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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:

100 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,

Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the feast of

betrothal.

405 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Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press and the beehives,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

410 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.

East and West Indies in which he included also some account of Canada and Nova Scotia. His picture of life among the Acadians, somewhat highly colored, is the source from which after writers have drawn thei. knowledge of Acadian manners

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.

415 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.

413. Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres was a song written by Ducauroi, maître de chapelle of Henri IV., the words of which

are:

Vous connaissez Cybèle,

Qui sut fixer le Temps;

On la disait fort belle,

Même dans ses vieux ans.

CHORUS.

Cette divinité, quoique dejà grand' mère,
Avait les yeux doux, le teint frais

Avait même certains attraits

Fermes comme la Terre.

Le Carillon de Dunkerque was a popular song to a tane played on the Dunkirk chimes. The words are:

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The music to which the old man sang these songs will be found in La Clé du Caveau, by Pierre Capelle, Nos. 564 and 739. Paris: A. Cotelle.

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 bil

lows.

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

460

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"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 be awed into silence

All that clamorous throng; and thus he spake to

his people;

465 Deep were his tones and solemn; in accents meas

ured and mournful

Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the clock strikes.

"What is this that ye do, my children? what mad

ness has seized you?

Forty years of life have I labored among you,

my

and taught you,

Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one

another!

470 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!

475 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

480 Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the passionate outbreak,

While they repeated his prayer, and said, "O
Father, forgive them!"

Then came the evening service.

gleamed from the altar;

The tapers

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

485 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

490 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;

495 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,

500 And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celes

tial ascended,

492. To emblazon is literally to adorn anything with ensigne armorial. It was often the custom to work these ensigns intc the design of painted windows.

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