands and rocks, and
swept by the wind of the desert, Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound,
descend to the ocean, Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn
vibrations.

Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, beautiful prairies, Billowy
bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine,
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas.

Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck; Over them
wandered the wolves, and herds of riderless horses; Fires that blast and blight,
and winds that are weary with travel; Over them wander the scattered tribes of
Ishmael’s children,

Staining the desert with blood; and above their terrible war-trails Circles and
sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vulture,

Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle, By invisible stairs

ascending and scaling the heavens.

Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these savage marauders; Here and
there rise groves from the margins of swift-running rivers; And the grim, taciturn
bear, the anchorite monk of the desert, Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for
roots by the brookside, And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven,

Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them.

Into this wonderful land, at the base of the Ozark Mountains, Gabriel far had
entered, with hunters and trappers behind him.

Day after day, with their Indian guides, the maiden and Basil Followed his flying
steps, and thought each day to o’ertake him.

Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the smoke of his camp-fire Rise in the
morning air from the distant plain; but at nightfall, When they had reached the
place, they found only embers and ashes.

And, though their hearts were sad at times and their bodies were weary, Hope
still guided them on, as the magic Fata Morgana

Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and vanished before them.

Once, as they sat by their evening fire, there silently entered Into the little camp
an Indian woman, whose features

Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as great as her sorrow.

She was a Shawnee woman returning home to her people,

From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel Camanches,

Where her Canadian husband, a Coureur-des-Bois, had been murdered.

Touched were their hearts at her story, and warmest and friendliest welcome
Gave they, with words of cheer, and she sat and feasted among them On the
buffalo-meat and the venison cooked on the embers.

But when their meal was done, and Basil and all his companions, Worn with the
long day’s march and the chase of the deer and the bison, Stretched themselves
on the ground, and slept where the quivering fire-light Flashed on their swarthy
cheeks, and their forms wrapped up in their blankets, Then at the door of
Evangeline’s tent she sat and repeated

Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm of her Indian accent, All the tale of
her love, with its pleasures, and pains, and reverses.

Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know that another

Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been disappointed.

Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and woman’s compassion, Yet in her
sorrow pleased that one who had suffered was near her, She in turn related her
love and all its disasters.

Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she had ended

Still was mute; but at length, as if a mysterious horror

Passed through her brain, she spake, and repeated the tale of the Mowis; Mowis,
the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded a maiden,

But, when the morning came, arose and passed from the wigwam, Fading and
melting away and dissolving into the sunshine,
Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far into the forest.

Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation, Told she
the tale of the fair Lilinau, who was wooed by a phantom, That, through the
pines o’er her father’s lodge, in the hush of the twilight, Breathed like the
evening wind, and whispered love to the maiden, Till she followed his green and
waving plume through the forest, And never more returned, nor was seen again
by her people.

Silent with wonder and strange surprise, Evangeline listened

To the soft flow of her magical words, till the region around her Seemed like
enchanted ground, and her swarthy guest the enchantress.

Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the moon rose,

Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious splendor

Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing and filling the woodland.

With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and the branches

Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely audible whispers.

Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline’s heart, but a secret, Subtile
sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror,

As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of the swallow.

It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region of spirits

Seemed to float in the air of night; and she felt for a moment That, like the
Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing a phantom.

With this thought she slept, and the fear and the phantom had vanished.

Early upon the morrow the march was resumed; and the Shawnee

Said, as they journeyed along, “On the western slope of these mountains Dwells
in his little village the Black Robe chief of the Mission.

Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary and Jesus; Loud laugh their
hearts with joy, and weep with pain, as they hear him.”

Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evangeline answered,

“Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings await us!”

Thither they turned their steeds; and behind a spur of the mountains, Just as the
sun went down, they heard a murmur of voices,

And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a river,

Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission.

Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the village, Knelt the Black
Robe chief with his children. A crucifix fastened High on the trunk of the tree,
and overshadowed by grape-vines, Looked with its agonized face on the
multitude kneeling beneath it.

This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the intricate arches Of its aerial roof,
arose the chant of their vespers,

Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.

Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer approaching, Knelt on the
swarded floor, and joined in the evening devotions.

But when the service was done, and the benediction had fallen Forth from the
hands of the priest, like seed from the hands of the sower, Slowly the reverend
man advanced to the strangers and bade them Welcome; and when they replied,
he smiled with benignant expression, Hearing the homelike sounds of his
mother-tongue in the forest, And, with words of kindness, conducted them into
his wigwam.

There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on cakes of the maize-ear Feasted,
and slaked their thirst from the water-gourd of the teacher.

Soon was their story told; and the priest with solemnity answered:—
“Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, seated

On this mat by my side, where now the maiden reposes,

Told me this same sad tale; then arose and continued his journey!”

Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with an accent of kindness; But on
Evangeline’s heart fell his words as in winter the snow-flakes Fall into some
lone nest from which the birds have departed.

“Far to the north he has gone,” continued the priest; “but in autumn, When the
chase is done, will return again to the Mission.”

Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and submissive,

“Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and afflicted.”

So seemed it wise and well unto all; and betimes on the morrow, Mounting his
Mexican steed, with his Indian guides and companions, Homeward Basil
returned, and Evangeline stayed at the Mission.

Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other,—

Days and weeks and months; and the fields of maize that were springing Green
from the ground when a stranger she came, now waving above her, Lifted their
slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, and forming Cloisters for mendicant
crows and granaries pillaged by squirrels.

Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, and the maidens Blushed at
each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover,

But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the cornfield.

Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover.

“Patience!” the priest would say; “have faith, and thy prayer will be answered!

Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head from the meadow, See how its leaves
all point to the north, as true as the magnet; This is the compass-flower, that the
finger of God has suspended Here on its fragile stock, to direct the traveller’s
journey

Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert.

Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of passion,

Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of fragrance, But they beguile
us, and lead us astray, and their odor is deadly.

Only this humble plant can guide us here, and hereafter

Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with the dews of nepenthe.”

So came the autumn, and passed, and the winter,—yet Gabriel came not;
Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes of the robin and bluebird Sounded
sweet upon wold and in wood, yet Gabriel came not.

But on the breath of the summer winds a rumor was wafted

Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odor of blossom.

Far to the north and east, it said, in the Michigan forests,

Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the Saginaw river.

And, with returning guides, that sought the lakes of St. Lawrence, Saying a sad
farewell, Evangeline went from the Mission.

When over weary ways, by long and perilous marches,

She had attained at length the depths of the Michigan forests, Found she the
hunter’s lodge deserted and fallen to ruin!

Thus did the long sad years glide on, and in seasons and places Divers and
distant far was seen the wandering maiden;—
Now in the Tents of Grace of the meek Moravian Missions,

Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields of the army,

Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and populous cities.

Like a phantom she came, and passed away unremembered.

Fair was she and young, when in hope began the long journey;

Faded was she and old, when in disappointment it ended.

Each succeeding year stole something away from her beauty.

Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the gloom and the shadow.

Then there appeared and spread faint streaks of gray o’er her forehead, Dawn of
another life, that broke o’er her earthly horizon,

As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks of the morning.

V.

IN that delightful land, which is washed by the Delaware’s waters, Guarding in

sylvan shades the name of Penn the apostle.

Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city he founded.

There all the air is balm, and the peach is the emblem of beauty, And the streets
still re-echo the names of the trees of the forest, As if they fain would appease
the Dryads whose haunts they molested.

There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, an exile,

Finding among the children of Penn a home and a country.

There old Rene Leblanc had died; and when he departed,

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descendants.

Something at least there was in the friendly streets of the city, Something that
spake to her heart, and made her no longer a stranger; And her ear was pleased
with the Thee and Thou of the Quakers, For it recalled the past, the old Acadian
country,

Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and sisters.

So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed endeavor,

Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncomplaining,

Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her thoughts and her footsteps.

As from a mountain’s top the rainy mists of the morning

Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below us,

Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and hamlets,

So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the world far below her, Dark no
longer, but all illumined with love; and the pathway

Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth and fair in the distance.

Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart was his image,

Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as last she beheld him, Only more
beautiful made by his deathlike silence and absence.

Into her thoughts of him time entered not, for it was not.

Over him years had no power; he was not changed, but transfigured; He had
become to her heart as one who is dead, and not absent; Patience and abnegation
of self, and devotion to others,

This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had taught her.

So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous spices,

Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with aroma.

Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to follow

Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her Saviour.

Thus many years she lived as a Sister of Mercy; frequenting

Lonely and wretched roofs in the crowded lanes of the city,

Where distress and want concealed themselves from the sunlight, Where disease
and sorrow in garrets languished neglected.

Night after night, when the world was asleep, as the watchman repeated Loud,
through the gusty streets, that all was well in the city, High at some lonely
window he saw the light of her taper.

Day after day, in the gray of the dawn, as slow through the suburbs Plodded the
German farmer, with flowers and fruits for the market, Met he that meek, pale
face, returning home from its watchings.

Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell on the city,

Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks of wild pigeons, Darkening

the sun in their flight, with naught in their craws but an acorn.

And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September, Flooding some
silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow, So death flooded life, and,
o’erflowing its natural margin,

Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence.

Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, the oppressor; But all
perished alike beneath the scourge of his anger;—

Only, alas! the poor, who had neither friends nor attendants, Crept away to die in
the almshouse, home of the homeless.

Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and woodlands;—

Now the city surrounds it; but still, with its gateway and wicket Meek, in the
midst of splendor, its humble walls seem to echo Softly the words of the Lord:
—“The poor ye always have with you.”

Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of Mercy. The dying Looked up
into her face, and thought, indeed, to behold there Gleams of celestial light
encircle her forehead with splendor, Such as the artist paints o’er the brows of
saints and apostles, Or such as hangs by night o’er a city seen at a distance.

Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city celestial,

Into whose shining gates erelong their spirits would enter.

Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, deserted and silent, Wending her
quiet way, she entered the door of the almshouse.

Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers in the garden; And she paused
on her way to gather the fairest among them,

That the dying once more might rejoice in their fragrance and beauty.

Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, cooled by the east wind, Distant
and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of Christ Church, While,
intermingled with these, across the meadows were wafted Sounds of psalms, that
were sung by the Swedes in their church at Wicaco.

Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on her spirit; Something
within her said, “At length thy trials are ended”;

And, with light in her looks, she entered the chambers of sickness.

Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful attendants,

Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, and in silence Closing the
sightless eyes of the dead, and concealing their faces, Where on their pallets they
lay, like drifts of snow by the roadside.

Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline entered,

Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed, for her presence Fell on
their hearts like a ray of the sun on the walls of a prison.

And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the consoler,

Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever.

Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night-time;

Vacant their places were, or filled already by strangers.

Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of wonder,

Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a shudder Ran through her
frame, and, forgotten, the flowerets dropped from her fingers, And from her eyes
and cheeks the light and bloom of the morning.

Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such terrible anguish, That the dying
heard it, and started up from their pillows.

On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an old man.

Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded his temples; But, as he lay in
the morning light, his face for a moment

Seemed to assume once more the forms of its earlier manhood;

So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are dying.

Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the fever,

As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had besprinkled its portals, That the Angel
of Death might see the sign, and pass over.

Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit exhausted Seemed to be

sinking down through infinite depths in the darkness, Darkness of slumber and
death, forever sinking and sinking.

Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied reverberations, Heard he that

cry of pain, and through the hush that succeeded Whispered a gentle voice, in
accents tender and saint-like,

“Gabriel! O my beloved!” and died away into silence.

Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of his childhood; Green
Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among them,

Village, and mountain, and woodlands; and, walking under their shadow, As in
the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his vision.

Tears came into his eyes; and as slowly he lifted his eyelids, Vanished the vision
away, but Evangeline knelt by his bedside.

Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the accents unuttered Died on his lips,
and their motion revealed what his tongue would have spoken.

Vainly he strove to rise; and Evangeline, kneeling beside him, Kissed his dying
lips, and laid his head on her bosom.

Sweet was the light of his eyes; but it suddenly sank into darkness, As when a
lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a casement.

All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow,

All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing,

All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience!

And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her bosom, Meekly she
bowed her own, and murmured, “Father, I thank thee!”

STILL stands the forest primeval; but far away from its shadow, Side by side, in
their nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.

Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard,

In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and unnoticed.

Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them,

Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever, Thousands of
aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy,

Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their labors,
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their journey!

Still stands the forest primeval; but under the shade of its branches Dwells
another race, with other customs and language.

Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic

Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile

Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom.

In the fisherman’s cot the wheel and the loom are still busy; Maidens still wear
their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun, And by the evening fire repeat
Evangeline’s story.

While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean Speaks, and in
accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.