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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6735.txt b/6735.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bc2e43 --- /dev/null +++ b/6735.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3852 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Over the Border: Acadia, by Eliza Chase + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Over the Border: Acadia + +Author: Eliza Chase + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6735] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 20, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII, with some ISO-8859-1 characters + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVER THE BORDER: ACADIA *** + + + + +Produced by Mary Wampler, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + +OVER THE BORDER + +ACADIA + +THE HOME OF "EVANGELINE" + +BY Eliza Chase + + + + +"Here lies the East...does not the day break here?" + + +JULIUS CAESAR, II + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +THE BAY OF FUNDY + +THE BASIN OF MINAS + +PORT ROYAL + +ANNAPOLIS + +DIGBY + +HALIFAX + +GRAND PRÉ + +CLARE + +L'ISLE DES MONTS DESERTS + + + + +CHRONOLOGY. + + +DATE + + +1604. De Monts' first landing on Eastern coast. (May 16) + +1604. De Monts and suite arrive at Port Royal. (about June 1) + +1606. De Monts returns from France with supplies for his colony. + +1606. Port Royal abandoned. + +1610. Return of De Poutrincourt. + +1612. Jesuit priests sent oat from France. (Founding of St. Sauveur + colony at Mt Desert) + +1613. Destruction of Port Royal by Argall. (after breaking up settlement + at Mt. Desert) + +1628. Scotch colony broken up at Port Royal. + +1634. Port Royal held by French under De Razilly. + +1647. Feud between La Tour and D'Aulnay. + +1654. Port Royal under Le Borgne yields to English. + +1684. Incursions of pirates. + +1690. Sir Wm. Phipps captures and pillages Port Royal. + +1691. Port Royal held by French under De Villebon. + +1707. Unsuccessfully besieged. + +1710. Bombarded by seven English ships; the fort yields, name changed to + Annapolis Royal. + +1713. Treaty of Utrecht, ceding Acadia to the English. + +1727,1728. Oath of allegiance exempting French Acadians from taking arms + against France. + +1744. Port Royal bombarded and besieged three months. + +1745. De Ramezay's unsuccessful attack. + +1755. Forts Beau-Séjour and Gaspereau taken by Moncton. + +1755. Dispersion of the "Neutrals". + +1763. Return of exiles, and founding of coast settlements. Treaty + between France and England + +1781. Annapolis Royal surprised and taken by two war ships. + +1850. Last occupation (by military force) of old fort at Annapolis. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In the rooms of the Historical Society, in Boston, hangs a portrait of +a distinguished looking person in quaint but handsome costume of antique +style. The gold embroidered coat, long vest with large and numerous +buttons, elegant cocked hat under the arm, voluminous white scarf and +powdered peruke, combine to form picturesque attire which is most +becoming to the gentleman therein depicted, and attract attention to +the genial countenance, causing the visitor to wonder who this can be, +so elaborately presented to the gaze. + +A physiognomist would not decide upon such representation as a +"counterfeit presentment" of the tyrannical leader of the expedition +which enforced the cruel edict of exile,-- + + "In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas; where + Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand Pré + Lay in the fruitful valley." + +Yet this is Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow, great-grandson of one of +the founders of the Plymouth Settlement. Could _he_ forget that his +ancestors fled from persecution, and came to this country to find +peaceful homes? + +It was not his place to make reply, or reason why when receiving orders, +however; and it seems that the task imposed was a distasteful one; as, +at the time of the banishment, he earnestly expressed the desire "to be +rid of the worst piece of service" he "ever was in." + +He said also of the unhappy people at that time, "It hurts me to hear +their weeping and wailing." So we conclude that the pleasant face did +not belie the heart which it mirrored. + +It is a singular coincidence that, for being hostile to their country +at the time of the Revolution, his own family were driven into exile +twenty years after the deportation of the unhappy French people. + +Have not even the most prosaic among us some love of poesy, though +unacknowledged? And who, in romantic youth or sober age, has not been +touched by the tragic story of the dispersion of the people who + + "dwelt together in love, those 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 their owners; + There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance." + +Of the name Acadia, Principal Dawson says in "Canadian Antiquities--, +that "it signifies primarily a place or region, and, in combination +with other words, a place of plenty or abundance; ..." a name most +applicable to a region which is richer in the 'chief things of the +ancient mountains, the precious things of the lasting hills, and the +precious things of the earth and of the deep that coucheth beneath', +than any other portion of America of similar dimensions." + +We naturally infer that the name is French; but our researches prove +that it was originally the Indian _Aquoddie_, a pollock,--not a poetic +or romantic significance. This was corrupted by the French into +_Accadie, L'Acadie, Cadie_. + +So little originality in nomenclature is shown in America, that we +could desire that Indian names should be retained; that is, when not too +long, or harsh in sound; yet in _this_ case we are inclined to rejoice +at the change from the aboriginal to the more musical modern title. + +Though a vast extent of territory was once embraced under that name, it +is now merely a rather fanciful title for a small part of the Province +of Nova Scotia. + +Acadia! The Bay of Fundy! There's magic even in the names; the very +sound of them calling up visions of romance, and causing anticipations +of amazing displays of Nature's wonders. Fundy! The marvel of our +childhood, filling the mind's eye in those early school days with that +astounding picture,--a glittering wall of green crystal, anywhere from +ten to one hundred feet in height, advancing on the land like the march +of a mighty phalanx, as if to overwhelm and carry all before it! Had it +not been our dream for years to go there, and prove to our everlasting +satisfaction whether childish credulity had been imposed upon? + +Our proposed tourists, eight in number, being a company with a leaning +towards music, bound to be harmonious, desiring to study the Diet-tome +as illustrated by the effects of country fare and air, consolidate under +the title of the Octave. The chaperone, who we all know is a dear, is +naturally called "Do"(e); one, being under age, is dubbed the Minor +Third; while the exclamatory, irrepressible, and inexhaustible members +from the Hub are known as "La" and "Si." + +Having decided upon our objective point, the next thing is to find out +how to reach it; and here, at the outset, we are surprised at the +comparative ignorance shown regarding a region which, though seemingly +distant, is in reality so accessible. We are soon inclined to quote +from an old song,-- + + "Thou art so near and yet so far," + +as our blundering investigations seem more likely to prove how not to +get anywhere! + +But we set to work to accumulate railroad literature in the shape of +maps, schedules, excursion books; and these friendly little pamphlets +prove delightful pathfinders, convincing us how readily all tastes can +be suited; as some wish to go by water, some by land, and some by "a +little of both." Thus, those who are on good terms with old Neptune may +take a pleasant voyage of twenty-six hours direct from Boston to the +distant village of Annapolis, Nova Scotia, which is our prospective +abiding place; while those who prefer can have "all rail route," or, if +more variety is desired, may go by land to St. John, New Brunswick, and +thence by steamboat across the Bay of Fundy. At last the company departs +on its several ways, and in sections, that the dwellers in that remote +old town of historic interest may not be struck breathless by such an +invasion of foreigners. + +The prime mover of the expedition, having already traveled as far east +as Bangor, commences the journey at night from that city. Strange to +say, no jar or unusual sensation is experienced when the iron horse +passes the boundary; nor is anything novel seen when the train known as +the "Flying Yankee" halts for a brief breathing spell at MacAdam +Station. A drowsy voice volunteers the information: "It is a forsaken +region here." Another of our travelers replies, "Appearances certainly +indicate that the Colossus of _Roads_ is absent, and it is to be hoped +that he is mending his ways elsewhere." Then the speakers, tipping their +reclining chairs to a more recumbent posture, drift off to the Land of +Nod. + +With morning comes examination of travelers' possessions at the custom +house, with amusing exhibitions of peculiarly packed boxes and bags, +recalling funny episodes of foreign tours, while giving to this one a +novel character; then the train speeds on for seven hours more. + + + + +THE BAY OF FUNDY. + + +Ere long singular evidence of proximity to the wonderful tides of the +Bay of Fundy is seen, as all the streams show sloping banks, +stupendously muddy; mud reddish brown in color, smooth and oily looking, +gashed with seams, and with a lazily moving rivulet in the bed of the +stream from whence the retreating tide has sucked away the volume of +water. + +"What a Paradise for bare-footed boys, and children with a predilection +for mud pies!" exclaims one of the tourists; while the other--the +practical, prosaic--remarks, "It looks like the chocolate frosting of +your cakes!" for which speech a shriveling look is received. + +This great arm of the sea, reaching up so far into the land, and which +tried to convert Nova Scotia into an island (as man proposes to make +it, by channeling the isthmus), was known to early explorers as La Baie +Françoise, its present cognomen being a corruption of the French, +_Fond-de-la Baie_. + +Being long, narrow, and running into the land like a tunnel, the tide +rises higher and higher as it ascends into the upper and narrowest +parts; thus in the eastern arm, the Basin of Minas, the tidal swell +rises forty feet, sometimes fifty or more in spring. + +In Chignecto Bay, which extends in a more northerly direction from the +greater bay, the rise has been known to reach seventy feet in spring, +though it is usually between fifty and sixty at other times. Here, in +the estuary of the Petitcodiac, where the river meets the wave of the +tide, the volumes contending cause the Great Bore, as it is called; and +as in this region the swine wade out into the mud in search of shell +fish, they are sometimes swept away and drowned. The Amazon River also +has its Bore; the Indians, trying to imitate the sound of the roaring +water, call it "pororoca." + +In the Hoogly it is shown; and in a river of China, the Teintang, it +advances up the stream at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, causing +a rise of thirty feet. In some northern countries the Bore is called +the Eagre. Octavia says this must be because it screws its way so +_eagerly_ into the land, but is immediately suppressed, and informed +that the name is a corruption of Oegir, the Scandinavian god of the sea, +of whom we learn as follows:-- + +Odin, the father of the gods, creator of the world, possessing greatest +power and wisdom, holds the position in Scandinavian mythology that Zeus +does in the Greek. Like the Olympian Jupiter, he held the thunder bolts +in his hand; but differed from the more inert divinity of Greece in +that, arrayed in robes of cloud, he rode through the universe on his +marvelous steed, which had eight feet. This idea was characteristic of a +hardy race living a wild outdoor life in a rigorous climate. Oegir, the +god of the sea, was a jotun, but friendly to Odin. The jotuns were +giants, and generally exerted their powers to the injury of man, but, +not being gifted with full intelligence, could be conquered by men. The +first jotun, named Ymer, Odin subdued, and of his flesh formed the +earth, of his bones the mountains; the ocean was his blood, his brains +the clouds, while from his skull the arch of the heavens was made. + +We resolved to witness the singular spectacle of the Oegir of Fundy; +but, not receiving answer to our application for accommodations at +Moncton, proceeded on our way, consoling ourselves with the thought that +we could see a bore any day, without taking any special pains or going +much out of our way. + +The Basin of Minas! What a "flood of thoughts" rise at the name. Fancy +paints dreamy and fascinating pictures of the fruitful and verdant +meadow land, the hills, the woods, the simple hearted, childlike +peasants; upright, faithful, devout, leading blameless lives of placid +serenity: + + "At peace with God and the world." + +It seemed that there must be some means of crossing the beauteous Basin +whence the broken hearted exiles sailed away so sadly; and that any +tourist with a particle of romance or sentiment in his composition would +gladly make even a wide detour to visit it. Therefore we were surprised +to learn that railroad schedules said nothing of this route, and that +it seemed almost unknown to summer pleasure seekers. Not to be deterred, +however, what better can one do than write direct for information to +Parrsboro,--a pretty village, which is the nearest point to the Basin. +Thus we learn that a short railway, connecting with the Intercolonial, +will convey us thither, though not a road intended for passenger +service. + +"It will only add to the novelty and interest of our tour," we say. We +rather hope it will prove a very peculiar road, and are prepared for +discomfort which we do not find; although, at Spring Hill, the point of +divergence from the main line, such a queer train is waiting, that one +exclaims, "Surely we have come into the backwoods at last!" + +The car is divided in the middle, the forward part devoted to baggage, +while in the rear portion, on extremely low backed and cushion less +seats, beside tiny, shade less windows, sit the passengers. And such +passengers! We mentally ejaculate something about "Cruikshank's +caricatures come to life." With much preliminary clanking of chains, a +most dolorous groaning and creaking of the strange vehicle, a shudder +and jar, the train is in motion, and slowly proceeding through densely +wooded and wild country,--a coal and lumber district, where only an +occasional log house relieves the monotony of the scene,--log huts which +look as if they have strayed away from the far South and dropped down in +this wilderness. At intervals, with a convulsive jerk which brings to +their feet some new travelers on this peculiar line, the train halts to +take on lumber; and one of our tourists remarks, "This old thing starts +like an earthquake, and stops as if colliding with a stone wall;" and +continues: "Do you think the poet who longed for 'a lodge in some vast +wilderness', would have been satisfied with this?" Without waiting for +a reply, the next remark is: "We are looking for summer accommodations; +don't you think we could find board cheap here?" The prosaic one, +ignoring such an attempt at pleasantry, replies, "Five dollars per +thousand feet, I have been told." + +When the conductor, in a huge straw hat and rough suit, sans collar or +cravat, comes to collect tickets, the satirical one asks, "Will he +punch them with his penknife, or clip them with a pair of old scissors?" + +We have + + "Heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, + That was built in such a logical way + It ran a hundred years to a day," + +and conclude that the S. H. & P. R. R. resembles it somewhat; and that, +although there is a "general flavor of mild decay" about it in some +respects, it will not be in danger of wearing out from high rate of +speed; but who cares about _time_ when on a holiday? + +At last, in the distance, a range of blue hills becomes visible, with a +faint, far gleam of water; and, as the blue line abruptly descends to +the glistening streak below, we know in an instant what that promontory +must be, and ecstatically quote with one voice,-- + + "Away to the northward Blomidon rose," + +regardless of geography, as that Cape happens, in this case, to be +south of us. + +Having received information by mail that "hosses and carages" are to be +found at Parrsboro, and that the sailing of the steamer is "rooled by +the tide," eager looks are cast about on alighting at that charming +village, the natives of which, to our surprise, are not backwoodsmen or +rough countrymen. Mine host, genial and gentlemanly, becomes visible; +and we are soon bowling merrily along through the neat village, the +picturesque country beyond, and are set down at a refreshingly +old-timey inn directly on the shore of the Basin of Minas, which bursts +suddenly upon the view, amazing one by its extent and beauty. We exclaim +in surprise, "Why, it looked no larger than one's thumb nail on the +map!" + + + + +THE BASIN OF MINAS + + +A curving beach with rolling surf, a long and very high pier, showing +the great rise of the tide,--at this point sixty feet in the spring,-- +and directly before one the peculiarly striking promontory of Blomidon, +with the red sandstone showing through the dark pines clothing his +sides, and at his feet a powerful "rip" tossing the water into chopped +seas; a current so strong that a six-knot breeze is necessary to carry +a vessel through the passage which here opens into the Bay of Fundy. + +This is the place where schedules said nothing of a boat to convey the +tourist across the inland sea--of thirty miles' width--to the railroad +on its south shore,--the line which bears on its rolling stock the +ominous initials W. A. R, but passes through the most peaceful country +nevertheless. Yet our genial host's assurances that such a vessel will +come are not to be doubted; and, after a dainty repast, a group sits on +the pier, watching ghostly ships and smaller craft emerge from and +vanish into the mist. As the mists disperse and the moon comes out +clearly, it reveals the "Hiawatha" approaching,--a graceful propeller +of five hundred tons burden, and one hundred and some odd feet in +length. + +Partridge Island, which is close at hand, commands exceptionally fine +views, as Blomidon does also; the famous Capes d'Or and Chignecto, seven +hundred and thirty to eight hundred feet high, with Advocate Harbor, +are within pleasant driving distance. There are twenty varieties of +minerals on Blomidon; as many more, with jaw-testing names, on Partridge +Island "and thereabout"; so in this locality a geologist would become +quite ecstatic. Some of the finest marine scenery of the Provinces, as +well as lovely inland views and the noted and singular Five Islands, can +be seen within a radius of twenty miles. + +"No country is of much interest until legends and poetry have draped it +in hues that mere nature cannot produce," says a pleasant modern +writer. + +Geologists believe that the range of hills known as the North Mountain +was once a long narrow island, and that a shoal gradually formed near +Blomidon, in time filling in until that headland became part of the +mainland. + +This striking cape, five hundred and seventy feet high, one would +naturally expect to find associated with strange wild myths of the +aborigines; and + + "Ye who love a nation's legends, + That like voices from afar off + Call to us to pause and listen," + +attend then! + +It seems that this was the favorite resort of Glooscap, the Indian +giant, who, like "Kwasind the Strong Man," in "Hiawatha," entered into +a fierce combat here with the Great Beaver (Ahmeek, King of the Beavers, +is spoken of in that same poem), and contended with the gigantic +creature in similar manner, throwing huge masses of rock, which, falling +in the water, became, in this case, the Five Islands. The Indian legend +says that at this point a stupendous dam was built by the Great Beaver; +and because this was flooding the Cornwallis valley, Glooscap, whose +supernatural power was unlimited, broke and bent it into its present +shape, forming Cape Blomidon, afterwards strewing the promontory with +gems, some of which he carried away to adorn "his mysterious female +companion." Here also he held a wonderful feast with another giant; and, +ordinary fish not sufficing to satisfy their enormous appetites, the two +embarked in a stone canoe, sailed out into the Great Lake of Uniras, as +they called the Basin, and there speared a whale, which they brought +to the shore and devoured at short notice. The approach of the white man +causing the Indian giant to desert his old haunts, he sailed out on the +great water and vanished from sight; but some day, when men and animals +live together in peace and friendship, he will return and resume his +royal sway on the Basin of Minas. Before his departure he gave a +farewell feast to all the animals, who swarmed from all over the +country, turned his dogs into stone, and left his kettle overturned in +the shape of an island near Cape Spencer, across Minas Channel. Since +that time the loons, who were his hunters, wander sadly about the +wildest lakes and rivers, searching for their master, uttering their +dolorous cries; and the owls keep up their part of the lament, crying +"Koo koo skoos," which, being Indian language, they evidently learned +from the giant, and, being interpreted, signified "I am sorry." + +The crown of France is adorned with a fine amethyst from Blomidon; and +those early explorers, De Monts and Co., "found in the neighborhood" (of +Parrsboro) "crystals and blue stones of a shining colour, similar in +appearance to those known by the name of Turkeese." One of the company, +"having found a beautiful specimen of this kind, broke it into two +pieces, and gave one to De Monts, and the other to Poutrincourt, who, +on their return to Paris, had them handsomely set by a jeweler, and +presented them to the King and Queen." + +At the base of Cape d'Or there is a very powerful current with great +maelstroms; this is known as the Styx, and through these terrible +whirlpools two fishermen were carried this season (1883), one losing his +life; while the other, an expert swimmer and athlete, was saved by less +than a hair's breadth, and afterwards described most thrillingly his +sensations on being drawn into and ejected from the frightful vortices. + +Just at daybreak, when Blomidon looks out all glowing from the gauzy +veil of mist, as the lazy zephyr wafts it aside, and the placid water +repeats the glorious tints of radiant clouds, we regretfully take our +departure. Cape Sharp and Cape Split, bold promontories which stand like +mighty sentinels guarding the entrance to the Bay of Fundy, appear in +clearest azure and violet; while the mountains of the north shore are +sharply defined in pure indigo against the brilliant sky, as the +propeller steams away. The sail across, two hours and a half in length, +is a vision of ideal and poetic beauty, all too brief; and as we step +ashore we feel tempted to quote, "Take, oh boatman, thrice thy fee!" + +At this point (Hantsport) we take the W. and A. R. R, and in a few hours +are set down at the place which we have been so long planning to reach; +the place of which our host, who is probably not familiar with the +history of St. Augustine, Florida, wrote proudly as "the oldest town in +North America." + +It certainly is one of the oldest settlements in North America, having +been founded in 1604, and, until 1750, it was the capital of the whole +peninsula of Nova Scotia: Annapolis,--the old Port Royal, the historical +town which has been the scene of so many struggles and bitter +contentions; but is now the very picture of peace and utterly restful +quiet. + +Here the Eight settle down for a long sojourn; basking in the delicious +atmosphere, devoting themselves to searching out the most picturesque +views, in a series of rambles, drives, and excursions, and visiting all +points for miles around, to which history and romance have added charms +almost as great as those of river and mountain which they always +possessed. + +Those of our party who hail from the city of Brotherly Love naturally +feel a special interest in Acadia and the sad story of Longfellow's +heroine; as a patent for the principality of Acadia, which included the +whole American coast from Philadelphia to Montreal, was given by the +"impulsive and warmhearted monarch," Henry IV. of France, to Pierre du +Guast, the Sieur de Monts, constituting him governor of that country, +and giving him the trade and revenues of the region. + +Consequently some of the ancestors of our Philadelphia friends were +Acadians, though not French peasantry. There also:-- + + "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." + +In that sedate and sober city was-- + + "the almshouse, home of the homeless. + Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and woodlands, + Now the city surrounds it, hut 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 have always with you'" + +There the sad exile's weary search was at last rewarded; the long parted +lovers were reunited, though but for a moment on the verge of the grave; +and thus was ended-- + + "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," + +The city almshouse stood, we are told, at the corner of Twelfth and +Spruce Streets; but the belief is quite general (and we incline +decidedly to that) that our beloved poet intended by his description to +portray the quaint building formerly known as the Friends' Almshouse, +which stood in Walnut Place (opening off of Walnut Street below Fourth), +and which was torn down in 1872 or 1873 to give place to railroad and +lawyers' offices. + +The entrance from the street, by "gateway and wicket", as the poem says, +led through a narrow passage way; and there faced one a small, low +roofed house, built of alternate red and black bricks (the latter +glazed), almost entirely covered by an aged ivy which clambered over the +roof. The straggling branches even nodded above the wide chimneys; at +both sides of the door stood comfortable settles, inviting to rest; and +the pretty garden charmed with its bloom and fragrance. The whole formed +such a restful retreat, such an oasis of quiet in the very heart of the +busy city, that one was tempted often to make excuses for straying into +the peaceful enclosure. + +In a book printed for private circulation in Philadelphia some years +ago, there is an item of interest about the Acadians. The author +narrates that she and a young companion, in their strolls to the +suburbs, where they went to visit the Pennsylvania Hospital (Eighth and +Pine Streets, now in the heart of the city), were timid because obliged +to pass the place where the "French Neutrals" were located. + +These people, because they were foreigners, and there was some mystery +about them which the girls did not then understand, inspired them with +fear; though Philadelphia residents of that time testify that the +homeless and destitute strangers were in reality a very simple and +inoffensive company, when, "friendless, homeless, hopeless, they +wandered from city to city." Through the influence of Anthony Benezet, a +member of the Society of Friends, they were provided with homes on Pine +Street above Sixth, where the two little wooden houses still stand; one, +when we last saw it, being painted blue. + +What a picturesque company of adventurers were those French noblemen, +who, turning their backs upon the luxuries and fascinations of court +life, sailed away to this wild and distant land, where, in the pursuit +of gain, fame, or merely adventure, they were to suffer absolute +privation and hardship; consorting with savages in place of the plumed +and pampered denizens of palaces. + +After a probably tempestuous voyage across the bleak Atlantic, and a +merciless buffeting from Fundy in the spring of 1604, the prospective +Governor of the great territory known as Acadia was sailing along this +coast, which presents such a forbidding aspect from the Bay, making his +first haven May 16. At that time, we can readily imagine, in this +northern region the weather would not be very balmy. Even now the wild +rocky shore stretches along drearily--though with certain stern +picturesqueness--as far as eye can reach, and then must have been even +less attractive, as it showed no sign of habitation. + +Champlain was somewhat familiar with these shores from former voyages, +and so had been chosen as pilot; but De Poutrincourt and Pontgravé, +other associates of Pierre du Guast, the Sieur de Monts, doubtless +looked askance at each other, or indulged in the expressive French shrug +as the cheerless panorama parsed before them. On that 16th of May, at +the harbor where the little town of Liverpool is now situated, De Monts +found another Frenchman engaged in hunting and fishing, ignoring, or +regardless of, the rights of any one else; and without ado this +interloper (so considered by De Monts) was nabbed; the only consolation +he received being the honor of transmitting his name, Rossignol, to the +harbor,--a name since transferred to a lake in the vicinity. + +After a sojourn of two weeks at another point (St. Mary's Bay), the +explorers proceeded northward; and at last a particularly inviting +harbor presented itself, causing the mental vision of the new Governor +and his company to assume more hopeful aspect, as they turned their +course thither and pronounced it "Port Royal"! + + + + +PORT ROYAL + + +Here they managed to exist through the winter with as much comfort as +circumstances would admit of; but with the return of summer were on the +wing again, in search of more salubrious climate and more southerly +locality for the establishment of a colony, sailing along the coast of +Maine and Massachusetts as far as Cape Cod. + +Attempts were made to establish settlements, but the natives proved +unfriendly; the foreigners had not a sufficient force to subdue them; +and, as De Monts was obliged to return to France, De Poutrincourt and +his companions established themselves again at Port Royal. Here, to +while away the long winter, the gay adventurers established a burlesque +court, which they christened "L'Ordre de Bon Temps"; and of the merry +realm each of the fifteen principal persons of the colony became supreme +ruler in turn. As the Grand Master's sway lasted but a day, each one, as +he assumed that august position, prided himself on doing his utmost to +eclipse his predecessor in lavish provision for feasting. Forests were +scoured for game; fish were brought from the tempest-tossed waters of +the Bay, or speared through the ice of L'Équille; so the table fairly +groaned with the luxuries of these winter revelers in the wilds of +Acadia. With ludicrous caricature of court ceremonial, the rulers of +the feast marched to the table, where their invited guests, the Indian +chiefs, sat with them around the board; the squaws and children +squatting on the floor, watching for bits which the lively company now +and then tossed to them. "They say" that an aged sachem, when dying, +asked if he should have pies in heaven as good as those which he had +eaten at Poutrincourt's table! + +To the Indians, the greatest delicacy of all on the table was bread. +This, to them a dainty viand, they were always ready to consume with +gusto; but were invariably averse to grinding the corn, although +promised half of the meal as recompense for their labor. The grinding +was performed with a hand-mill, and consequently so laborious and +tedious that the savages would rather suffer hunger than submit to such +drudgery, which they also seemed to think degrading to the free sons of +the forest. + +Proverbially fickle are princes; and of this De Monts was convinced on +his return to France, for during his absence he had lost favor with his +sovereign, Henry IV., who revoked his commission; still he succeeded, +after many difficulties, in procuring supplies for his colony, and +arrived just in time to prevent his people from leaving Port Royal +discouraged and disheartened. One member of the little community of +Frenchmen was Lescarbot, a lawyer, who was talented, poetical, and did +much to enliven the others during the absence of their leader, who, on +his return, was received by a procession of masqueraders, headed by +Neptune and tritons, reciting verses written by Lescarbot. Over the +entrances to the fort and to the Governor's apartments were suspended +wreaths of laurel and garlands surrounding Latin mottoes,--all the work +of the pastimist (if one may coin such a word). The relief and +encouragement brought by De Monts were but temporary, and in the spring +(1606) news was received that nothing more could be sent to the +colonists, and they must be disbanded. + +Imagination portrays the strange picture presented at this time in this +remote region, the gay French courtiers vanishing from the sight of +their Indian comrades almost as suddenly and mysteriously as they had +appeared but three years before, and leaving their dusky boon companions +lamenting on the shore. The eyes of the savages--that race who pride +themselves on their stoicism--were actually dimmed with tears as they +watched the vessel fading away in the distance. + +For four years "ye gentle sauvage" pursued the even tenor of his way, +and consoled himself as best he could for the absence of the lively +revelers who had cheered his solitude; then, presumably to his delight +(in 1610), he saw Poutrincourt returning. That nobleman had promised the +king to exert himself for the conversion of the Indians. Three years +later a company of Jesuits sailed for this port with the same object in +view; but, losing their reckoning, they founded settlements at Mt. +Desert instead. + +Madame de Guercheville, a true woman indeed, who was honored and +respected in a dissolute court where honor was almost unknown, had +become a zealous advocate of the conversion of Indians in America; and +through her means and influence several priests of the Jesuit order were +sent out in 1612 to this settlement. The sachems, with members of their +tribes living at Port Royal, were baptized, twenty-one at one time, with +much show of rejoicing typified by firing of cannon, waving of banners, +blaring of trumpets. Some doubt is expressed whether the savages fully +understood what it was all about, and what their confession of faith +fully signified; as one chief, on being instructed in the Lord's Prayer, +objected to asking for bread alone, saying that he wished for moose +flesh and fish also; and when one of the priests deliberately set to +work, with notebook and quill, to learn the language of the aborigines +by asking one man the Indian words for various French ones (to him +totally incomprehensible), the savage, with malice aforethought, +purposely gave him words of evil signification, which did not assist +the Frenchman in enlightening other members of this benighted race. +Perceiving the trick which had been played upon him by the savage, who +had been so perplexed by his questioning, the priest declared that +Indian possessed by the Devil! However, with all its discouragements, +this was the opening of the work of the Jesuits in America; in which +even those who might have thought their zeal at times mistaken could not +but respect them for the noble heroism, displayed during so many years, +in their work of civilizing and enlightening the savages. Even in these +olden times there were turbulent marauders abroad; and one such, Argall, +from Virginia, after destroying the settlement at Somes Sound (Mt. +Desert), pounced upon this peaceful station, destroying the fort and +scattering the colonists (1613). + +The section known as Virginia was granted in 1606 to the London and +Plymouth Companies; and as that portion embraced the country between 34 +degrees and 43 degrees north latitude, it seems that Argall pretended +that the French at Port Royal were interlopers, usurping his rights; but +as De Monts had received in 1604 a charter for the country deemed as +lying between 40 degrees and 46 degrees north latitude, Argall had no +right to dispossess De Monts or his successor. + +Notwithstanding that a member of Argall's company speaks of him as "a +gentleman of noble courage", that does not prevent us from considering +him a rascal; for at this time France and England were at peace, and he +was unauthorized in his base and tyrannous invasion of Port Royal. +Before his attack on this quiet, peaceful station, he had shown greatest +treachery at Somes Sound, Mt. Desert, where he stole Saussaye's +commission and cast adrift in an open boat fifteen of the colonists. + +Poutrincourt's son, Biencourt, was now Governor of Acadia, and stationed +at Port Royal. He endeavored to make terms with Argall, and offered to +divide with him the proceeds of the fur trade and the mines; but this +was refused, and the settlement broken up, some of the unfortunate +Frenchmen joining Champlain at Quebec, some scattering into the woods +among the Indians, while others were carried to England and from thence +demanded by the French ambassador. Thus, after only a little more than +eight years from the time of settlement, the colony was entirely broken +up. + +En passant: A friend of ours, who with his family passed a summer in New +Hampshire, "at the roots of the White Mountains", as someone expressed +it, surprised an old farmer by asking the names of hills in sight from +that particular locality. The reply was, "I dono, and I dono as I care; +but you city folks, when you come here, are allers askin' questions." We +conclude that we are liable to be classed in a similar category; and, in +fact, the Dabbler when sketching one day is asked, "Ain't some of your +party writing a book?" The interrogator's mind is set at rest by being +answered that the reason we have become animated notes of interrogation +is because we are interested in the history of the old town; but it is +fearful to think for what that innocent lad is responsible: putting +notions in people's heads, and causing this volume to be inflicted on a +suffering world! + +To return to our subject. The olive branch was not yet to be the emblem +of this spot, now so peaceful, for a colony of Scotch people were next +routed (1628), and the place left in ruins, when a season of quiet +ensued; but this was virtually the commencement of the French and +English wars in North America, continuing, with slight intermissions, +until the treaty of 1763, by which France gave up her possessions in +America. + +In 1634 Port Royal fell into French hands again, when Claude de Razilly +was Governor, and here for a short time lived La Tour, one of his +lieutenants, who kept up such bitter feuds with D'Aulnay, who held like +position to his own, and whose story Whittier relates in his poem, "St. +John, 1647". + +Madatae de la Tour must have been one of the earliest advocates of +women's rights, as she so bravely held the fort of St. John in her +husband's absence. + + "'But what of my lady?' + Cried Charles of Estienne + On the shot-crumbled turret + Thy lady was seen + Half veiled in the smoke cloud + Her hand grasped thy pennon, + While her dark tresses swayed + In the hot breath of cannon, + Of its sturdy defenders, + Thy lady alone + Saw the cross-blazoned banner + Float over St John. + Alas for thy lady! + No service from thee + Is needed by her + Whom the Lord hath set free: + Nine days, in stern silence, + Her thralldom she bore, + But the tenth morning came + And Death opened her door'" + +Hannay says she was "the first and greatest of Acadian heroines,--a +woman whose name is as proudly enshrined in the history of this land as +that of any sceptered queen in European story." + +For a long series of years this post of Port Royal was the bone of +contention between the French and English; the fort, being held for a +time by one power, then by the other, representing the shuttle-cock when +these contending nations battled at her doors. In 1654 the place was +held by the French under Le Borgne. An attack by the English was +successful, though the French were well garrisoned and provisioned. + +In De Razilly's time La Tour, who might have been satisfied with his +possessions at St. John, assailed it; then English pirates took the +fishing fleet (1684); next Sir William Phipps captured and pillaged the +fort in 1690. Shortly after this, pirates from the West Indies plundered +the place; and in 1691 it again fell into the hands of the French under +De Villebon. It was still to undergo two sieges in 1707, when, under +Subercase, the besiegers were repulsed; and in 1710 seven ships with +English marines bombarded the fort for several days. The garrison at +last, being in starving condition, were forced to yield; and the victors +christened the place Annapolis Royal, in honor of their sovereign then +reigning in Great Britain. + +The subjugation of this part of "New France" made Nova Scotia an English +province; and for a time this realm might have answered to the +description of Rasselas's Happy Valley; the thrifty, honest people +relieved from "wars and rumors of wars", and taking up the quiet, +contented routine of every-day life. + + "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife + They kept the noiseless tenor of their way." + +But in 1744 the reign of siege and terror began again, and the town was +destroyed by bombardment and incendiary fires, when, for nearly three +months, Laloutre and Duvivier besieged the fort. The garrison, augmented +by troops from Louisburg, and assisted by provisions and men from +Boston, finally repulsed their assailants. The next year there was +another assault under De Ramezay, which was unsuccessful; and after the +dispersion of the Acadians (1755), the much-fought-over place was +allowed to remain in quiet until 1781, when two American ships-of-war +sailed up the river at night. Their forces, taking the fort by surprise, +robbed the houses, after imprisoning the people in the old block-house. +Since that time the English have retained possession of this much +disputed territory; the fort has been unarmed and unoccupied (by +military force) since 1850, when the Rifle Brigade were stationed here; +but the tedium of garrison life proving still more irksome here, and +desertions being frequent, the fort was abandoned as a military post. + + + + +ANNAPOLIS + + +What a fascination there is about that old fort at Annapolis!--"the +hornet's nest", as it was called in the olden time; the stronghold +which withstood so many sieges, and was the subject of constant +contentions in by-gone years. + +The hours slip by unnoted when one sits, on the ramparts dreaming and +gazing on the broad sweep of river, the distant islands, the undulating +lines of the mountain ranges. The sleepy looking cows wander lazily +about, cropping the grass on the embankments, and even clamber over the +ancient archway. + +One peoples the place with imaginary martial figures, and is almost +startled when the stillness is broken by a rustle and approaching +footsteps, and turns, as if expecting to see glittering uniforms +appearing through the crumbling arch; but it is only old Moolly, who +deliberately walks into the inner enclosure, and, if "our special artist +on the spot" has left his sketch for a moment, probably puts her foot in +it, with the air of one who should say, "Who are you who dare invade my +realm?" + +The quaint barrack building, with its huge chimneys and gambrel roof, is +now occupied by several families; and a whitewashed fence encloses a gay +garden. The small magazine, built of creamy sandstone sent from France +for the purpose, still remains, and its excessively sharp roof shows +above the ramparts; but the massive oaken door stands open wide and is +green with age; the roof is decidedly shaky; and the shingles hang +loosely, so that one would think that only a moderate gale would send +them flying like a pack of cards. + +The block-house, built of massive logs and heavy planks of English oak, +stood within the past year by the bridge over the moat; but, +unfortunately, a person without reverence for antiquities has razed it, +thereby obtaining his winter fuel cheaply; and he now turns an honest +penny by selling canes, etc., of the wood. + +When we indignantly ask some of the town's-people how they could have +permitted this, they reply, "Oh, it was getting rotten, and would have +tumbled down some day;" but we judge, by pieces which we see of the +sound, tough fibred oak, that it might have stood for fifty years more +without injury; while a little judicious propping and repairing, +perhaps, would have preserved it for a longer period than that. Poor +Annapolitans, who had no Centennial Exhibition to teach them the value +of historical relics and "old things". + +On the Maine Central Railroad, quite near the track at Winslow, we +passed, on our way here, an old block-house, which is carefully +preserved. + +Not long ago, the Canadian Government received orders that all +buildings, except the barrack and magazine, must be removed from the +fort enclosure; yet a garrulous old Scotchman still resides there in a +tiny house, and plies his trade as cobbler. + +His delight is to regale strangers with preposterous "yarns", and +accounts of his adventures in her Majesty's service; accounts which must +be taken with considerably more than the proverbial grain of salt, but +to which we listened with delight and amazingly sober countenances. When +asked how it happens that he still remains in the fort grounds, he +answers, "I writ out home, to Angland, to say that I served in the +arrumy fur thurty yeer, and I know the ould gurrul will let me stay." +(There's respect for a sovereign!) + +He talks wisely of the "bumpruf", a word which we have some difficulty +in translating into _bomb proof_; and we are, apparently, overpowered +with wonder as he explains how "with a few berrls av pouther they cud +send ivery thing flying, and desthroy the whole place, avery bit av +it." + +Presumably misled by our simulated credulity, he goes on to describe a +well in front of the magazine, and says, "When they wanted to get red +av throoblesome preesoners, ploomp they'd go in the watter, and thet was +the last av 'em'" Suffice it to say, that the oldest inhabitant has no +recollection of the slightest trace of such a well. + +The underground passage has fallen in; only the entrance being now +visible and accessible Old Gill says, "I as the last man iver in it; and +I got caught there with the wall fallin' in, and they were twinty fower +hours gettin' me out," (a li[e]kely story!) adding, "Oh, I was a divil +in them days!" and "I found in there a bit av a goon wrinch" (gun +wrench); and Mr. So and So, from Halifax, "gev me some money fur it, +an' he lapped it up in his han'kerchef like as if it had ben goold." + +We are told of an ancient house "of the era of the French occupation," +and go to see it; but learn, though it looks so aged, that it was built +upon the _site_ of the French house, and is not the old original. The +owner has reached the ripe age of ninety-four, and is a remarkable man, +with the polished manner of a gentleman of the old school In such a +climate as this, one would naturally expect to find centenarians. He +tells us many interesting things about old times here, and his grandson +brings out a barrel of Acadian relics to show us. + +We are interested in noting the differences between these ancient +implements and those in use at the present time; here is a gridiron, +with very long handle and four feet (a clumsy quadruped), and we see in +fancy the picture of home comfort, as the busy housewife prepares the +noonday meal, where-- + + "Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer + Stood on the side of a lull commanding the sea, and a shady + Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it" + +Here, too, are ox chains, a curiously shaped ploughshare, an odd little +spade used in mending the dikes, and digging clay for bricks, and also +the long and heavy tongs of 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." + +These implements were discovered at Frenchman's Brook on this farm, only +three years ago, and were then found apparently as bright and strong as +if just placed there. They were covered with brush, but a foot or two +below the surface; and seem to have been hurriedly hidden by the exiles, +who, finding them too weighty for conveyance, secreted them, probably +with the hope of returning sometime. + +What a study for an artist the group would have made, as they stood +examining the misty iron, and talking of the unhappy people so +ruthlessly sent into banishment! For background, the quaint, unpainted +house, black with age, the roof of the "lean-to" so steeply sloping that +the eave-trough was on a line Avith the heads of the group Beyond lay +the lovely valley, with the winding Équille on its serpentine way to +join the greater river; the whole picture framed in the long range of +wooded and rugged hills. + +Higginson thinks there has been too much sentimentalizing over the fate +of the Acadians; and one member of our party so evidently considers that +our enthusiasm savors of the gushing school-girl, that we are cautious +in our remarks. But the old man's grandson, holding his pretty child on +his shoulder, and looking across the valley to his pleasant dwelling, +says, "Oh, it was cruel to send them away from their homes!" to which +all earnestly assent. + +Clambering up the hill back of the old house, we come upon the site of +an ancient French church, and commend the taste of those who chose such +an admirable location. Here we find, to our delight, that local +tradition has buried two fine old bells. Bells! What a charm there is +about them! One of the earliest recollections of our childhood is of a +bell, which, being harsh and dissonant, so worked upon our youthful +sensibilities as to cause paroxysms of tears; and now in these later +years we are sure that should some genie set us down blindfolded in any +place where we had ever remained for a time the mere tones of the bells +would enlighten us as to our whereabouts. + + "Those evening bells! Those evening bells! + How many a tale their music tells, + Of youth and home and that sweet time + When last I heard their soothing chime." + +After the Port Royal settlement was broken up by Argall in 1613, +tradition says this church crumbled away into ruin, and, as the +supporting beams decayed, the bells sank to the ground, where, from +their own weight and the accumulations of Nature's _débris_ they became +more and more deeply embedded until lost to view. Silver bells, from +France, they say. Of course! Who ever heard of any ancient bells which +were not largely composed of that metal? It is a pretty myth, however, +which we adopt with pleasure; though common sense plainly says that +silver would soon wear away in such use; that the noble patrons of a +struggling colony in a wild country would not have been so extravagant +as that; and that bell metal is a composition of copper and tin which +has been in use from the time of Henry III. + +The people of Antwerp have special affection for the "Carolus" of their +famous cathedral; and that bell is actually composed of copper, silver, +and gold; but it is now so much worn that they are not allowed the +privilege of hearing it more than once or twice a year "Kings and nobles +have stood beside these famous caldrons" (of the bell founders), "and +looked with reverence on the making of these old bells; nay, they have +brought gold and silver, and pronouncing the holy name of some saint or +apostle which the bell was hereafter to bear, they have flung in +precious metals, rings, bracelets, and even bullion." + +Possibly these old bells of Annapolis, the secret of whose hiding place +Nature guards so well, were made by Van den Gheyn or Hemony of Belgium, +who from 1620 to 1650 were such famous founders that those of their +works still extant are worth their weight in gold, or priceless, and +are noted the world over for their wonderful melody. If so, when they + + "Sprinkled with sounds the air, as the priest with his hyssop + Sprinkles the congregation and scatters blessing among them," + +it was no doubt with silvery tone; and, as it is well known that bells +sound best when rung on a slope or in a valley where there is a lake or +river, doubtless this wide and lovely stream carried the music of the +mellow peal, and returning voyagers heard the welcome notes; as the +sailors of the North Sea, on entering the Scheldt, strain their ears to +catch the faint, far melody of the chimes of the belfry of Antwerp, +visible one hundred and fifty miles away. + +Another day we make an expedition to see the Apostle Spoons, and are +received, as invariably everywhere, with cordial hospitality. These +spoons would, I fear, cause the eye of an antiquary to gleam covetously. +They have round, flat bowls about two and a half inches in diameter; +narrow, slender, and straight handles, terminating, the one with a +small turbaned head, the other with a full length figure about one inch +long; the entire length of the handles being about four and a half +inches. + +In the bowl of one the letters P L I are rudely cut; and on both is +stamped something which, they say, under magnifying glass resembles a +King's head In the spring of 1874 or 1875 these were turned up by the +plough, in a field two miles beyond the town, the discovery being made +in the neighborhood of the supposed bite of an old French church. The +farmer's thrifty housewife was making soap at the time the spoons were +unearthed; and as they were much discolored, "the old lead things" were +tossed into the kettle of lye, from whence, to her amazement, they came +out gold, or, at least, silver washed with gold. These spoons, they say, +were used in the service of the church; but it is more likely that they +were the property of some family, and probable that they were dropped +by their owners--then living beyond the present site of Annapolis--when, +at the time of the banishment of the Acadians, they were hurried away to +the ships on the Basin of Minas. + +An apostle spoon was often a treasured heirloom in families of the +better class, and at the advent of each scion of the family tree was +suspended about the neck of the infant at baptism, being supposed to +exert some beneficent influence. Especially in the East, about the +seventh century, we find that a small vessel, or spoon, sometimes of +gold, was used in the churches These were eucharistic utensils, by means +of which communicants conveyed the sacred elements to the mouth; but +this custom was forbidden and done away with, though probably the +tradition of such usage suggested the spoon, which became general in +Greek and most Oriental churches many years after. The supposition +is, that in those churches, after the wafer had been put into the wine +in the chalice, the spoon was used to dip out such portion as was to be +reserved for administering the last sacrament to the dying, or to those +who were too ill to attend the service in the church. In all churches +of the East, except the Armenian, the spoon is used in administering the +sacrament. + +Curious customs also existed in ancient times in reference to baptism. +Honey mixed with milk or with wine was given to the one who had just +received this rite, to show that he who received it, being a, newly +born child spiritually, must not be fed with strong meat, but with milk. +This became a regular part of the ritual, and was closely adhered to. +The old customs of festivals of rejoicing, public thanksgivings, wearing +of garlands, singing of hymns, and giving presents, are well known and +familiarly associated with baptismal festivities. The presentation of +apostle spoons at christenings was a very ancient custom in England. A +wealthy sponsor or relative who could afford it, gave a complete set of +twelve, each with the figure of an apostle carved or chased on the end +of the handle; while sometimes a poor person presented only one, but on +that was the figure of the saint for whom the child was named. Sometimes +this rudely molded little figure represented the patron saint of the +sponsor or the donor. In 1666 the custom was on the decline. + +An anecdote relating to this usage is told of Shakespeare. The latter +"stood godfather" to the child of a friend; and after the ceremonies of +the christening, as the poet seemed much absorbed and serious, the +father questioned him as to the cause of his melancholy. The sponsor +replied, that he was considering what would be the most suitable gift +for him to present to his god-child, and that he had finally decided. +"I'll give him," said he, "a dozen good latten spoons, and thou shalt +translate them." This was a play upon the word Latin. In the Middle Ages +a kind of bronze used for church and household utensils was known as +"latten"; and the same name was applied in Shakespeare's time to thin +iron plate coated with tin, of which domestic utensils and implements +were made. + +In Johnson's "Bartholomew Fair" one of his characters says, "And all +this for the hope of a couple of apostle spoons, and a cup to eat caudle +in." In a work of Middleton, entitled "The Chaste Maid of Cheapside", +one of the characters inquires, "What has he given her?" to which +another replies, "A faire high standing cup, and two great 'postle +spoons, one of them gilt." + +The hat, or flat covering on the head of the figure,--that which we call +a turban in one of these at Annapolis,--was a customary appendage and +usual in apostle spoons; the intention being thereby to protect the +features of the tiny heads from wear. Whatever the history of these at +Annapolis, there can be no doubt of their genuineness, and, in a perfect +state, they are extremely rare. + +In our antiquarian researches we are naturally drawn to the old +cemetery, adjoining the fort grounds; but learn that the oldest graves +were marked by oaken slabs, which have all disappeared, as have also +many odd stone ones. But among those still standing one records that +some one "dyed 1729"; another states that the body below "is deposited +here until the last trump"; and one, which must be the veritable +original of the "affliction sore" rhyme, ends: "till death did seize +and God did please to ease me of my pain." Still another bears this +epitaph, _verbatim et literatim_-- + + "Stay friend stay nor let thy hart prophane + The humble Stone that tells you life is vain. + Here lyes a youth in moulding ruin lost + A blossom nipt by death's untimely frost + O then prepare to meet with him above + In realms of everlasting love." + +The stone-cutter's hand must have been as weary when he blundered over +the word humble as the poet's brain evidently was when he reached the +line which limps so lamely to the conclusion. Near this recently stood +a stone, + + "With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked," + +on which the representation of Father Time was carved in such peculiar +manner that from pose and expression the figure might have passed for a +lively youth rather than the dread reaper, and was irreverently known +to the village youths as "Sarah's young man", a title suggested by a +popular song of the day. + +In a remote corner we find the tomb of "Gregoria Remonia Antonia", "a +native of Spain"; and afterwards learn her story,--an episode in the +life of the Iron Duke which does not do him honor. Did _la grande dame_, +the Duchess, ever know of the fair foreigner who supplanted her, the +dame o' high degree, in her husband's affection? Did the beautiful +Spanish maiden dream, when the brilliant English General wooed her, +that he was doing her and another woman the greatest wrong? Little did +the fascinating Spaniard think that the so-called "nobleman" would +compel her to marry another; and that other a rough, illiterate man, who +would bring her to this wild, strange, far-away country, and that here +she should be laid to rest "after life's fitful fever." Is it to be +wondered at that her fiery Southern spirit rebelled, that her wrongs +embittered her, and that her life here was unhappy? + +To add to the romance, one who attended her in her last illness tells +us that when the garrison gave a ball, the slender little Spanish lady +loaned or gave "pretty fixins" to the young girls to wear, and appeared +herself in rich silks and plumes; that she gave to her attendant in that +illness a wonderful box "all done off with,--well--this here plated +stuff, you know"; and that when the end was drawing near, the faint, +weak voice, with its broken English (at best so difficult to +understand), tried to make "Char-loet-tah" comprehend where she must +look for something hidden away which she wished her nurse to have in +recognition of her services. But alas! the hoarded treasure was not +found until months after the poor soul was gone, and then fell into the +very hands which the sad alien had most desired should not touch it. + +The old adage about a sailor's right to have "a sweetheart in every +port" is still cited in these days of boasted advancement in culture, +religion, morals; and it is the same old world to-day as that which +lauded and bowed down to him whom it called "his Grace" (despite what we +consider his graceless actions); the same world, alas! ignoring the open +and evident fact when he steps aside from the narrow path of honor and +rectitude; while, should she swerve in the least, pouring out +mercilessly its harshest taunts, or overwhelming her with pitiless +scorn. This, because woman should hold an exalted position, and "be +above suspicion"? Then why do not the so-called "lords of creation", as +they might and ought, set an example of noble uprightness to "the weaker +vessel", guiding, guarding, upholding her through "the shards and thorns +of existence"? + +The Spanish girl, left an orphan by the wars in which the dashing and +gallant English officer figured so proudly, fell to the care of two +aunts, who, belonging to that indolent, pleasure loving race of sunny +Spain, perhaps left the poor girl too much to her own devices, and thus +she may have been more easily beguiled. + +"Look here, upon this picture, and on _this_": first, the gay little +senorita, holding daintily in her tapering fingers a cigarette, which +she occasionally raises to her "ripe red lips", afterwards languidly +following with her lustrous black eyes the blue wreaths of smoke as +they float above her head and vanish in the air; next, the withered +crone, with silver hair, wrinkled skin, and no trace of her early +beauty, sitting in the chimney corner, and still smoking, though now it +is a clay pipe,--to the amazement and disgust of the villagers. Yet +we, believing in the only correct interpretation of _noblesse oblige_, +and that he only is truly noble who acts nobly, have only pity for the +poor soul who here laid down life's weary burden twenty-two years ago at +the age of seventy-two, and scorn for him who rests in an honored grave, +and is idealized among the world's heroes. + +How amusing it is to hear the people speak of us invariably as +"Americans", as if we were from some far-away and foreign country, and +to hear them talk of England as "home"! + +The hearty cordiality, natural manner, and pleasantly unworldly ways of +the people are most refreshing; in "a world of hollow shams", to find +persons who are so _genuine_ is delightful; and thus another charm is +added to give greater zest to our enjoyment. + +One, half in jest, asks a Halifax gentleman how they would like to be +annexed to the United States, and is quite surprised at his ready and +earnest reply: "Annexed? Oh, yes, we'd be glad to be;... we wouldn't +come with empty hands; we have what you want,--fisheries, lumber, +minerals; we'd not come as paupers and mendicants.... It will come, +though it may not be in our day.... The United States would not wish to +purchase,--she has done enough of that: we would have to come of our +own free will; and we would, too!" + +Then there is the elderly Scotch gentleman, who appropriately hails from +the place with the outlandish name of Musquodoboit. He tells us that +during the "airly pairt" of his residence in America he visited in the +States, and that he has seen "fower Preesidents" inaugurated. + +Of his first attendance at such a ceremony he says: "An' whan I see thet +mon, in hes plain blek coat, coomin' out amang all o' thim people, an' +all the deegnetirries in their blek coats tu, an' not a uniforrum amoong +thim, I said, 'This is the coontry fur me,'--it suited my taste. An' how +deeferint it wud be in Yerrup, where there wud be tin thausind mooskits +aboot, to kep 'im from bein' shot." + +On our way here we were told: "Oh, you'll find Annapolis hot!" It might +perhaps seem so to a Newfoundlander; but to us the climate is a daily +source of remark, of wonder and delight. It is balmy, yet bracing; and +though there may be times when at midday it is decidedly warm,--as +summer should be,--the nights are always cool, and we live in flannel +costumes and luxuriate. + +Warner speaks of "these northeastern lands which the Gulf Stream pets +and tempers"; yet he passed through this dear old town without stopping, +remarking only that he could not be content for a week here, and felt no +interest in the place apart from its historic associations. Let him stop +next time and investigate. We flatter ourselves that we could enlighten +him somewhat. + +Our friends at various shore and mountain resorts report constant fogs; +yet we can testify that in nearly seven weeks' residence here there were +but two mornings which were foggy, and on those days the gray screen was +rolled away at noon. + + "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" + +That singular feature spoken of in Longfellow's poem is shown here: the +mists rise from the Bay and rest lovingly, caressingly, on the crests of +the long range of mountains, giving them the appearance of comfortable +warmth under this downy coverlet on cool nights; but this fleece very +rarely descends to the valley. + +Dr. O. W. Holmes must have had such a place as this in mind when he +said:-- + + "And silence like a poultice came + To heal the blows of sound," + +and surely tympanums most bruised by the world's clangor and jar could +not fail here be soothed and healed; and the writer of "Oh, where shall +rest be found?" would have received answer to his query here also. The +quiet is astonishing: there are no farm sounds even; and, though the +hours pass so pleasantly that we "take no note of time", we can tell +when Saturday comes, for then numbers of log-laden ox-carts plod slowly +into the village from the back country. + +The bells on the animals' necks tinkle precisely like the sound of ice +when carried in a pitcher of water; and consequently do not jar upon +one's ear in this quietude as the clanking herd-bells which we hear in +some farming regions of the States. + +At night the only break in the profound stillness is when the tide is +ebbing, and the Equille can be heard rushing under the bridge a quarter +of a mile away. We cannot discover the meaning of that word, and so +consult a foreign relative, who fells us that at Dinard, in France, they +catch the _équille_,--a small fish, also called a _lançon_, because it +darts in and out of the sand, and in its movements is something like an +eel. + +That certainly describes this peculiar stream, for surely it would be +difficult to find one with a more circuitous course. It forms two +horseshoes and an ox-bow connected, as we see it from our windows; and +when the tide is out diminishes to a rivulet about two feet in width. At +flood it is more than twice the width of the Wissahickon, and when the +high tides of August come its magnitude is surprising. + +Then we understand why the hay-ricks (which we wickedly tell our friends +from the "Hub" resemble gigantic loaves of Boston brown bread) are on +stilts, for, regardless of dikes or boundaries, this tortuous creek +spreads over its whole valley, as if in emulation of the greater river +of which it is a tributary. Haliburton says that for a time this was +called Allan's River, and the greater one was named the Dauphin; but we +are glad that the old French name was restored to the serpentine creek, +as it is so much better suited to its peculiar character. + +The great event of the week is the arrival of the Boston steamer, when +all the town turns out and wends its way to the wharves. + +The peculiar rise of the tide (thirty feet) is here plainly shown, as +one week the passengers step off from the very roof of the saloon, and +next time she comes in they disembark from the lowest gangway possible +and climb the long ascent of slippery planks to the level above. + +The river shows curious currents and counter-currents, as bits of +_débris_ are hurrying upward in the middle of the stream, while similar +flotsam and jetsam rush away as rapidly down stream along both shores. + +The queer old tub of a ferry boat, with its triangular wings spreading +at the sides,--used as guards and "gang planks",--is a curiosity, as it +zigzags across the powerful current to the village on the opposite +shore. + +But "the ferryman's slim, the ferryman's young, and he's just a soft +twang in the turn of his tongue"; and in our frequent trips across he +probably makes a mental note when he hears us lamenting that we cannot +get lobsters, for one day he sends to our abiding place four fine large +ones, and will not receive a cent in remuneration. + +Another time, when waiting for the farmer's you to guide us to the "ice +mine",--a ravine in the mountains where ice remains through the summer, +--a delicious lunch, consisting of fresh bread, sweet milk, and cake, +is unexpectedly set before us, and the generous farmer's wife will not +listen to recompense. + +A modern writer says: "A great part of the enjoyment of life is in the +knowledge that there are people living in a worse place than that you +inhabit;" but it does not add to our happiness to think of those who +could not come to this lovely spot; and we commiserate the Can't-get- +away Club of the cities. + +We would not change places with any of the dwellers at the fashionable +resorts at springs, sea, or mountains,--no, indeed! though they no doubt +would elevate their noses, and set this place down at once as "deadly +dull", or "two awfully slow for anything"! + +Doubtless those also of our friends to whom we tell the plain, +unvarnished truth, if they come here will be disappointed, as they will +not see with our eyes. One cannot expect the luxuries of palatial +hotels at five dollars per day; such would be out of place here. + +At our abiding place, which looks like a gentleman's residence, and is, +as one of the Halifax guests says, "not a bit like an 'otel", there is +an extensive garden, from which we are regaled with choice fresh +vegetables daily; and we have _such_ home-made butter (The bill of fare +"to be issued in our next"). A Frenchman might think that "we return to +our muttons" frequently; still, as that viand suggests at least the +famous English Southdown in excellence, we are resigned. + +A noted wit has said: "Doubtless God might have made a better berry than +the strawberry, but doubtless God never did;" and if one is so fortunate +as to come to this country in proper season he can feast on that +delectable fruit in its perfection,--that is, the wild fruit, so much +more delicious and delicate in flavor than after its boasted +"improvement" by cultivation. If one arrives before the close of the +fisheries, salmon, fit for a royal banquet, graces the table; while +even in July and August he may enjoy shad; and strange enough it seems +to Philadelphians to be eating that fish at such time of year. + +There are in the town a number of inns, and summer guests are also made +welcome and comfortable in many of the private residences. In one of +the latter--a large old-fashioned house, with antique furniture--three +sisters reside, who possess the quiet dignity and manner of the old +school; and here one would feel as if visiting at one's grandfather's, +and be made pleasantly "at home". + +We are surprised to find that this old town has generally such modern +and New Englandish aspect; and are told that it has twice been nearly +destroyed by fire, even in modern times; therefore but few of the quaint +buildings remain. Some of these are picturesque and interesting, the one +combining jail and court house being a feature of the main street. The +window of one of the cells faces the street; and the prisoner's friends +sit on the steps without, whiling away the tedium of incarceration with +their converse. + +The oldest dwelling in the town stands on St. George's Street, nearly +opposite the old-fashioned inn known as the Foster House. Its walls were +originally made of mud from the flats, held together by the wiry marsh +grass, which, being dried, was mixed in the sticky substance as hair is +in plaster; but as these walls gave way from the effects of time the +seams and cracks were plastered up, and by degrees boarded over, until +now the original shows only in one part of the interior. + +The houses throughout this region are almost invariably without blinds +or outside shutters, and consequently look oddly to us, who are inclined +to screen ourselves too much from "the blessed sunshine". Bay windows +are popular. + +We saw one small house with four double and two single ones, giving it +an air of impertinent curiosity, as the dwellers therein could look out +from every possible direction. The ancient dormer windows on the roofs +have given place to these queer bulging ones, which, in Halifax +especially, are set three in a row on the gray shingles, and bear +ludicrous resemblance to gigantic bee-hives. + +In some of the shops, at the post office and railroad station, our money +is taken at a small discount; but in many of the shops they allow us +full value for it. In one the proprietor tells us of the sensation +caused here once by the failure of a Canadian bank, and the surprise of +the town's-people--whose faith seemed shaken in all such institutions-- +when he continued to take United States bank bills. He says: "I told 'em +the United States Government hadn't failed, that I believed in it yet, +would take all their money I could get, and be glad to have it, too!" + +To continue the impression of being in a foreign land, we must attend +service at the five or six different churches, and hear the prayers for +the Queen and Royal Family. In the first place of worship, where the +Octave augments the congregation, Victoria and many of her family are +mentioned by full name and title, in sonorous and measured tones; in the +next the pastor speaks of "Our Sovereign, and those under her and over +us;" in another "Our Queen" is simply referred to; and some ministers +who are suspected of being tinctured with republicanism sometimes +forget to make any special allusion to her Majesty. + +In our walks up the main street, which is not remarkably bustling or +busy, we see long rows of great old hawthorn bushes bordering the road, +and giving quite an English touch to the scene; and everywhere gigantic +apple trees, which would delight an artist, so deliciously gnarled and +crooked are they. + +I am not aware that astronomy is a favorite study with the inhabitants, +but have no doubt that _cidereal_ observations are popular at certain +seasons,--as this country is a famous apple growing district, and that +fruit, is sent from here to England and the States in vast quantities. +Octavius says, "If you would know what ann-apol-is, you should come +here in the fall," but is at once frowned down by the other seven for +this atrocity. + +The valleys of Annapolis and Cornwallis yield an average crop of two +hundred thousand barrels of apples. Dealers in Bangor who paid 87 per +barrel in Boston for this fruit, have afterwards been chagrined on +discovering that it came from Annapolis originally, and that they could +have procured the same from that place direct at $2.25 to $3 per barrel. + +Very lovely is the view from a hill outside the village, and there also +is the Wishing Rock,--one of the most noted objects of interest, as a +guide book would term it. "They say" that if one can run to the top +without assistance, or touching the rock with the hands, then whatever +one wishes will "come true". This feat it is almost impossible to +accomplish, as the stone has been worn smooth by countless feet before +ours; still the youthful and frisky members of our party must attempt +the ascent, with a run, a rush, and a shout, while the elders look on, +smiling benignly. + +The dikes of L'Équille form a peculiar but pleasant promenade; and along +that narrow, circuitous path we frequently wander at sunset. These +embankments remain, in great part, as originally built by the Acadians, +and are formed of rubbish, brush, and river mud, over which sods are +closely packed, and for most of the season they are covered with tall +waving grass. This primitive sea wall is six or eight feet in width at +the base, and only about one foot wide at the top, so it is necessary +for him "who standeth" to "take heed lest he fall"; otherwise his +enthusiasm over the beauties of the prospect may receive a damper from +a sudden plunge into the water below. + +There is a fine new rink in the village; and in the mornings those of +us who are novices in the use of rollers have a quiet opportunity to +practice and disport ourselves with the grace of a bureau, or other +clumsy piece of furniture on wheels! + +Then we go to the wharves to witness the lading of lumber vessels. Some +of the logs floating in the water are so huge as to attest that there +are vast and aged forests somewhere in her Majesty's domains in America; +and the lumbermen, attired in rough corduroy, red shirts, and big boots, +balance themselves skillfully on some of the slippery trunks, while with +pole and boat-hook propelling other great ones to the gaping mouths in +the bow of the vessel. Then horse, rope, pulley, and windlass are +brought into play to draw the log into the hold and place it properly +among other monarchs of the forest, thus ignominiously laid low, and +become what "Mantalini" would style "a damp, moist, unpleasant lot." +From the wharf above we look down into the hold, and, seeing this black, +slimy, muddy cargo, say regretfully, "How are the mighty fallen!" as we +think of the grand forests of which these trees were once the pride and +glory, but of which ruthless man is so rapidly despoiling poor Mother +Earth. + +We have brought with us those aids to indolence which a tiny friend of +ours calls "hang-ups", expecting to swing them in the woods and inhale +the odors of pine; but the woods are too far away; so we are fain to +sit under a small group of those trees at the end of the garden and gaze +upon the peaceful valley. + + "There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when brightly the sunset + Lighteth the village street, and gildeth the vanes on the chimneys," + +we sit, when + + "Day with its burden and heat has departed, and twilight descending + Brings back the evening star to the sky, and the herds to the + homestead." + +There we sit and talk of the romantic story, comparing notes as to our +ideal of the heroine; and such is the influence of the air of sentiment +and poetry pervading this region, that we decide that Boughton's +representation of her, + + "When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noon-tide + Flagons of home-brewed ale,... + Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the village of Grand + Pré," + +is too sturdy, as with masculine stride she marches a-field; and that +Constant Meyer's ideal more nearly approaches ours. The one depicts her +in rather Puritanical attire; the other, studying authentic costume, +they say, shows her + + "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," + +and seated by the roadside, as, + + "with God's benediction upon her, + a celestial brightness--a more ethereal beauty-- + Shone on her face and encircled her form." + +All along the roads we notice a delicate white blossom, resembling the +English primrose in shape, and one day ask an intelligent looking girl +whom we meet what it is called; she does not know the name, but says the +seed was accidentally brought from England many years ago, and the plant +"has since become quite a pest",--which we can hardly understand as we +enjoy its grace and beauty. We notice that our pleasant informant +follows a pretty fashion of other belles of the village,--a fashion +which suits their clear complexions and bright faces; that is, wearing +a gauzy white scarf around the hat, and in the dainty folds a cluster of +fresh garden flowers. + +The artist Boughton says. "The impressionist is a good antidote against +the illusionist, who sees too much, and then adds to it a lot that he +does not see." If he had ever visited this place we wonder what his +idea would be of this quaint poem, supposed to have been written in +1720, which we have unearthed. + +We have acquired quite an affection for this pleasant old town, and +shall be loath to leave. If our friends think we are too enthusiastic, +we shall refer them to this old writer to prove that we have not said +all that we might; as he indulges in such airy flights of fancy and +such extravagant praise. + +His description would lead one to expect to see a river as great as the +Mississippi, and mountains resembling the Alps in height, whereas in +reality it is a quiet and not extraordinary though most pleading +landscape which here "delights the eye". + + + + +ANNAPOLIS--ROYAL + + + The King of Rivers, solemn calm and slow, + Flows tow'rd the Sea yet fierce is seen to flow, + On each fan Bank, the verdant Lands are seen, + In gayest Cloathing of perpetual Green + On ev'ry Side, the Prospect brings to Sight + The Fields, the Flow'rs, and ev'ry fresh Delight + His lovely Banks, most beauteously are grac'd + With Nature's sweet variety of Taste + Herbs, Fruits and Grass, with intermingled Trees + The Prospect lengthen, and the Joys increase + The lofty Mountains rise to ev'ry View, + Creation's Glory, and its Beauty too. + To higher Grounds, the raptur'd View extends, + Whilst in the Cloud-top'd Cliffs the Landscape ends + Fair Scenes! to which should Angels turn their Sight, + Angels might stand astonished with Delight + Majestic Grove in ev'ry View arise + And greet with Wonder the Beholders' Eyes. + In gentle Windings where this River glides, + And Herbage thick its Current almost hides, + Where sweet Meanders lead his pleasant Course, + Where Trees and Plants and Fruits themselves disclose, + Where never-fading Groves of fragrant Fir + And beauteous Pine perfume the ambient Air, + The air, at once, both Health and Fragrance yields, + Like sweet Arabian or Elysian Fields + Thou Royal Settlement! he washes Thee, + Thou Village, blest of Heav'n and dear to me: + Nam'd from a pious Sov'reign, now at Rest, + The last of Stuart's Line, of Queens the best. + Amidst the rural Joys, the Town is seen, + Enclos'd with Woods and Hills, forever green + The Streets, the Buildings, Gardens, all concert + To please the Eye, to gratify the Heart. + But none of these so pleasing or so fair, + As those bright Maidens, who inhabit there. + Your potent Charms fair Nymphs, my verse inspire, + Your Charms supply the chaste poetic Fire. + Could these my Strains, but live, when I'm no more, + On future Fame's bright wings, your names should soar. + Where this romantic Village lifts her Head, + Betwixt the Royal Port and humble Mead, + The decent Mansions, deck'd with mod'rate cost, + Of honest Thrift, and gen'rous Owners boast; + Their Skill and Industry their Sons employ, + In works of Peace, Integrity and Joy. + Their Lives, in Social, harmless Bliss, they spend, + Then to the Grave, in honor'd Age descend. + The hoary Sire and aged Matron see + Their prosp'rous Offering to the fourth Degree: + With Grief sincere, the blooming offspring close + Their Parent's Eyes, and pay their Debt of Woes; + Then haste to honest, joyous Marriage Bands, + A newborn Race is rear'd by careful Hands: + Thro' num'rous Ages thus they'll happy move + In active Bus'ness, and in chastest Love. + The Nymphs and Swains appear in Streets and Bowers + As morning fresh, as lovely as the Flowers. + As blight as Phoebus, Ruler of the Day, + Prudent as Pallas, and as Flora gay. + A Spire majestic roars its solemn Vane, + Where Praises, Pray'r and true Devotion reign, + Where Truth and Peace and Charity abound, + Where God is fought, and heav'nly Blessings found. + The gen'rous Flock reward their Pastor's care, + His Pray'rs, his Wants, his Happiness they share + Retir'd from worldly Care, from Noise and Strife, + In sacred Thoughts and Deeds, he spends his Life, + To mo'drate Bounds, his Wishes he confines, + All views of Grandeur, Pow'r and Wealth resigns, + With Pomp and Pride can cheerfully dispense, + Dead to the World, and empty Joys of Sense, + The Symphony of heav'nly Song he hears, + Celestial Concord vibrates on his Ears., + Which emulates the Music of the Spheres + The Band of active Youths and Virgins fan, + Rank'd in due Order, by their Teacher's Care, + The Sight of all Beholders gratify, + Sweet to the Soul, and pleasing to the Eye + But when their Voices found in Songs, of Praise, + When they to God's high Throne their Anthems raise, + By these harmonious Sounds, such Rapture's giv'n, + Their loud Hosannas waft the Soul to Heav'n: + The fourfold Parts in one bright Center meet, + To form the blessed Harmony complete. + Lov'd by the Good, esteemed by the Wise, + To gracious Heav'n, a pleasing sacrifice. + Each Note, each Part, each Voice, each Word conspire + T' inflame all pious Hearts with holy Fire, + Each one in Fancy seems among the Throng + Of Angels, chanting Heav'n's eternal Song. + Hail Music, Foretaste of celestial Joy! + That always satiasts, yet canst never cloy: + Each pure, refin'd, extatic Pleasure's thine, + Thou rapt'rous Science! Harmony divine! + May each kind Wish of ev'ry virtuous Heart + Be giv'n to all, who teach, or learn thine Art: + May all the Wise, and all the Good unite, + With all the Habitants of Life and Light, + To treat the Sons of Music with Respect, + Their Progress to encourage and protect. + May each Musician, and Musician's Friend + Attain to Hymns divine, which never end. + +Being a musical company, the Octave accept this peroration without +criticism, and do not seem to consider it an extravagant rhapsody, +though they are so daring as to take exception to other parts of the +queer old poem. + +As we have come here for rest, we are not disturbed at finding that +trains, etc., are not always strictly "on time". We are summoned at 7:15 +A.M., but breakfast is not served for more than an hour after; we engage +a carriage for two o'clock, and perhaps in the neighborhood of three see +it driving up in a leisurely manner. The people are wise, and do not +wear themselves out with unnecessary rush and hurry, as we do in the +States. The train advertised to start for Halifax at 2 P.M. more +frequently leaves at 3, or 3.30; but then it has to wait the arrival of +the steamboat which, four times per week, comes across from St. John. +The express train requires six hours to traverse the miles intervening +between this quiet village and that not much livelier town, while for +the accommodation train they allow ten hours; but when one comes to see +beautiful country one does not wish to have the breath taken away by +traveling at break-neck speed. + +We know that some of our party are capable of raising a breeze, and we +are on a gal(e)a time anyhow; still, this is a remarkably breezy place, +the wind rising with the tide, so we understand why there are so few +flowers in the gardens,--the poor blossoms would soon be torn to pieces; +but the windows of the houses generally are crowded with thriving plants +gay with bloom, giving most cheery effect as one strolls about the town. + +In our excursion to the Bay Shore we halt to water the horses at a neat +little cottage on the summit of the North Mountain, and even here the +little garden (protected from the winds by a fence) is all aflame with a +wonderful variety of large double and gorgeous poppies. From this point, +also, we have our first view of the wide Bay, shimmering in the hazy +sunlight far below, and can faintly trace the rugged hills of New +Brunswick in the distance. + +Rapidly descending, we follow the coast for several miles, finally +stopping at a lonely house on the rocky and barren shore,--such a wild +spot as a novelist would choose to represent a smuggler's retreat; but +the family would not answer his purpose in that respect, for they are +homely and hospitable, agreeing at once to provide stabling for our +horses and to sell us some milk for our lunch. They drop their net +mending, come out _en masse_, and, on learning that some of us are from +Philadelphia, greet us like old friends, because their eldest daughter +is living in that distant city. The best pitcher is brought out for our +use, the whole establishment placed at our disposal, and, finding that +we will be so insane as to prefer to picnic under the few straggling +pines by the water instead of using their dining-room, several march +ahead to show the way to the rocky point; and we form a long and, of +course, imposing procession. + +As we gaze along this barren and lonely shore, Octavia exclaims, +"Imagine the amazement of De Monts when he sailed along this iron-bound +coast and suddenly came upon that wonderful gateway which leads into the +beautiful Annapolis Basin and the fertile, lovely region beyond!" and we +all agree that it is a shame that the embouchure should now be known by +the vulgar title, Digby Gut, instead of its old cognomen, St. George's +Channel. "Why couldn't they call it the Gap or the Gate?" one exclaims; +"that wouldn't be quite so dreadful." + +One evening some of our pleasant acquaintances in the town come to take +us to Lake La Rose, away up on the South Mountain; and there we embark +and glide over the placid water in the moonlight, rousing the echoes +with song, and vainly endeavoring to uproot the coy lilies, which +abruptly slip through our fingers, and "bob" down under the water as if +enjoying our discomfiture. But as Dame Nature tries her hand at painting +in water-colors, treating us to a series of dissolving views, the shower +forces us to hurry back to the village again. + +Before leaving this "vale of rest", we must see the widely extended +panorama from the Mackenzie road, where hills beyond hills stretch away +to the horizon, and the lovely valley spreads itself like a map below. +The bird's-eye view from Parker's Mountain must also be seen, and many +other excursions accomplished. The old cannon of Lower Granville also +is "one of the sights". This ancient piece of ordnance was fired in old +times to notify the quiet country folk when news was received from +England. At such times relays, seven to ten miles apart, mounted in hot +haste and carried the messages on until Digby was reached; and from +thence a vessel conveyed the news to Boston. + +As we are talking of all we have seen in this region, and of our various +enjoyments, Octavia exclaims, "Some persons thought we could not be +content here for a week; yet more than six have slipped away, and I'm +sure I don't want to go! I shall tell my friends that though we are +'remote', the rest of the quotation does not apply, for we are neither +'unfriended', 'melancholy', nor 'slow'!" + +How often has it been our fate, when among the mountains of New +Hampshire, to see the grand ranges disappearing behind a thick curtain +of smoke, which, daily growing denser, at last almost completely blots +out Nature's pictures, so there is no use in undertaking excursions for +the sake of fine views. The explanation is invariably "fires in the +Canada woods"; and here, in this "cool, sequestered vale", we have an +opportunity of seeing forest fires before we take our departure for +other fields of observation. After sunset we are apparently almost +surrounded by volcanoes, as the lurid flames leap up into the deepening +blackness of the night; and when we lovers of Nature, distressed +afterwards by seeing vast tracts all scarred and desolate, exclaim, +"Why didn't they stop it? Why did they allow it?" echo answers, "Why?" + +One day we learn that a mill on L'Équille is threatened, and expect that +there will be some excitement; but a very old-fashioned fire engine, +with clumsy hand power pumps, goes lumbering by, followed by men and +boys, who walk in a leisurely and composed manner. The mill is saved by +some means, however; and we rejoice, as it is, so to speak, historical, +standing in a place favored for such purposes since Lescarbot's time; +even Argall (in 1613), when demolishing other buildings of the village, +having spared the mill which occupied the site of the present one. + +In our various wanderings we visit the Indian settlement at the head of +this crooked stream, but find its residents too civilized to be very +picturesque. We are interested in learning what the Canadian Government +does for their welfare, and wish a similar policy could be instituted +in the States. Here, as with us, liquor is their curse. The once famous +chief of the Micmacs lives at Bear River, and is addicted to the bottle. +One day a young girl, who was a summer guest at this place, sat down on +an overturned canoe which this chief (now known as James Meuse) had +just completed; and, as the bark bent with her weight, the wily Indian +pretended that the boat was irretrievably ruined. The girl's father, +asking what amount would compensate for the damage, received reply, +"Ten, twenty, dollar"; and receiving thirty dollars from the generous +stranger, Redskin remarked afterwards that he "wished more girl come sit +on boat", and probably turned the money into liquid fire, and poured it +down his throat in a short space of time. As there is a heavy fine for +selling liquor to Indians, one of that race will never divulge from +whom he has received it, however intoxicated he may be. + +Another Indian sachem noted in history--Membertou--lived to the age of +one hundred and four, and was buried at Annapolis, then Port Royal, +with military honors, as befitted the companion of soldiers. At +Poutrincourt's table he was a daily and honored guest in that olden +time, and, when the "Order of Happy Times" was instituted there, of +course became a _member too!_ Query: Did that ancient convivial society +offer suggestions to the famous old "State in Schuylkill Club" of +Philadelphia when they were organizing so many years after? + + + + +DIGBY. + + +In the drive to Digby, twenty-one miles, we pass along all the ins and +outs of the shore of Annapolis Basin, finding the succession of views on +that curiously land-locked harbor a perfect study and delight, and more +picturesque than on the trip to the same place by steamer, as we +discover later. + +There we see a bright-eyed, pretty little maiden, who wears a gay red +handkerchief in place of a hat, and makes a picture as she drives her +cow over a bit of moorland. Driver says she is "one of the French +people", and that her name is Thibaudia, which, with its English +signification (a kind of heath), seems appropriate for one living in +the wilds, and deliciously foreign and suggestive. We wonder if old +Crumplehorn understands French, and conclude that she is a well educated +animal, as she seems to obey directions without needing a touch of +willow branch to punctuate them. + + Sometimes it seems that the names conferred + On mortals at baptism in this queer world + Seem given for naught but to spite 'em. + Mr. Long is short, Mr. Short is tall, + And who so meek as Mr. Maul? + Mr. Lamb's fierce temper is very well known, + Mr. Hope plods about with sigh and groan,-- + "And so proceed ad infinitum" + +At one point on our route, when we are passing through a lonely and +apparently uninhabited region, our jolly driver, "Manyul", remarks, +"Here's where Nobody lives."; and one replies, "Yes, evidently; and I +shouldn't think any one would wish to." But a turn of the road brings a +house in sight; and driver says, "That's his house, and his name is +actually Nobody" (Charles, I believe). We quote, "What's in a name!" +and conclude that if he is at all like the kindly people of this region +whom we have met he may be well content to be nobody, rather than +resemble many whom the world considers "somebodies", but who are not +models in any respect. + +Our driver is quite a character in his way, and in the winter he "goes +a loggin'". On learning this we ply him with questions in such manner as +would surprise a lawyer, eliciting in return graphic pictures of camp +life in New Brunswick wildernesses, and the amusements with which they +while away the long evenings in their rough barracks. He describes +their primitive modes of cooking, their beds of fragrant spruce boughs +overlaid with straw,--"Better 'n any o' your spring mattresses, I tell +_you_!"--the queer box-like bunks along the wall where they "stow +themselves away", and where the most active and useful man is, for the +time at least, literally laid on the shelf. + +Octavius, thinking how much he would enjoy "roughing it" thus, asks +what they would charge to take a young man to board in camp; and driver +indignantly replies, "_Nothin'_! Do you suppose we'd charge board? No, +_indeed_! Just let him come; and if we didn't give him a good time, and +if he didn't get strong and hearty, then we'd be ashamed of ourselves +and _sell out_." + +Here we approach a cove which driver calls the Joggin (as it makes a cut +or jog-in, we presume); and beyond, a wide arm of the Basin is spanned +by a rickety old bridge, at least a quarter of a mile long, named in +honor of her Majesty,--hardly a compliment to that sovereign, we think. +The boards are apparently laid down without nails, and rattle like a +fusillade as our vehicle rolls over them. Here and there planks are +broken or gone entirely, showing the green swirling water beneath. Our +chaperone, having more faith in her own feet than those of the horses, +dismounts and walks across; while we, being naturally reckless and +romantic, are willing to risk our necks for the sake of the charming +views. + +The village of Digby stretches along the shore, and from the hills +surrounding it the Basin with its islands, the Gap, and Annapolis +River, are charming. + +Disciples of old "Izaak" would be likely to meet with greater success +here than at Annapolis; as the current of the river at the latter place +is so strong that, as a general thing, only the "old salts" are anglers; +and they being most of the time out in the Bay or off on cruises, it +follows that fish are scarce in the market. + +An "ancient and fish-like smell" pervades the atmosphere in some parts +of the village where the herring--humorously known as "Digby +Chickens"--are spread on racks to dry; but this odor, the odd little +shops and restaurants, the clumsy and queer lumber boats, the groups of +tars gossiping about doorways and wharves, only add to the nautical +character of the place, and suggest reminiscences of "Peggoty", "Ham", +and others of Dickens's characters. + +We ignore the pleasant embowered hotel "in bosky dell", far up the +street this time, though we visit it in a later sojourn; and, "just for +the fun of it", take lunch in one of the peculiar little restaurants; +where, seated at a minute table in one of the tiny calico curtained +alcoves, we partake of our frugal repast (the bill of fare is extremely +limited), amusing ourselves watching the odd customers who come to make +purchases at the counter across the room, and "making believe" that we +are characters in an old English story. + +On the bluff beyond the village, beneath great old Balm of Gilead trees +whose foliage is perpetually in a flutter from the breeze through the +Gap, there are several cannon, which it seems could not possibly have +any hostile intent, but appear to be gratifying a mild curiosity by +peering across the Basin and up the river beyond. + +The long and very high pier stretches far out into the Basin, and upon +it picturesque groups unconsciously pose for us, adding to the effect +of the picture. + +That the climate is salubrious and conducive to longevity we are +convinced after visiting the cemetery, where one tomb records the +demise of a man at the age of one hundred and two! + +A peculiar taste for wandering among the tombs we have acquired in this +summer jaunt. Here we see the tomb of one recorded proudly as "descended +from the noble families of Stuart and Bruce", who, tradition says, was +supposed to have held the position of servant to said scions of +nobility. One who was known as a scoffer during life here is virtuously +represented ah "a sincere worshipper of Eternal, Almighty and ever just +God"; reminding us of the popular adage, "lying like an epitaph". Twice +have we seen one stone made to do service for two in an amusing manner: +on the upper part the usual, "Sacred to the memory of," etc.; then +half-way down had been carved a hand pointing to one side, and under it +the words "There lies"; while the name, age, etc., of the later +decedent was inscribed below the first. + +One old tomb we were with this epitaph:-- + + "Tho' gready worm destroy my skin + And gnaw my wasting flesh + When God doth build my bones agen + He'll cloath them all afresh." + +and another:-- + + "What says the silent dead + He bids me bear my load + With silent steps proceed + And follow him to God." + +We notice that the English rule of the road maintains here, and our +driver turns to the left when other vehicles are approaching. Captain +C., who is from the States, tells us that he did not know of this +custom, and in his first drive nearly collided with another vehicle, the +driver of which thereupon used strong language. On being informed that +he had almost overturned the conveyance of the Governor of Prince +Edward's Island, the rash Yankee, undismayed, remarked, "Well, I don't +care who he is, he don't know how to drive!" + + + + +HALIFAX + + +Of course, as we are in the neighborhood, we must see the locality to +which--in mild and humorous profanity--States people are sometimes +assigned; and therefore proceed to Halifax and thoroughly "do" that +sedate, quiet, and delightfully old-fashioned city. + +_En route_, as the train passes beyond Windsor, one says, "Here we are +out of sight of land"; and we then understand that it must have been +some one from this locality who christened the valley of Annapolis the +Garden of Nova Scotia; for here a scene of utter sterility and +desolation meets the view: not a foot of earth is to be seen, but rocks +are piled in wild confusion everywhere. A few dead trees stand among the +_débris_, emphasizing the loneliness; and Conductor says when the world +was created the "leavings" were deposited in this dreary tract. + +By special arrangement with "Old Prob", there are none of the +prevailing fogs during our stay; and Aurora Borealis gets up a special +illumination. Regiments of red-coats, with torches and band,--aware +doubtless of the presence of such distinguished strangers,--march past +our hotel in the evening. + +Though we are quartered in what is called the best hotel, it is a musty, +fusty, rusty old building; and we agree with our friends among the +residents (who vie with each other in showing us true English +hospitality) who say they need an enterprising Yankee to start a good +new hostelry, and "to show 'em how to run it." + +Just at this time of year the city is full of summer tourists, many of +whom come direct from Baltimore by the ocean steamships, which touch at +this port; but, as we are subject to _mal-de-mer's_ tortures, we rejoice +that we came by "overland route". + +Though our friends have engaged rooms for us beforehand, we are +fortunate in securing apartments on the fourth floor, where peculiar +coils of rope by the windows at once attract our attention. These, on +examination, we find have big wooden beads (like the floats of a seine) +strung on them at regular intervals; and this peculiar arrangement is a +primitive fire escape, which we are positive that no creature but a +monkey could use with safety. + +The prevailing fogs, and the use of soft coal, cause the buildings to +appear dingy and rusty; but we like them all the better for that, as +the city has a more foreign air, and, in some parts, quite strongly +suggests Glasgow. + +In the Parliament building we study the old portraits, concluding that +the wigs must have been uncomfortable. Octavius wickedly hints that +there _is_ a fashion among ladies of the present time!--but as he does +not tread on our toes, we ignore this insinuation, and turn our +attention to the elaborate ornamentation of the woodwork--which is all +antique hand-carving--in the council chambers; and are much interested +in some rare old books in the Library,--among them a copy of the Psalms, +three hundred years old; and another, with music, dated 1612. Here also +we see and are actually allowed to handle a book,-- + + "PRESENTED + TO + THE LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY + OF + NOVA SCOTIA + IN MEMORY OF HER GREAT AND GOOD HUSBAND + BY + HIS BROKEN-HEARTED WIDOW + VICTORIA R." + +and of course are duly overpowered at beholding the valuable autograph +of that sovereign. + +In one of the churches we are informed that a certain balustrade "is +from America, and is all _marvel_" but do not find it marvelously +beautiful nevertheless. + +Of the gardens the natives are justly proud, as in this moist atmosphere +plants, trees, and flowers flourish remarkably; still, we are not +willing to concede that they are "the finest in America", as we have +been told. + +We conclude, as we pass the large Admiralty House, with its spacious +and beautiful grounds, that Sir Somebody Something must find it a +comfortable thing to be + + "monarch of the sea, the ruler of the Queen's nave," + +and may with reason say,-- + + "When at anchor here I ride, my bosom swells with pride," + +while Halifax herself, with her famous harbor, in which the navy of a +great and powerful nation could find safe anchorage, with room to spare, +might justly finish out his song with the appropriate words concluding +the verse:-- + + "And I snap my fingers at a foeman's taunts!" + +Then the Citadel, the very name of which revives reminiscences of +Quebec, and suggests something out of the every-day order of summer +jaunts. As we ascend the hill to the fortress, the first thing +attracting our attention is amusing. The "squatty" looking clock tower, +which appears as if part of a church spire, had been carried away by a +high wind and dropped down on this embankment. Octavius says, "What a +jolly place for coasting, if it were not for the liability of being +plunged into the harbor at the foot!" as we mount the hill. At the gate +we are consigned to the care of a tall soldier, whose round fatigue cap +must be _glued_ to his head, or it certainly would fall off, so extreme +is the angle at which it inclines over his ear. A company of soldiers +are drilling within the enclosure, their scarlet coats quite dazzling +in the bright sunlight and in contrast with the cold gray granite; while +others, at opposite angles of the walls, are practicing signals with +flags, the maneuvers of the latter being quite entertaining as they +wave the banners, now slowly, now rapidly, diagonally, vertically, +horizontally, or frantically overhead, as if suddenly distraught. +Probably this exercise could be seen in any of our forts; but as we are +now beyond the borders of the United States, every detail interests us, +and we have become astonishingly observant. The gloomy and massive bomb +proof walls of the soldiers' quarters appear quite prison-like, with +their narrow windows; and our guide, speaking of the monotony of +garrison life, rejoices that in a few months his term of service will +expire, and then he "will go to the States". + +"The States" seem to be a Land of Promise to many people of this region; +and, though this is gratifying to our national pride, we cannot but see +that many make a mistake in going to "America"; as, for instance, the +young girls of Annapolis, who, leaving comfortable homes, the away to +Boston, where, if they can get positions in an already crowded field, +they wear themselves out in factories; or, having a false pride which +prevents them from acknowledging failure and returning home, they remain +until, broken down by discouragement and disappointment, compelled to +accept charity. On this account the service at Annapolis is not what +might be desired; and Octavius humorously wonders, when the "green hand" +persistently offers him viands from the wrong side, "how he is expected +to reach the plate unless he puts his arm around her." + +"But we digress." As our party, with other sight seers who have joined +the procession, promenade about the fort, a culprit in the guardroom +catches sight of the visitors as they pass, and, evidently for their +hearing, sings mischievously,-- + + "Farewell, my own! + Light of my life, farewell! + For crime unknown + I go to a dungeon cell" + +We conclude, as he is so musical about it, that he does not feel very +much disgraced or oppressed by his imprisonment, though some one +curiously inquiring "why he is there", learns that it is for a trifling +misdemeanor, and that punishments are not generally severe; though the +guide tells of one soldier who, he says, "threw his cap at the Colonel, +and got five years for it; and we thought he'd get ten." + +From the ramparts the picture extending before us southeastwardly is +very fine indeed, as, over the rusty houses shouldering each other up +the hill so that we can almost look down the chimneys, we look out to +the fortified islands and points, with the ocean beyond. + +Point Pleasant, thickly wooded to the water's edge, hides the strangely +beautiful inlet from the harbor known as the North West Arm, which cuts +into the land for a distance of four miles (half a mile in width), +suggesting a Norwegian fiord; but that, and the country all about the +city, we enjoy in a long drive later. + +On the return, regardless of the gaze of passengers astonished at our +unconventional actions, we sit on the platform of the rear car, while + + "Pleasantly gleams in the soft, sweet air the Basin of Minas." + +and the model conductor plies us with bits of information, which we +devour with the avidity of cormorants. + + + + +GRAND PRÉ. + + +Finally the brakeman shouts "Grand _Pree_;" and Octavia remarks, "Yes, +indeed, this is the _grand prix_ of our tour," as the party step off the +train at this region of romance. The gallant conductor, with an air of +mystery, leads the way to a storage room in the little box of a station, +and there chops pieces from a clay-covered plank and presents us as +souvenirs. "Pieces of a coffin of one of the Acadians, exhumed at Grand +Pré fourteen months ago, near the site of the old church," we are told; +and when he continues: "A woman's bone was found in it", one unromantic +and matter-of-fact member of the Octave asserts, "Evangeline's +grandmother, of course"; while another skeptically remarks, "That's more +than _I_ can swallow; it would give me such a spell o' coughin' as I +couldn't get over"; but the conductor and others staunchly avouch the +genuineness of the article, affirming that they were present "when it +wus dug up." + +The "forest primeval", if it ever stood in this region, must have +clothed the distant hills which bound the vast meadow, and now are +covered with a dense growth of small trees which are _not_ "murmuring +pines". + +A superannuated tree in the distance it is said once shaded the smithy +of "Basil Lajeunesse", that "mighty man of the village"; and only stony +hollows in the ground mark the site of the house of "Father Felician" +and the village church. + +It was to this spot, then, that the wondering peasants were lured by +stratagem, when,-- + + "with a summons sonorous + Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat. + Thronged ere long was the church with men. Without in the churchyard, + Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on the head + stones + 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 brass drums from ceiling to casement,-- + Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous portal + Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of the soldiers." + +After refreshing ourselves with pure, clear, and cold water from the old +well,--made by the French, and re-walled a few years ago,--we turn away, +with "a longing, lingering look behind", and continue our drive through +the great prairie, which resembles the fertile meadow land along the +Connecticut River. We stop a few moments near a picturesque little +church of gray unpainted wood, and look off over the verdant fields to +the point where a distant shimmer of water catches the eye, and the +hills bound the picture. Near at hand, on the right, the trunk of an +aged apple tree, "planted by the French", shows one green shoot; and +about the church are Lombardy poplars, which, though good sized trees, +are perhaps only shoots from those planted by the Acadians, in +remembrance of such arboreal grenadiers of their native land. + +The old French dike is surmounted by a rough rail fence, and is now far +inland, as hundreds of acres have been reclaimed beyond,-- + + "Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant + Shut out the turbulent tides" + +Our lamented American poet never visited this region which he describes +so delightfully; his reason being that, cherishing an ideal picture, he +feared reality might dissipate it. Yet an easy journey of twenty-eight +hours would have brought him hither; and we, feeling confident that he +could not have been disappointed, shall always regret that he did not +come. + +As an appropriate close to this sentimental journey, we drive through +the secluded Gaspereau valley, along the winding river, which is hardly +more than a creek, toward its wider part where it flows into the Basin, +which stretches out broad and shining. With such a view before us, we +cannot fail to picture mentally the tragic scenes of that October day +in 1755, when the fleet of great ships lay in the Basin, and + + "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," + +those whom Burke describes as "the poor, innocent, deserving people, +whom our utter inability to govern or reconcile, gave us no sort of +right to extirpate," were torn from their happy homes, and + +"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." + +In the midst of these peaceful scenes was perpetrated a cruel wrong, +and an inoffensive people banished by the mandate of a tyrant! + +In that beautiful poem, parts of which one unconsciously "gets by +heart", or falls into the habit of quoting when sojourning in this +lovely region, Basil the blacksmith says:-- + + "Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau-Séjour nor Port Royal;" + +and having held an impromptu history class on the subject of the last +mentioned, we turn our attention to the other fortified points of which +"the hasty and somewhat irascible" sledge-wielder spoke. + +By the treaty of Utrecht in 1713 Acadia was ceded to the English; but +the French colonists, in taking the oath of allegiance to their new +rulers (1727-28), were promised that they should not be required at any +time to take up arms against France. They were now in the position of +Neutrals, and by that name were known; but this placed them in an +awkward predicament, as they were suspected by both contending powers. +The English hated them, believing their sympathies to be with the +French; while even their countrymen in Canada were distrustful of them, +urging them to withdraw. + +The English colonists, fearing the extension of the French possessions, +and having Puritanical aversion of Roman Catholicism,--of which the +Neutrals were devout adherents,--entered upon the expedition against +the French forts with the zeal of fanatics, seeming in some instances to +consider their incursions in the light of religious crusades. + +These "men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands", +whose descendants are to this day childlike and simple hearted, could +not understand these political distinctions, and naturally clung to the +pleasant farms which they had reclaimed from the sea and cultivated so +diligently, being most reluctant, of course, to leave those + + "Strongly built 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 doorway." + +The French dominions were guarded by a chain of forts extending all +along the Atlantic coast, from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. +That on Cape Breton Island, which protected the approach to the St. +Lawrence, was considered invincible, its walls being thirty feet high, +forty feet thick, and surrounded by a moat eighty feet in width. + +Boston sent out a fleet of forty-one vessels and three thousand men to +Cape Breton, to assail the "Gibraltar of America", as the fort of +Louisburg was called. Forces from New Hampshire and Connecticut joined +the expedition at Canso; and this remarkable fortress, whose +fortifications alone cost five million dollars, was besieged, and +capitulated after forty-nine days, yielding to untrained soldiers; the +victory owing to "mere audacity and hardihood, backed by the rarest good +luck", as one English writer says. The conquerors themselves were amazed +at their success when they discovered the great strength of the fort. +Their victory was, in fact, due largely to maneuvers which deceived the +French regarding the strength of their forces. + +This was ten years before the dispersion of the French Neutrals was +effected; and during those years the Acadians, being zealous Catholics +and devoted to the mother country, naturally but almost unconsciously +were drawn into the disputes between France and England; and it is not +to be wondered at, if, as some authorities state, there were three +hundred of their young men found in arms when the English attacked Fort +Beau-Séjour. The French had built Forts Beau-Séjour and Gaspereau on the +neck connecting the peninsula of Nova Scotia with the mainland, to guard +the entrance to their territory. A few hotheaded youths, who thought +they were honestly serving their country and people by taking up arms in +defense, might have been forgiven, particularly as it is known that some +were pressed into the service, and that the oath which they had taken +years before absolved them from taking arms against France, but did not +pledge them against serving in her defense. + +These forts were taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Moncton in June, 1755, the +garrison of Beau-Séjour being sent to Louisburg on condition that they +should not take up arms in America for six months. Prince Edward's +Island--then called St. John's Island--fell into the hands of the +English when Cape Breton was taken, and the inhabitants were sent to +France. In the summer of 1755 matters seemed to be culminating, and the +bitter dissensions were brought to a crisis. The Neutrals were again +called upon to take the oath, the following being the form in which it +was presented to them: "Je promets et jure sincerement, en foi de +Chrétien, que je serai entierement fidele et obeirai vraiment sa Majesté +Le Roi George, que je reconnais pour le Souverain seigneur de l'Acadie, +ou nouvelle Ecosse--ainsi Dieu me soit en aide." + +But this was not the "reserved oath", as the former one was called; and +the Acadians, feeling themselves bound by the old pledge, asked +exemption from this, and requested the restoration of arms which had +been taken from them, agreeing also to keep faithfully the old form of +oath. + +Deputies from the settlements near Port Royal (which were above, below, +and almost on the site of the present town of Annapolis), at Pisiquid +(now Windsor), Minas, etc., were sent to Halifax, where a long +conference was held; but the deputies still declining to accept the new +oath, they were imprisoned, and the deportation of the Acadians decided +upon. In order to do this artifice was resorted to, to prevent the +people from suspecting what was in store for them, and that the poor +peasants might have no chance to leave themselves or carry away their +possessions. "Both old men and young men, as well as the lads of ten +years of age," were called, by a proclamation, "to attend at the church +at Grand Pré" at a certain time; and it was declared that "no excuse" +would "be admitted, on any pretence whatever, on pain of forfeiting +goods and chattels, in default of real estate." + +The settlers on the Basin of Minas were immigrants from Saintonge, +Poitou, and La Rochelle, who came to this country in the early part of +the seventeenth century. The land which they had reclaimed from the +Basin was rich and fertile; they exported grain to Boston, and became +prosperous. The object of the call to the church does not seem to have +been suspected. When Basil says,-- + + "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 designs 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;" + +Benedict responds,-- + + "Perhaps the harvests in England + By the untimely rains or untimelier heat have been blighted, + And from our bursting barns they would feed their cattle and + children." + +But in the church the mystery was solved soon enough, and naturally a +terrible scene ensued. They were informed that their "lands, tenements, +cattle, and livestock of all kinds were to be forfeited to the crown, +with all their effects, saving their money and household goods," and +they themselves banished; though, "so far as the capacity of the +transports permitted," they were "to be allowed to carry their household +goods with them." They were also promised that families should not be +separated, and that the transportation should be made as easy as +possible. + +Then they were declared prisoners, and the church became the guardhouse. +Ten men at a time were allowed to leave the building, to pack their +goods and assist in the preparations for departure; and when they +returned ten others were also permitted to leave for a time. While +Moncton was destroying Remsheg, Shediac, and other towns on the Gulf +coast, Handfield gathered up the French Annapolitans, and Murray those +about Windsor, putting them on shipboard; and on the 21st of October the +ships, with their wretched passengers, set sail. In the confusion and +hurry of embarkation some families were separated; and it is on this +fact that the story of Evangeline is founded. + +Most of the exiles were scattered among the towns of Massachusetts; and +in the State House in Boston some curious old records relate to them, +one town desiring compensation "for keeping three French pagans", from +which it seems that there was still prejudice against them because of +their religion. + + "From the cold lakes of the north to sultry southern Savannahs," + +to the region where + + "On the banks of the Teche are the towns of St. Maur and St Martin," + +to the parish of Attakapas + + "and the prairies of fair Opelousas" + +in Louisiana, some of the exiles wandered. Their descendants live there +at the present time, and are known as Cajeans. Though sometimes harshly +treated in the towns where they were quartered, though shouldered off +from one village to another when one grew weary of or made excuses for +not maintaining them, the poor wanderers were mild, gentle, and +uncomplaining. + +A writer in "Canadian Antiquities" says: "None speaks the tongue of +Evangeline; and her story, though true as it is sweet and sorrowful, is +heard no more in the scenes of her early days." + +The way in which it came about that Longfellow wrote his poem was in +this wise: one day, when Hawthorne and a friend from Salem were dining +with the poet, the Salem gentleman remarked to the host, "I have been +trying to persuade Hawthorne to write a story based on a legend of +Acadie and still current there,--the legend of a girl who, in the +dispersion of the Acadians, was separated from her lover, and passed +her life in waiting and seeking for him, and only found him dying in a +hospital when both were old." The host, surprised that this romance did +not strike the fancy of the novelist, asked if he himself might use it +for a poem; and Hawthorne, readily assenting, promised not to attempt +the subject in prose until the poet had tried what he could do with it +in metrical form. No one rejoiced more heartily in the success of the +world-renowned poem than the writer who generously gave up an +opportunity to win fame from his working up of the sad theme. + +Authorities differ widely regarding the number of persons expelled from +Acadia, many historians giving the estimate at seven thousand. In a +letter from Governor Lawrence to the governors of the different colonies +to which the exiles were sent, he says: "As their numbers amount to near +seven thousand persons, the driving them off with leave to go whither +they pleased would have doubtless strengthened Canada with so +considerable a number of inhabitants." Bryant says: "Seven thousand +probably represented with sufficient accuracy the total French +population of Acadia in 1755; but the entire number of the exiled did +not exceed, if Minot be correct, two thousand, of whom many +subsequently returned to Acadia." + +Five years after the departure of the exiles a fleet of twenty-two +vessels sailed from Connecticut for Grand Pré with a large number of +colonists, who took possession of the deserted farms. They found sixty +ox carts and yokes, while on the edge of woods of the inland country and +in sheltered places heaps of bones told of cattle which had perished of +starvation and cold after their owners were forced to leave them to such +a fate. A few straggling families of the Acadians were also found, who +had escaped from the search of the soldiers, and had lived in hiding in +the wilds of the back country for five years, and during that time had +not tasted bread. + + + + +CLARE + + + "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." + +Resolved to see these curious "Clare settlements," extending for fifty +miles on the coast, where descendants of the French Acadians live in +peace and unity, we reluctantly take our departure at last from dear old +Annapolis, which has been our restful haven so long, and where we have +been reviving school days in studying history and geography seasoned +with poetry and romance. Although it was expected that the W. C. R. R. +would be completed from Yarmouth to Annapolis by the latter part of +1876, we are pleased to find that this is not the case, and that we +shall have to take steamer, train, and carriage to our destination; +anticipating that any place so out of the beaten track must be +interesting. + +The French settlements, a succession of straggling hamlets, were +founded by descendants of the exiles, who,-- + + "a raft as it were from the shipwrecked nation,... + Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a common misfortune," + +drifted back to "L'Acadie" in 1763, the year of the treaty between +France and England. + +The lands of their fathers in their old haunts on the Basin of Minas +were in possession of people from New England; and, having a natural and +inherited affection for localities by the sea, they wandered down the +coast and scattered along shore as we find them now. + +A pleasant excursion by steamer to Digby, thence proceeding some miles +by rail, finally a long but charming drive by the shore of St. Mary's +Bay, and we are set down at the house of a family of the better class, +among these kindly and old-fashioned farming and fisher folk. This +beautiful bay is thirty-five miles long, was christened Baie St. Marie +by Champlain, and here the four ships of De Monts lay in calm and secure +harbor for two weeks in 1604, while the adventurers were examining the +shores of Nova Scotia,--explorations in which the discovery of iron +pyrites deluded them with the belief that this would prove an El +Dorado. + +Madame M. at first looks dismayed at the appearance of such a group of +strangers at her door, and is sure she cannot accommodate us; but her +daughters slyly jog her elbow, saying something in an undertone, as if +urging her to consent, and we are made most comfortable. + +At first the family are a little shy, but in a couple of days we become +quite well acquainted; and, when the time comes for our departure they +"wish we could stay longer",--a wish which we heartily re-echo. + +Madame proudly displays her treasures in hand-spun and home-woven linen +and blankets; also a carpet, the material for which she first spun, then +dyed, and finally wove; and, though it has been in use for ten years, +it is still fresh and shows no apparent wear. In response to our +entreaties, she shows us the loom, and brings out her spinning wheel to +instruct us in that housewifely accomplishment. How easy it looks, as +the fleecy web moves through her fingers, and winds in smooth, even yarn +on the swiftly turning reel; and, oh, what bungling and botching when +we essay that same! The two pretty, modest, and diffident daughters are +quite overcome at last, and join in our peals of merriment. + +One--oh bliss!--is named _Evangeline_, and, if we understand correctly, +there is an old name similar to this among these people. Though they +sing some charming old French chansons for us, the two sweet girls +cannot be induced to converse in that language. Madame laughs, saying, +"Dey know dey doant speak de _goot_ French, de fine French, so dey will +only talk Angleesh wid you." But in the evening, when Octavia sings an +absurd college song, with a mixture of French and English words, they +enjoy the fun; and immediately set to work to learn:-- + + "Oh, Jean Baptiste, pourquoi vous grease + My little dog's nose with tar? + Madame, je grease his nose with tar + Because he have von grand catarrh, + Madame, je grease his nose + Parcequ'il he vorries my leetle fite chat." + +Then the pretty Evangeline in turn becomes instructor, the theme being +an ancient peasant song of France which her grandmother used to sing. +One plays the melody from memory, while the other hastily rules a bit +of paper and writes off the notes, afterwards copying the words from a +scrap of tattered manuscript; and thus the lady from "America" feels +that she has secured a pretty souvenir of the visit: + +LES PERLES ET LES ÉTOILES. + +1. + Comme les perles et les é - tol – les + Or-nent dé - ja le front des cleux + La nuit e-tend partout votle + Elle vient de ju fermer mes yeux, + Re - viendras tu dans un doux songe, + O mon bel ange, tor que j'adore + Me re - pe - ter divers mensonges + Me re - pe - ter -ye taime encore-- + +2. + Sur un soup-çon tu t'es en—fuie + Je pleure bélas ton a - ban – don + Par un bais er je t'en supplie + Viens m’accorder undous pardon + Oh crois le bien ma bonne a se + Pour te revoir oh om, un jor, + Je donnerais toute ma vie + Je donnerais tous mes amours + +The word "_mensonges_" has not the meaning in French which our literal +translation would give it. It probably signifies the pretty falsehoods +or white lies to which lovers are somewhat addicted. The next day is +Sunday, and troops of people, in their peculiar costume, appear on the +road from all directions, wending their way to the great white wooden +church. + +Despite the innate grace of the French, of which we hear so much, we +see that the young men among these peasants are not unlike the shy and +awkward country lads of Yankee land. Before and between the services +they roost on the fence opposite the church, while the young +girls--totally oblivious of their proximity, of course--gather in groups +on the other side of the road, gossiping. We infer that many have come a +long distance to attend service, as we see several families eating their +lunch, picnic fashion, in the fields near the church. In the church, +what a sensation the strangers make, and how interesting is the service! +To one of us, at least, the grand service of Notre Dame of Paris was +not so impressive as this. In the one case, a famous Bishop, robed in +priceless lace and cloth of gold, with a troop of acolytes at the altar, +while the most famous singers of the Opera filled the vast structure +with rapturous melody; in the other, a large plain wooden building with +glaring windows of untinted glass; the priest in vestments of coarse +Nottingham lace and yellow damask,--but with spiritual, benignant +countenance,--and a choir of untrained voices. A company of men droned +out Gregorian chants in painfully nasal tones, using antique books with +square headed notes; then the sweet voice of our host's daughter, +Evangeline, sounded solo, and her youthful companions in the choir took +up the chorus of the Kyrie Eleison:-- + + "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 with 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." + +The young girls array themselves in hats and costumes which are only two +or three years behind the prevailing mode; but the attire of the middle +aged and elderly women is striking and peculiar. For Sundays, this is +invariably black throughout, and yet does not look funereal. The dress +is of plain bombazine or alpaca, a shawl folded square, and over the +head a large silk handkerchief, which must be put on with greatest +exactness and care to make just so many folds at the sides with a huge +knot under the chin; while the point at the back hangs below the neck, +and generally has one or more initials neatly worked in colors +("cross-stitch") in the corner. As most have clear olive complexion, +with rich color in the cheeks, arid lustrous black eyes, this headdress +is surprisingly becoming, giving quite a gypsyish effect. + +During the week, a calico dress with long white apron is worn by women +and children, and over the head a light chintz handkerchief, or a gay +"bandanna";--quite suggestive of the every day wear of foreign +peasantry. We are told that a girl's wealth is sometimes estimated by +the number of handkerchiefs she owns. Mrs. R. says she has, in winter, +seen a girl divest herself of no less than ten head-kerchiefs; taking +them off, one by one, and carefully folding them in the most natural +manner, as if there could be nothing uncommon or amusing in the +proceeding. + +The old women, in winter, wear enormous cloaks, made with a large square +yoke, into which eight or ten breadths of material are closely plaited, +--this unwieldy garment completely enveloping them from head to foot. + +These distinctive features in costume are disappearing, and ere long our +American peasantry may become commonplace and uninteresting. Let us hope +that they may never lose the sweet simplicity, frankness, honesty, +thrift, and other pleasing characteristics which they now possess. + +In the houses is seen a peculiar rocking-settle, similar to those in use +among the Pennsylvania Dutch. This odd piece of furniture has one end +railed in front to serve for cradle; so papa, mamma, and baby can rock +and "take comfort" together. + +Towards evening we visit the convent, where the sisters--who probably do +not receive frequent calls from visitors--seem glad of the opportunity +for a pleasant chat and a bit of news from the outside world. They show +us through their exquisitely neat establishment, where, in the culinary +department, a crone who is deaf and rather childish approaches us +with such strong evidence of delight, that we expect at least to be +embraced; but a sign from the Superior relieves us from the impending +demonstration. + +At sunset, as we stroll along the road, three pretty little girls +who are driving home a flock of geese tempt us to air our French a +little, and a lively conversation ensues, causing their black eyes +to sparkle and their white teeth to flash bewitchingly. One of the +children explains why one of the awkward birds wears a clumsy triangular +collar of wood, with a stake apparently driven through its throat, +"to prevent it from going through the fences;" and when one of the +strangers, imitating the waddling gait of the creatures, improvises,-- + + Bon soir, Madame Oie, Veux tu le blé? Il est à toi! + +such a shout of merry laughter is heard as one might willingly go a long +way to listen to. When one gives her name, "Thérese _le Blanc_", our +query, "Votre père, est il _la Notaire_?" strange to say, puzzles her; +but she probably is not familiar with a certain famous poem, although +our hostess and her daughters have perused it. + +As time passes, and she feels better acquainted and at ease with us, +Madame M.'s younger daughter amuses us by showing some mischievous +tendency; and we conclude she is something of "a tease". In the most +artless manner, and without intentional familiarity, she slides her arm +through Octavia's in a confidential manner and imparts some important +information "dans l'oreille". What is it? Well, remember it is +_whispered_; and now _don't_ go and tell! It is that there _is_ a swain +who is Evangeline's special devoted; and the quick blush which rises +most becomingly on that damsel's cheek speaks for itself. We have seen +for ourselves how + + "Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened his missal, fixed + his eyes upon her," + +and as our eyes turn to the lovely view of the Bay with its sheltering +highlands we can readily imagine how, on just such evenings as this,-- + + "apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure, + Sat the lovers, and whispered together, beholding the moon rise + Over the pallid sea," + +while + + "Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, + Blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels." + +We do not ask if the lover's name is "Gabriel", but earnestly wish her +a happier lot than that of the sad heroine of Grand Pré's story. + +The sun sinks behind the hills which bound lovely St. Mary's Bay, and +we plainly see the two curious openings known as the Grand Passage and +Petit Passage, through which the fishermen sail when conveying their +cargoes to St. John. The Petit Passage is one mile wide; and passing +through this deep strait the hardy fishermen can, in favorable weather, +cross to St John in eight to ten hours. These highlands across the Bay, +known as Digby Neck and Long Island, are a continuation of the range of +mountains terminating in Blomidon on the Minas Basin, and so singularly +cut away to make entrance to Annapolis Basin, at St. George's Channel, +vulgarly known as Digby Gut. + +When De Monts and his party were ready to continue their cruise from +this sheltered haven, behold! one of their company--a priest--was +missing; and though they waited several days, making signals and firing +guns, such sounds were drowned by the roar of the surf, and never +reached the ears of the poor man lost in the woods. At last, supposing +that the wanderer had fallen a prey to wild animals, the explorers +sailed away, and, finding the entrance to Annapolis Basin, began to +make preparation for colonizing at Port Royal. + +Sixteen days after the disappearance of the priest, some of De Monts' +men returning to this Bay to examine the minerals more thoroughly, were +attracted by a signal fluttering on the shore, and, hurrying to land, +there found the poor priest, emaciated and exhausted. What strange +sensations the distracted wanderer must have experienced in these forest +wilds, with starvation staring him in the face! No charms did _he_ see +in this scene which now delights us; and doubtless, with Selkirk, would +have exclaimed, "Better dwell in the midst of alarms, than to live in +this beautiful place." + +This strange wild coast and the Cod Banks of Newfoundland were known to +and visited by foreign fishermen at a very early date. "The Basques, +that primeval people, older than history," frequented these shores; and +it is supposed that such fisheries existed even before the voyage of +Cabot (1497). There is strong evidence of it in 1504; while in 1527 +fourteen fishing vessels--Norman, Portuguese, and Breton--were seen at +one time in the Bay of Fundy, near the present site of St. John. + +When we question our hostess as to the species of finny tribes found in +these waters, she mentions menhaden, mackerel, alewives, herring, etc; +and, proud of her English, concludes her enumeration with, "Dat is de +most only feesh dey kotch here." + +Another drive of many miles along the shore brings us to the +neighborhood of the very jumping off place of the Scotian peninsula, +with novel sights to attract the attention _en route_. Now and then a +barn with thatched roof; here a battered boat overturned to make Piggy +and family a habitation; there heavy and lumbering _three_ wheeled +carts, with the third rotator placed between the shafts, so the poor ox +who draws the queer vehicle hasn't much room to spare. + +Huge loads of hay pass us, and other large farm wagons, drawn invariably +by handsome oxen. The ox-yokes are a constant marvel to us; for, +divested of the bows, they are fastened with leather straps to the bases +of the poor creatures' horns. Evidently there is no "S. P. C. A." here; +and we cannot convince those with whom we converse on the subject that +the poor animals would pull better by their shoulders than by their +heads. At several places we see the clumsiest windmills for sawing wood; +not after the fashion of the picturesque buildings which Don Quixote so +valiantly opposed, but a heavy frame work or scaffolding about twelve +feet in height. To this is attached a wheel of heaviest plank with five +fans, each one shaped like the arm of a Greek cross, and the whole so +ponderous we are confident that nothing less than a hurricane could +make it revolve. + +Here is a house entirely covered with diamond shaped shingles, having +also double and triple windows, which are long, narrow, and pointed at +the top, yet not suggestive of the gothic. + +Next we pass a point where an old post inn once stood, and where the +curiously curved, twisted, and strangely complicated iron frame which +once held the swinging sign still remains. + +Many a bleak ride did that mounted carrier have, no doubt, in days of +yore; and we can imagine him saying:-- + + "The night is late, I dare not wait, the winds begin to blow, + And ere I gain the rocky plain there'll be a storm, I know!" + +At our final halting place all is bustle, in preparation for a two days' +fête, which commences next day; nevertheless, had we been princes of the +realm, we could not have been shown truer hospitality. Père Basil Armand +himself waits upon us, while his wife is cooking dainties for the coming +festival; and the pretty Monica, giving up her neat apartment to one of +our party, lodges at a neighbor's. + +Monsieur R., though seventy-eight years of age, retains all his +faculties perfectly, is straight as an Indian, his luxuriant hair +unstreaked with gray, and he is over six feet in height. He reminds us +of the description of Benedict Bellefontaine:-- + + "Stalwart and stately in form was the man of seventy winters, + Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with snow flakes," + +but our host is even a finer specimen of vigorous age. Then his books-- +for he is collector of customs, a post which he has held for twenty-five +years--would amaze many a younger clerk or scribe; and he is amused, but +apparently gratified, when we ask for his autograph, which he obligingly +writes for each in a firm, clear, and fine hand. He says of the people +of this settlement, that they generally speak patois, though many, like +himself, can speak pure French; that they are faithful and true hearted, +industrious and thrifty. He adds: "We are not rich, we are not poor, +but we are happy and contented." + +During the fearful scenes of 1793 an amiable priest of great culture, a +man noble in character, as by birth, fled from the horrors of the French +Revolution, and found among this simple, childlike people a peaceful +haven and happy home. This earnest man, Abbé Ségoigne, devoted himself +in everyway to their good, governing them wisely and well, and might +truly have said, in the words of Father Felician,-- + + "I labored among you and taught you, not in word alone but in deed." + +Many years he resided here. His memory is now venerated almost as that +of a saint, and we are of course greatly interested when Monsieur R. +brings out, with just pride, his greatest treasure,--a cumbersome and +quaint old volume which was once the property of the good priest. + +There is a strong feeling of brotherhood, like the Scottish clanship, +among the people; and the lands of parents are divided and subdivided, +so the children at marriage may each receive a portion as dower, and +"settle down" near their childhood's home; consequently the farms are +"long drawn out", extending sometimes in very narrow strips for a mile +or more inland. + +Abbé Raynal writes most poetically, although not absolutely in rhyme, of +this gentle brotherhood, "where every misfortune was relieved before it +could be felt, without ostentation on the one hand and without meanness +on the other. Whatever slight differences arose from time to time among +them were amicably adjusted by their elders." + +Our driver says "étwelles" for _étoiles_, "fret" for _froid_, "si" for +_oui_, etc.; the dancing crests of the waves he calls "chapeaux blancs", +which is similar to our appellation, and also speaks of "un bon _coop_ +de thé", showing that an English word is occasionally adopted, though +hardly recognizable in their peculiar phraseology. + +One pleasant acquaintance, Dr. R, who lived here several years after he +"came out" from England, tells us that the mackerouse, a wild duck, is +found here; and, as it subsists upon fish, the people are allowed to eat +that bird on Fridays. He also says that the pigs wade out into the mud +at low tide to root for clams; while the crows, following in their +tracks, steal the coveted shell fish from under the very noses of the +swine. Of the remarkably long nasal appendages of this peculiar porcine +species he adds, "They do say that they'll root under a fence and steal +potatoes from the third row!" + +In this locality we hear Yarmouth spoken of as if it were a port equal +to New York in importance, and so it doubtless seems to these simple +un-traveled people. In reality it is a prosperous maritime town owning +one hundred and thirty thousand tons of shipping, and is a mildly +picturesque place when the tide is high. + +The Indian name appropriately signifies "end of the land," and one might +naturally suppose, when arriving there, that he had reached "that famous +fabled country, 'away down east';" though, should he continue his +travels to Labrador, that mythical region would still lure him on. The +inhabitants are mainly seafaring men,--many of the captains of Cape Ann +fishing fleets came from here originally,--and they call the Atlantic +from Cape Ann to Yarmouth all Bay of Fundy, though that is "rather +stretching it." + +It was near here that De Monts made his first landing and caught a +nightingale (May 16, 1604). Not far beyond, about the shores of Argyle +Bay, a great many "French Neutrals" found refuge in 1755 (though an +English ship tried to rout them); and they were hunted like wild +animals about here for two or three years after. + +We conclude that the hamlets on the upper part of St. Mary's Bay are +most interesting, and that it is hardly worth while to continue down +the coast unless one desires to take steamer from this port to Boston. + +In our strolls about the village, we come to a point on the shore where +a boy has a quantity of fine large lobsters which he has just taken from +the trap; and when one of our party asks for what price he will sell +some, the answer--"One cent each"--is so astounding that the query is +repeated, so we may be convinced that we have heard aright. Pere Basil +is evidently surprised at our taste when he sees us returning with our +purchases, as he remarks, "We don't think much of those at this time of +year;" from which we infer that at some seasons they have to depend so +much upon fish, lobsters, etc., that they become weary of them. + +There is such Gallic atmosphere about this place (and trip) that Octavia +is infected, and perpetrates doggerel on a postal, which is to be mailed +from the "land's end" to acquaint foreign relatives with our advent in +a foreign country also!-- + + Tout est "0. K." + Je suis arivée + Dans ce joli pays, + Avec bonne santé, + Mais bien fatiguée. + Adieu. E. B. C. + (O quelle atrocité! + Mais je n'ai ni grammaire + Ni dictionnaire français.) + + "Pleasantly rose next morn the sun," + +and though we are up and out betimes,-- + + "Life had long been astir in the village, and clamorous labor + Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gate of the morning. + Now from the country around, from the farms and the 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, + 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." + +Père Basil is surprised to find that we have not come especially to +attend the festival, of which we had not heard until our arrival, +though he evidently thinks the fame of their elaborate preparations has +traveled far and wide. While we are waiting for the vehicles which are +to convey us to the railroad station (a long drive inland) many most +picturesque groups pass the door; some walking, some riding on ox-carts, +and all carrying flowers, pyramidal and gorgeously ornamented cakes, or +curious implements for games, totally unknown to us moderns! Our host +has a pleasant greeting for all, and receives cordial reply, and +sometimes merry jest and repartee from the happy revelers. + +Much to our delight, our route to the station passes the grounds where +the fête is held; and here we see booths of boughs, a revolving swing +(which they call a "galance"), fluttering flags, and gay banners. + +Merry groups of young people are engaged in games or dances, while the +elders are gossiping, or look on approvingly, and the air is filled with +lively music. Can it be that the melodies which we hear are the famous +old ones, "Toes les Bourgeois de Charters" and "Le Carillon de Dunker"? +It would hardly surprise us, as this quaint place seems a century or so +behind the times. + +We wish we could stop for an hour or two to watch them; but trains wait +for no man, and we must return to Digby and there take steamer for St. +John. + +That short passage of twelve leagues has been our bugbear for some days, +as travelers whom we met at Annapolis pictured its horrors so vividly, +representing its atrocities as exceeding those of the notorious English +Channel. Yet we glide as smoothly through the eddies and whirlpools of +the beautiful Gap as a Sound steamer passes through Hell Gate. This +remarkable passage way is two miles in length; the mountains rise on +either hand to the height of five hundred and sixty and six hundred and +ten feet, the tide between rushing at the rate of five knots an hour. +We note gray, water worn rocks at the sides, resembling pumice in +appearance, though of course very much harder stone, and evidently of +similar formation to that of the ovens at Mt. Desert. And now we sweep +quietly out into the dreaded Bay of Fundy, the water of which rests in +such oily quietude as even Long Island Sound rarely shows. On this hazy, +lazy, sunny afternoon not a swell is perceptible (unless some among the +passengers might be designated by that title); and after four and a half +hours of most dreamy navigation, we enter the harbor of St. John, where +the many tinted signal lights are reflected in the black water, and a +forest fire on a distant hill throws a lurid light over the scene. + +When the tide turns, there can be seen frequently far out in the Bay a +distinct line in the water,--a line as sharply defined as that between +the Arve and Rhone at their junction near Geneva. It is when wind and +tide are at variance that the roughest water is encountered; and they +say that if one would avoid an unpleasant game of pitch and toss, the +passage across should not be attempted during or immediately after a +blow from the northwest or southeast. So make a note of that! Old salts +at Annapolis told us that the water of the Bay "gets up" suddenly, but +also quiets down soon, and that after a windless night one might be +reasonably certain of a comfortable trip across. + +Having supposed that St. John had lost half its charm and quaintness +since the fire, we are surprised to find so much of interest when we +are out at the "top of the morning" next day, and are reluctant to +leave; but here the Octave disintegrates, scatters to finish the season +elsewhere; and each member, on arrival at home, probably invests in +reams of paper and quarts of ink, setting to work to tell his friends +all about it, and where "they must surely go next summer!" + + + + +"L'ISLE DES MONTS DESERTS." + + +(A LETTER BY THE WAY.) + + +"Beautiful Isle of the Sea!" + +When we said, "Let us go to Mt. Desert," Joe gave us Punch's advice on +marriage: "Don't!" Sue said. "It has lost half its charms by becoming so +fashionable;" and Hal added, as an unanswerable argument, "You'll not be +able to get enough to eat." As to his veracity on this subject we cannot +vouch, though we can testify to his voracity, and mischievously throw a +quotation at him:-- + + "The turnpike to men's hearts, I find, + Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind." + +Despite such discouragements, being naturally obstinate, go we do; and +here we are in the most refreshingly primitive and unfashionable abiding +place, the domicile commanding a view which cannot be equaled by any +public house on the island. From the piazzas and our windows the eye +never tires of gazing on the beautiful bay with its numerous +islands,--a charming picture, with the blue and symmetrical range of +Gouldsboro' hills for background. From a point not far back of the +house, the eye ranges from the head of Frenchman's Bay out to the broad +ocean; while a retrospective view takes in the wild mountainous region +of the interior of this lovely isle. + +We arrive at a fortunate time. For a long while previous Nature had +persistently enveloped her face in a veil, giving an air of mystery +which the summer guests did not appreciate. The skipper of the yacht +which conveys us when we circumnavigate the island tells us "there is a +fog factory near by," a statement which, for a few days, we are inclined +to credit. The nabobs of Newport, the Sybarites of Nahant, and even the +commonplace rusticators at other shore resorts have been served in the +same manner, however; so we sympathize with them fully, and with them +exult at the final dissolution of the vapors, as the gray curtain +gradually lifts and rolls away, its edge all jagged as if torn by the +lance-like tips of fir and spruce trees as it swept over them. These +noble hills are densely wooded, but not with the forest giants one sees +among the White Mountains; and when I express my surprise thereat, I am +told that fifty or sixty years ago the greater part of the island was +denuded by fire, so that remains of the primeval forest can only be +found in distant spots not easily accessible. Notices are now posted in +the woods at various points, by which "visitors are earnestly requested +to extinguish all fires which they may light, and not to strip the bark +from the birches." + +In our inland excursions the rugged mountains, with their storm scarred, +rocky summits, wild ravines, and forest embedded bases, so constantly +suggest the grand scenery of New Hampshire that we can hardly realize +that we are anywhere near the sea. Then, on a sudden turn of the road, +a broad stretch of ocean--blue, sparkling, and sail dotted, framed in +graceful birches, feathery larches, and dark pines--comes upon us as a +surprise. + +The peculiar vehicle which is here known as a "buckboard" we find a +comfortable conveyance, with a motion which seems a combination of +see-saw and baby-jumper. The "body" is composed of four long boards laid +side by side, supported only at the extreme ends where they are hung +over the axles. The seats are in the middle. They are neither elegant +nor graceful, but easy, "springy" vehicles, which, having neither sides +nor top covers, give unimpeded views, and are excellent for sight +seeing, though not precisely the thing for rainy weather. + +Canoeing is a favorite amusement; and in the management of these light +and graceful boats many of the summer guests become quite expert. The +motion suggests that of a gondola, A catamaran scoots about the harbor +among the islands; tiny steamers, sailing craft of all kinds, are seen; +and sometimes United States training ships sail majestically into the +bay and drop anchor, giving a finishing touch to the picture. + +Skippers are very cautious, and frequently will not allow their canoes +or other boats to go out, although it may appear perfectly safe to the +uninitiated. Visitors rarely have any idea what sudden "flaws" and gusts +of air are caused by the position of and openings between the mountains; +and when these, as well as the tidal swell and currents of the ocean +about the shore, have to be studied, navigation becomes scientific. + +The arrival of the steamer is the great event of the day; and on Sunday, +after morning service, the butterflies of fashion flit to the pier to +see the landing of passengers. It is rather embarrassing for weary +travelers to be obliged to "run the gauntlet" as they pass through the +gay throng, for every one stares with all his might. This does not seem +to be considered rude here, and every one is met by a "battery of eyes;" +I presume because each person expects, if he remain here through the +season, to meet every one whom he ever knew. + +The yachting and tennis costumes which are worn here would certainly +cause many of the sober residents of the Quaker City to open their eyes +wide with horror,--if they were able to open them, and were not blinded +by the first glance. One divinity, in scarlet and white striped awning +cloth, awe christen the "mint stick". And _such_ hats!--each so +placed upon the head that, however huge, it is utterly useless as a +shade; but as effect is what all are striving for, any other +consideration is of no importance whatever. Such attire would be hooted +at in some places; and we wonder that it does not strike old settlers +breathless with amazement at the extravagances and follies of "these +city folks". Jim quotes, "Any color so it's red," when surveying a +brilliantly attired company at this place, as that aggressive hue +prevails. These fantastic costumes are frequently seen in the mornings +on the shore, where the wearers are engaged in an amusement here known +as "rocking". This consists in lounging on the rocks with interesting +youths, who, arrayed in picturesque yachting or tennis suits, pose +artistically, and, beneath the shade of scarlet or Japanese umbrellas, +talk of the weather, of course. Elsewhere this would be known as +flirting. + +We do not approve of the names of some of the public houses, and wonder +that they could not have chosen more suggestive titles. The "Hotel des +Isles" has a more suitable and appropriate cognomen,--if they would +spell it correctly, which they invariably do not. This name is borne by +descendants of the old French settlers, but is now, sad to tell, +pronounced by their contemporaries "De Sizzle". We call our house +Pleasant Haven, or Restful Retreat, though it appears under a different +title in the guide book. It would never do to tell what its name "really +and truly" is, lest you should think I have been engaged to "puff" it. +We have delicious bread and excellent fare; and, though this is plain, +of course, all is temptingly served, and everything neat and nice +enough for any one. + +Our rooms are extremely plain, but neat. Closets are unknown; but on +hooks along the wall on one side of the apartment we hang our garments, +protecting them with chintz curtains which we brought for the purpose. +A resident of Fifth Avenue occupies the garret rooms above, having +selected them from choice; and, expatiating on their advantages in +quiet, air, and views, becomes an Attic Philosopher. + +Occasionally we get out our fineries, and go to some "hop" or +entertainment in the village, but return better satisfied with our +present home; and, snapping our fingers at Mrs. Grundy, do not envy any +of her votaries. If our advice were asked, we should say: "Come to one +of the smaller hostelries, like this, where you can be independent and +comfortable; and bring half worn winter garments, with boots ditto, to +be prepared for tramping and excursions." + +The excursions which can be taken I will not enumerate; will merely +state that the ascent of Green Mountain, in clear weather, and the drive +to Great Head are most satisfactory. On our way to the latter point we +stop at Anemone Cave, where we enjoy an impromptu concert by members of +Philadelphia glee clubs, the fine voices and beautiful harmonies being +enhanced by the dark arch of rock and the ceaseless music of the surf, +which forms a grand accompaniment. + +The view from Green Mountain is quite unique, the eye traversing ocean +and land for forty miles in any direction; following the singularly +serrated coast of Maine, the course of Somes Sound,--that remarkable +inlet from the sea which almost divides the island,--and tracing the +waving line of far distant mountain ranges. The mainland is curiously +cut into long rocky points and ragged peninsulas, from which the islands +seem to have broken off and drifted out to sea. From this height +(fifteen hundred and thirty-five feet) the ocean seems placid and +smooth,--much less awe-inspiring than from the shore, where the surges +roll in with such tremendous power, as if endeavoring to crush the +towering cliffs which oppose them. The clustering buildings of Bar +Harbor appear like a child's playthings, or Nuremberg toys; the +miniature vessels like sea gulls just alighted; the white tents of the +Indian encampment ludicrously suggest a laundry with big "wash" hung out +to dry; and the whole scene looks as if viewed through the large end of +an opera glass. It is a peaceful and beautiful picture for memory to +treasure and look back upon with delight. + +At Fernald's Point, at the base of Flying Mountain, two miles north of +Southwest Harbor, is the supposed location of the French settlement, +which was founded by a party of priests and colonists sent out from +France to Port Royal (now Annapolis, Nova Scotia), who, losing their way +in fog, landed here. The peaceful little community, after only a few +weeks' occupancy, were routed by that grasping individual, Argall, the +deputy governor of Virginia, who was detested by his own colonists for +his tyranny and rapacity. That person, not content with the domains +which his position entitled him to govern, cruised along the Atlantic +coast, making many such incursions among the colonists. In this case, +after destroying the buildings, he cruelly set adrift in an open boat +fifteen of the poor, harmless people, who, after suffering great +hardships, were picked up by a trading vessel and conveyed to St. Malo. +We wonder that investigations have not been made ere this at this spot, +as it seems probable that old implements and objects of interest might +be brought to light. How we wish we were members of the Maine Historical +Society, and by that body empowered to superintend excavations at the +site of a colony which was in existence (1613) seven years before the +landing of the Pilgrims! + +Samuel de Champlain, friend, associate, and pilot of De Monts in the +latter's investigations of his possessions in Acadia (in 1604), was +sponsor of this island which has since become so famous, of which he +speaks as "La grande Isle des Monts Deserts;" and by the early Lord of +the Realm the whole of Frenchman's Bay was also called La Havre du Saint +Sauveur. That wicked Jim says that the _Indian_ name of the island must +suggest itself to some travelers on their way here, unless they come by +the land route. + +There are thirty-five guests in our house, who form a pleasant company; +and though of course there is great diversity of taste and character +shown among them, they form a harmonious assembly. In the evenings we +have "sings", readings, games, and charades, frequently growing +hilarious. Sedate professors, dignified divines, and learned writers +enter into these sports with the zest of schoolboys on a holiday. Some +of these games may be new; and that others may derive amusement for +similar occasions, I will describe two of them. In one, called +Comparison, the company seat themselves in a circle. Each one whispers +to his right hand neighbor the name of a person (known to the company); +to the one at his left, the name of an object. Then each in turn gives +aloud the name which his neighbor whispered to him, and tells why he or +she resembles the object, making the comparison complimentary or +otherwise. The uncomplimentary comparisons are generally the most +laughable, and of course all understand that 't is "all for fun", so no +one takes any offence. For instance: "Mr. J. resembles the _harbor bar_, +or did this morning, because there was a heavy swell rolling over him;" +the company understanding this as an allusion to a frolicsome tussle +which Mr. J. had with the beau of the house. A rhyming game also affords +much amusement. One person gives his neighbor a list of words,--the +words ending the lines of a sonnet or part of a poem,--and the person +receiving the list must fill in the lines, bringing in the words given, +in proper order, at the ends of the lines. In the following instance +the words italicized are the ones which the player received from his +neighbor; in this case the terminal words of Longfellow's beautiful +description of a calm night by the sea will be recognized, although the +word "ocean" was inadvertently substituted for "organ":-- + + "All the long white beach is _silent_ + As a beach should ever _be_, + While the sea gulls stand and _listen_ + To the moaning of the _sea_, + All the solemn oysters _gather_, + Gazing upward to the _sky_, + While a lobster breaks the _silence_, + Crooning low his _litany_ + Little shrimps in their dark _caverns_, + Eating supper all _alone_, + Looking out upon the ocean, + Whispering in an _undertone_ + 'Tis sad and lonely by these _beaches_, + Shall we ne'er go _beyond_?' + All the barnacles, _uprising_, + 'Never,' tearfully _respond_." + +As we are by the sea, nautical rhymes seem to turn out naturally. The +writer of this remarkable effusion is evidently not an evolutionist, +though he may think there are some "queer fish" among the heterogeneous +inhabitants of this island. + +At last the day comes when we must turn away from these lovely scenes; +and it is with regret, and many a backward look, that we are conveyed +to the Rockland boat. That vessel pursues a circuitous route along the +coast, among the picturesque islands; the trip suggesting quite forcibly +the St. Lawrence with its Thousand Isles, as old Neptune is fortunately +in amiable mood, and shows a smiling countenance. So we have no grudge +to lay up against him, and only pictures tinged with _couleur-de-rose_ +to carry away with us. + + + + +SEA-SIDE AMUSEMENT IN THE "CITY OF SOLES". + + +As it is our custom to come to these New England shores every summer, in +order, as Jim says, to get salted so that we may keep well through the +winter (by which you need not infer that we "get into a pickle"), we +commence the process at this place, before proceeding to more Northerly +points. + +As the "dry spell" has made the roads so dusty that there is little +pleasure in driving, and our horses are at present in the stables of our +_Chateaux-en-Espagne_, and consequently not available this warm evening, +we gather on the porch to be entertained by the learned converse of the +professors, until an approaching storm drives us in-doors. Within the +"shooting box", as the young man who has traveled christens the house,-- +thinking that an appropriate title for a domicile where so many members +of the Hunt family are collected,--there is a motley assembly, as they +gather around the sitting room table. There are Portuguese, +Michiganders, Pennites, Illinoisyones, Bangorillas, and other specimens +of natural history such as would have puzzled Agassiz himself; and the +question arises, "What shall we do to amuse ourselves this rainy +evening?" But "Pat", the engineer, oiler of the domestic machinery of +the establishment, and keeper of this menagerie, seems overcome with +fatigue; the Astronomer is eclipsed in a corner; the professors are +absorbed in sines and co-sines; the Fisherman nods over his paper; +Grandma knits her brows and the stocking; Elsie is deep in a book; and +no one displays any special interest in the matter until pencils and +paper are distributed for the game of Crambo. The _modus operandi_ of +that most wise and learned game is as follows: Four slips of paper are +given each person, on one of which he is requested to write a question, +and on each of the other scraps a word. These are then shuffled, and all +in turn draw. And now there is great commotion, for each participant is +expected to answer his question in rhyme, and to bring the three words +which he has drawn, into his answer, also. Such a chorus of "Oh dears", +and such dismayed faces! The student proposes to procure the coffee mill +to assist him in grinding out his "pome"; the tennis player wishes she +had a hatchet to chop up a long word which has fallen to her lot, so +that she can put it in proper metre; but Mr. Short (6 ft. 2 in.), with +watch in hand, calls "Time", and then "Silence", as pencils race over +papers as if on a wager. Ten minutes is the brief space allotted for the +production of the wondrous effusions; and when Mr. S. announces, "Time's +up", the hat is again full; and one says, with a sigh of relief, "There, +I never made two lines rhyme in my life before;" another modestly +remarks, "You needn't think we are verdant because we are in Green--" +but the warning finger of the Philosopher is raised, and Pat, the +reader, begins, emphasizing the words drawn as he reads:-- + + "Why so much quarrelling about Religion! + It's as plain as string _beans_ + That from this very means + The world is not right, + If I had but clear sight + I might _hope_ ere this night + Is _beginning_ to wane + The thing to explain. + But, lacking the wit, + I must e'en submit + This doggerel rhyme + And hope 't is in time." + +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed the "small specimen" (aged ten), "that's Grandma's; +I heard her say she 'knows beans', 'cause she is a Yankee;" but the S. +S. subsides on hearing the next paper read, and shows so plainly that +she "wishes herself further" that it is not difficult to guess the +author:-- + + "What's quicker than lightning? + A _Turkey_ or a squirrel + Can 'cut' like a _knife_ + But I never saw a creature rash + Like a _deer_ in all my life." + +"Good for Ten-year-old!" exclaim the chorus; and the S. S., brightening +up, concludes she'll try it again sometime. Next comes the question:-- + + "Where do cabbages come from? + My will is good, and I _propose_ + To tell you all I can + In this dry time a garden hose + Must come into the plan + First plant the seed, and in due course + Will little shoots appear, + When each from other has _divorce_ + They'll flourish, it is clear. + If this rhyme is worth preserving, + With _mucilage_ it may be fixed + On any wall deserving + Such wit and wisdom mixed." + +As it is well known that the natives of the Emerald Isle have a +predilection for cabbages, it is unanimously decided that none but Pat +could have perpetrated this; so Pat grins, suggests that a bill poster +be secured at once, and proceeds:-- + + "How would you like to be a cat? + In _Timbuctoo_ each stern ascetic, + Though blind to folly as a bat, + Revels in love _peripatetic_ + Which makes him nimble as a cat + But though I'm fond of such agility, + I better like the busy bees, + For they display so much ability + They 'mind one of the _Portuguese_." + +At this implied compliment to his people, the black eyes of the foreign +student flash approval; and the Mathematician speaks up, saying, "That +is the Philosopher, sure, and proves the truth of the saying, 'A little +nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.'" The Philosopher +smiles benignantly, but does not deny the charge; and the reader +continues:-- + + "What do you think of the Ormthorhynchus? + My brain's in a 'muss' + From thinking of this '_cuss_' + (Excuse me for using such a word). + If it lived at _Nahant_ + With this heat it would pant, + For surely't is a curious bird. + You may think me a 'muff', + And declare I talk stuff, + But I hope you'll not doubt my word. + For though out in all weathers + Its coat's not of feathers + But of fur,--at least so I've heard. + But 'by this _illumination_' + (Kant's ratiocination?) + 'I don't see it,' though it may seem quite absurd." + +The company, strange to say, hit upon Elsie for this, and are evidently +surprised that one so given up to pomps and vanities should display such +knowledge of natural history; but they evidently suspect her of shining +by reflected light, as she sits next to the Philosopher; and I heard +her ask him a question about this animal with the jaw-breaking name. By +this time the party have become so brilliant, having polished each other +up as by diamond cutters' wheels, that it is "moved and seconded" that +we "try again". The laughter has brought down the Chemist from the +laboratory, the Fisherman from his den; besides rousing the Astronomer, +who scintillates in the corner to such a degree that all others expect +to be totally eclipsed. This time the Fisherman, who is also an amateur +gardener and farmer on a small scale, draws an appropriate question, in +regard to which he enlightens us as follows; and what he says must be +true, as we know he has had experience with pigs and hens:-- + + "Which knows most, a pig or a hen? + 'Tis hard to tell in rustic _rhyme_ + What pigs or hens may know. + A cabbage-head in olden time + Sure knew enough to grow. + If _Balm_ and corn to them were thrown + By _parsimonious_ Bill + I think the fact would then be shown, + For Piggy'd eat his fill." + +Next comes the Chemist with the question:-- + + "Do you like peanuts? + Peanuts are _double_, + And so is the trouble + Involved in _effort_ + To answer it. + Hand over a few, + And see if I do + Not like peanuts + Better than _Sanskrit_" + +Any one who had heard the Chemist warbling,-- + + "He who hath good peanuts and gives his neighbor none, + He sha'n't have any of my peanuts when his peanuts are gone," + +would not have doubted this. + +The Philosopher next airs his learning in the following:-- + + "What do you admire in a fool? + Water has such _combustibility_ + That one may rightfully admire + The happy lack of wise ability + Which never rivers sets on fire. + _Truth_ needs no _recapitulation_ + To make what's simple plainer still. + Folly courts our admiration + Wherever Fashion has her will." + +Part of this is so abstruse that I fear the company do not fully +appreciate it; so the next is quite startling; and after hearing it we +learn, the cause of the Astronomer's silent merriment in the corner, and +rejoice that Dr. Holmes's experience in "writing as funny as he could" +has proved a warning to this individual:-- + + "What is stronger than an onion? + Oh, _scissors_! on a summer night + To tax a fat _republican_ + In thinking out with all his might + Some mightier thing than on-i-on. + Garlic, maybe's not strong enough + Well, I'll exert my '_spunk_' + So here you have it, 'in the rough,'-- + A pole-cat, alias s----k." + +The Oleaginous Personage comes next with the question, "Do you like +Crambo?" which was answered, rather ambiguously, thus:-- + + "If our last lingo was a _specimen_ + Of this most wise and learned game, + 'Tis sure that thus not many men + Would long be known to fame. + Any of you as well as I + Would knock our type all into _Pi_, + If _ghost_, or man, or printer's devil + Should show us up for good or evil." + +Here the sedate and dignified Elsie gives her opinion of a summer +recreation after this fashion:-- + + "Are you fond of fishing? + A foolish amusement, it seems to me, + To be rocking about on the briny sea + Watching for bites 'neath a broiling sun, + (Mosquitoes will give you 'em when day is done) + For my part I'd rather be left in _peace_ + To read of travels in sunny Greece + Varied by poem on 'Pleasures of _Hope_',-- + Whate'er my employment I shall not mope-- + But it proves great sport for cousin _Bill_. + (He's a youth just starting up Life's hill) + But should he as old as I become + He would conclude that 't is all a 'hum'." + +Where a person generally considered "proper" became familiar with slang +I cannot imagine, but I make no remarks. Owing to the absence of two +members of the household, who, having been caught out in the shower, are +probably calculating the specific gravity of rain drops and their effect +on new straw hats, we have doubtless been deprived of more poems of +surprising depth and brilliancy. And, from regard for the excessive +modesty of other participants in the game, I suppress many compositions +of rare merit which were brought out this stormy evening. This letter is +merely to acquaint you with an important fact, which is as follows. As +Dr. Holmes has informed you with regard to the "Asylum for Decayed +Punsters," be it known hereby that we have here started a rival +institution,--a school for poets; so when you wish to secure the +services of any of the graduates, you may know where to apply. And, the +reason why the game of Crambo is like night is, because it is quiet in +the middle and noisy at both ends. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Over the Border: Acadia, by Eliza Chase + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OVER THE BORDER: ACADIA *** + +This file should be named 6735.txt or 6735.zip + +Produced by Mary Wampler, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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