25 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 30 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 hemlock, Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries. 35 Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and gables projecting Over the basement below protected and shaded the doorway. 283. An excellent account of dikes and the flooding of low lands, as practised in Holland, may be found in A Farmer's Vacation, by George E. Waring, Jr. 29. Blomidon is a mountainous headland of red sandstone, surmounted by a perpendicular wall of basaltic trap, the whole about four hundred feet in height, at the entrance of the Basin of Minas. 34. The characteristics of a Normandy village may be further learned by reference to a pleasant little sketch-book, published a few years since, called Normandy Picturesque, by Henry Blackburn, and to Through Normandy, bv Katharine S. Mac There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and 40 Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles within doors Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended 45 Reverend walked he among them; and up rose Hailing his slow approach with words of affec- Then came the laborers home from the field, and serenely the sun sank Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the roofs of the village 39. The term kirtle was sometimes applied to the jacket only, A ful sometimes to the train or upper petticoat attached to it. kirtle was always both; a half-kirtle was a term applied to either A man's jacket was sometimes called a kirtle; here the reference is apparently to the full kirtle worn by women. 49. Angelus Domini is the full name given to the bell which, at morning, noon, and night, called the people to prayer, in commemoration of the visit of the angel of the Lord to the Virgin Mary. It was introduced into France in its modern form in the sixteenth century. 1 50 Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of in cense ascending, Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and contentment. Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian Dwelt in the love of God and of man. they free from Alike were Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics. 55 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 Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of 60 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. 65 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 70 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, 75 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 Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confession, 80 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 |