LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 D09117Q1HA 
 
THE KINGSLEY ENGLI EXTS 
 
 EVANGELINE 
 
 LONQFIXLOW 
 
 The 
 
 Palmer 
 
 Company 
 
tCtic Hingslcp (Enaltsl) ?EtxW 
 
 LONGFELLOW'S 
 
 EVANGELINE 
 
 EDITED, WITH NOTES, OUTLINE STUDY AND 
 EXAMINATION QUESTIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 MAUD ELMA KINGSLEY, A.B., A.M. 
 
 AND 
 
 FRANK HERBERT PALMAR, A.B., A.M. 
 
 BOSTON, U. S.A. 
 THE PALMER COMPANY 
 
 120 Boylston Street 
 1909 
 
Copyright, iq. 
 
 The Palmer Company 
 
 ^"^ i> O ■■'■ R 1 S> y 
 
 Cla.A, A ^^ 
 
 JUL 26 1909 
 
 i- imn 
 
o 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Preface ...... 
 
 Introduction ..... 
 
 Part I 
 
 Canto I. Acadie, Home of the Happy 
 Canto II. The Royal Summons 
 Canto III. The Ceremony of Betrothal 
 Canto IV. The Betrothal Feast 
 Canto V. At the Gaspereau's Mouth 
 
 Part II. . . . 
 
 Canto I. Evangeline's Quest 
 Canto II. Down the Mississippi 
 Canto III. Basil the Herdsman 
 Canto IV. The Indian Woman 
 Canto V. The Finding of Gabriel 
 
 Outline Study of Evangeline 
 
 Examination Questions . . : . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 v 
 
 vii 
 i 
 3 
 15 
 2 5 
 34 
 45 
 56 
 56 
 63 
 76 
 
 9 1 
 105 
 
 3 
 24 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The right or the wrong of the expulsion of the French 
 settlers from Acadia, which event forms the historical 
 groundwork of the poem Evangeline, has long been 
 a matter of dispute. The conclusion reached by the 
 individual student is quite likely to be influenced either 
 by sentiment or by national prejudice. The poet has, 
 of course, found it necessary to stir the reader's senti- 
 ments of sympathy and pity for the people who were 
 so rudely separated by the exigencies of war from their 
 possessions and from their friends and relatives. But 
 it should be remembered that Longfellow was painting 
 a picture, not giving a judicial opinion ; therefore 
 personal experiences rather than political or ethical 
 questions fell within the scope of his purpose. The 
 editors have presented in the Introduction what may be 
 called a moderate view of the point at issue, which is 
 believed to be fair to both the English and the French, 
 and also in harmony with the historical facts. 
 
 In the Kingsley English Texts of Shakespeare's 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 Plays already published the " Scene-Settings" have been 
 made a prominent and helpful feature. Of somewhat 
 similar purport are the "Introductory Notes" before 
 each Canto of Evangeline. These, with the judicious 
 footnotes and the Outline Study and Examination Ques- 
 tions, are original features, which are believed sufficient 
 to justify this new edition of a poem which is probably 
 more widely used in the schools and more dearly loved 
 than any other piece of literature. 
 
 The Editors. 
 Boston, Mass., August i, 1909. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 i. Character of Evangeline 
 
 It is a fortunate circumstance for the literature of any country 
 when a great poet embodies in imperishable verse a legend con- 
 nected with its history, softening with the mist of romance the out- 
 lines of life and character which appear so harsh and forbidding 
 in the light furnished by the prose historian. 
 
 This poetic enlargement of the romantic in history is especially 
 grateful in America, where a transplanted race, confronted with 
 tremendous material problems and tasks, is inclined to despise the 
 power of imagination and seems likely to lose that sense of the ideal, 
 which, in lands where civilization has sprung from the soil, is the 
 inspiration of literature and art. 
 
 Of the many attempts at poetic treatment of American legends, 
 Longfellow's Evangeline is, from every point of view, the most 
 successful. It is the poem by which its author is best known outside 
 of his own country, and it has added an American province to the 
 world of legendary romance. The charm which makes the poem so 
 widely popular lies in its simplicity. It is a story of universal 
 human interest, told plainly and unaffectedly, — a story of simple- 
 minded peasants, involved, through no volition of their own, in cir- 
 cumstances intensely dramatic. Local associations and historical 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 facts are used merely as accessories to this human story, following 
 the example of the old popular ballads in which everything is sub- 
 ordinated to the personality of those whose adventures are the theme 
 of the song. 
 
 2. Historical Found atiox of Evangeline 
 (To be used in connection ivith Outline Study, Note 2.) 
 
 Acadia (French, VAcadie, from an Indian word d-ka-de, 
 meaning " plenty ") was the name given by the French explorers to 
 a region which had Fundy Bay for its center and which included 
 for purposes of actual occupation and settlement, the present Cana- 
 dian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and the eastern 
 half of the state of Maine. 
 
 This region was claimed by England by right of discovery ; but 
 its first actual explorers were French adventurers, drawn thither by 
 rumors of gold mines and induced to remain by the more substantial 
 attractions of the fur trade. In the early years of the seventeenth 
 century, about the time when the English were beginning to form 
 permanent settlements on the coast of New England, a few French 
 families, mostly peasants from Normandy, were brought over and 
 established at Port Royal, now Annapolis, on the south shore of 
 Fundy Bay. These settlers found the country, notwithstanding its 
 rocky soil and rigorous winter climate, capable of furnishing an 
 industrious population with plentiful subsistence. Hostilities with 
 their New England neighbors disturbed them somewhat until 1667, 
 when the French acquired undisputed possession of the country, by 
 the Treaty of Breda, after -which they increased and multiplied, 
 forming settlements at various points on both sides of the bay. 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 Directed by wise and devoted priests to whom they were thoroughly 
 submissive, the Acadians, like the Arcadians of pastoral romance, 
 formed idyllic communities from which poverty, wealth, crime and 
 ambition were practically banished. The surrounding Indians 
 learned to love and admire the French as heartily as the New 
 England Indians hated their Puritan neighbors, and their descend- 
 ants are Frenchmen and Roman Catholics to this day. 
 
 The peaceful prosperity of the Acadians was roughly broken, 
 when the capture of Port Royal by the British in 1710 was followed by 
 cession of the whole country to Great Britain at the Peace of Utrecht. 
 The Acadians were guaranteed the enjoyment of their religion and 
 language, and, -on their part, agreed not to assist the enemies of 
 Great Britain ; but the struggle for the domination of North America 
 between the British and the French of Canada was coming on, and 
 the British wished to establish in Acadia, which they called Nova 
 Scotia, a strong outpost against the French who were strongly forti- 
 fied in the Island of Cape Breton. The Acadians differed from the 
 Canadian French in many respects, but were naturally attracted to 
 the cause of men of their own race and religion ; therefore, they 
 gradually drew away from Port Royal, now become a British strong- 
 hold, and made Grand-Pre, on the south side of Minas Basin, the 
 center of their settlements. This brought them into the most unfor- 
 tunate position possible for neutrals, directly between the hostile 
 lines. To the English it seemed that so long as the Acadians 
 occupied the northern half of the peninsula, the English dominion 
 was practically limited to the southern half, in defiance of the treaty 
 which guaranteed to the English the whole peninsula. In the war 
 known in America as King George's War, 1744-1748, several 
 attempts were made by the Canadian French to conquer Nova Scotia. 
 
x JNTRODUCTION 
 
 The responsible men of the Acadians claimed the privileges of 
 neutrals, but they made no resistance when the French invaders 
 helped themselves from Acadian barns and storehouses ; the Indians 
 and half-breeds, known to be controlled wholly by the Acadian 
 priests, openly joined with the French, and a detachment of New 
 England soldiers was ambushed and slaughtered in the very village 
 of Grand-Pre. After this the New Englanders demanded that the 
 Acadians be compelled to take up arms in defence of Nova Scotia, 
 or make room for those who would ; but the British Government, 
 for reasons of its own, assented to a peace which left matters in this 
 region in the same condition as before the war. 
 
 In 1755 war again broke out and the Canadian French 
 again appeared in Nova Scotia, relying on the friendly neutrality 
 of the Acadians. This time Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, 
 Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America, was 
 authorized to adopt whatever policy seemed necessary for the pro- 
 tection of New England. A British naval force, with a land army 
 composed mainly of New England militia, under Major-General 
 John Winslow, sailed to Fundy Bay and drove the Canadians back 
 to Cape Breton. As soon as communication between the Acadians 
 at Grand-Pre and the French at Louisburg was broken by the 
 establishment of British garrisons on the Isthmus, the Acadians 
 were ordered to assemble at Grand-Pre to hear the commands of the 
 King of England as to their future conduct. Expecting nothing 
 worse than reproof and warning, the leading men of the Acadians 
 put themselves into the power of General Winslow on September 5, 
 1755. They were curtly informed that they had abused his 
 Majesty's clemency, that their property was confiscated, and that 
 the entire population was to be transported to other British colonies 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 where arrangements would be made for their settlement. No resist- 
 ance was possible, and the proclamation was carried into effect 
 immediately. 
 
 This action, for the details of which Governor Lawrence, of 
 Nova Scotia, and Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, must be 
 held responsible, was justifiable as military necessity under the 
 laws of war as practiced in the eighteenth century, and the transpor- 
 tation of the Acadians to the colonies south of New England, where 
 land was to be had for the asking, and where industrious settlers 
 were always welcome, need not have caused excessive suffering. 
 The heartless carelessness, however, with which the expatriation of 
 these people was carried out classes the Expulsion of the Acadians 
 with the Massacre of Glencoe, as a blot on the generally humane 
 record of British military administration. The embarkation was 
 hurried ; no attempt was made to unite families on the same ship or 
 to see that the ships were properly provisioned or equipped. It 
 would seem that no definite arrangement had been made as to the 
 destination of the exiles, and that irresponsible masters of chartered 
 transports went wherever they pleased to discharge their unwilling 
 passengers. This conduct entailed hardships which would have 
 exterminated a less hardy race. 
 
 Of those Acadians who survived, some settled in English colo- 
 nies and prospered, particularly in Pennsylvania ; others found their 
 way to Canada, and many more to Louisiana, where their descend- 
 ants still form a distinct element of the population. 
 
EVANGELINE 
 
 Part the First 
 
 This is the forest primeval. 1 The murmuring pines 
 and the hemlocks, 
 
 Bearded 2 with moss, and in garments green, indistinct 
 in the twilight, 
 
 Stand like Druids 3 of eld, with voices sad and pro- 
 phetic, 
 
 Stand like harpers hoar, 4 with beards that rest on 
 their bosoms. 
 
 Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neigh- 
 boring ocean 
 
 Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
 of the forest 5 . 
 
 This is the forest primeval ; but where are the hearts 
 that beneath it 
 
 1. Study Examination Questions, No. 2. 
 
 2. What does the word bearded modify? 
 
 3. The priests of the earliest religion of Western Europe whose 
 temples were oak groves. Point out an archaic word in line 3. 
 
 4. Harpers. The reference is to the hards of ancient Britain, con- 
 ventionally represented as aged men with flowing gray hair and 
 beards. 
 
 5. What figure of speech, is nsed in lines 5 and 6 1 What 
 effect is produced 1 
 
 Suggestion.— What impression does line 6 produce upon the mind 
 of the reader as regards the character of the story? What two words 
 in the line deepen this impression? • 
 
2 EVANGELINE 
 
 Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland 
 
 the voice of the huntsman? 
 Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of 
 
 Acadians farmers — , 10 
 
 Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the 
 
 woodlands, 
 Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an 
 
 image of heaven? 6 
 Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers for- 
 ever departed ! 
 Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty 
 
 blasts of October 
 Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them 
 
 far o'er the ocean. 
 Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village 
 
 of Grand-Pre. 
 
 Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, 
 
 and is patient, 
 Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's 
 
 devotion, 
 List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines 
 
 of the forest ; 
 List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. 20 
 
 6. Characterize the kind of existence described in this figure 
 of speech. 
 
EVANGELINE 
 
 Canto I. Acadie, Home of the Happy 
 
 Introductory Note. In no way could the poet have more 
 effectively aroused the reader's sympathy for the exiled Aca- 
 dians, than by painting this picture of the simple, God-fearing 
 Acadian farmers, dwelling together in love and contentment 
 in their peaceful little village. 
 
 In a vivid word picture, the village of Grand-lPre is brought 
 before the reader, embosomed in its fruitful valley, its pale 
 green marshes, reclaimed from the sea, stretching to the east- 
 ward ; on the west and south, orchards and fields of flax and 
 corn outstretch from either side as far as eye can see ; between 
 them and beyond are the restless waters of the Minas Basin ; to 
 the northward, dominating the whole scene, stands the " majes- 
 tic bastion of Blomidon, outthrust against the tides;" and 
 beyond, and still bejond, the primeval forest. 
 
 The canto is not over-long, but no detail of the life of the 
 Acadians is omitted; and we have, besides, a beautiful portrait 
 of the Evangeline of "seventeen summers," inserted to mark 
 more sharply the contrasts of the following cantos. In this 
 canto, also, are introduced and characterized the chief actors in 
 the story. 
 
 In the Acadian land, 1 on the shores of the Basin of 
 
 Minas, 2 
 Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre 3 
 Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched 
 
 to the eastward, 
 Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks 
 
 without number. 
 
 1. Study Outline Study, A, III, and Introduction 2, para, 
 graph 1. 
 
 2. The eastern arm of Fundy Bay, penetrating 60 miles into the 
 heart of the peninsula of Nova Scotia. It is noted for its remarkable 
 rise and fall of tide, 50 feet or more. Probably greater than anywhere 
 else in the world. 
 
 3. A village in Kings county, Nova Scotia, situated on Minas Basin, 
 46 miles northwest of Halifax. The name Grand-Pre means, when 
 translated into English, " Great Meadow." 
 
4 EVANGELINE 
 
 Dikes, 4 that the hands of the farmers had raised with 
 
 labor incessant, 
 Shut out the turbulent tides ; but at stated seasons the 
 
 flood-gates 
 Opened, and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er 
 
 the meadows. 
 West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards 
 
 and corn-fields 
 Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain ; and 
 
 away to the northward 
 Blomidon 5 rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the 
 
 mountains 30 
 
 Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the 
 
 mighty Atlantic 
 Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their 
 
 station descended. 
 There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian 
 
 village. 
 
 4. "It is not only in the embalming amber of song and story that the 
 memory of the Acadians survives. A monument no less beautiful 
 than beneficent is theirs in the wide, rich meadows which their 
 hands snatched from the sea. These reaches of placid green, 
 streaked with fleeing lines of shade as the gusts swoop down across 
 the grass tops, were anciently but barren levels of red mud, patched 
 irregularly, with yellow sea grass. At high tide they were one vast 
 sea, whose waves lapped the edges of the uplands, which are 
 now miles inland. Patiently the Acadians upbuilt the long ramparts 
 of their dikes, the mighty tides were fenced into their channels, and 
 soon the red flats put forth the green of their exhaustless fertility. 
 But their bosom lies below sea-level; therefore, eternal vigilance is 
 the price of this possession, and the diking spade is ceaselessly at 
 work along the foundations of those ponderous walls." 
 
 5. "Find Blomidon on your map. 
 
EVANGELINE 5 
 
 Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak 
 
 and of chestnut, 
 Such as the peasants of Normandy 6 built in the reign 
 
 of the Henries. 7 
 Thatched were the roofs, 8 with dormer-windows ; and 
 
 gables projecting 
 Over the basement below protected and shaded the 
 
 doorway. 
 There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when 
 
 brightly the sunset 
 Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on the 
 
 chimney, 
 Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps 9 and in 
 
 kirtles 10 40 
 
 Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the 
 
 golden 
 Flax for the gossiping 11 looms, whose noisy shuttles 1 ' 2 
 
 within doors 
 
 6. See Introduction 2. paragraph 2. 
 
 7. Explain. 
 
 8. A thatched roof is a roof covered with straw. The straw is 
 laid, upon the roof to the thickness of a foot or more and is held in 
 place by cords or by long strips of wood loaded with stones. 
 
 9. The cap of a peasant of Upper Normandy is made of starched 
 muslin, and is from half a yard to a yard in height. It stands up nearly 
 perpendicularly and is ornamented with long lace lappets. The hair 
 is braided in front and gathered up in a mass behind. Upon a young 
 and handsome woman, these high caps have a pretty effect. In 
 Lower Normandy, the cap is low and flat in the crown. 
 
 10. The rest of the peasant woman's dress consists of a bright colored 
 petticoat, usually scarlet, a black jacket and a colored apron; long 
 gold ear-rings, and gold hearts and crosses, fastened either to a black 
 velvet ribbon or to a gold chain. 
 
 11. What is the significance of the epithet? 
 
 12. Define distaff, loom, and shnttle. 
 
6 EVANGELINE 
 
 Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels and 
 
 the songs of the maidens. 13 
 Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and 
 
 the children 
 Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to 
 
 bless them. 
 Reverend walked he among them ; and up rose ma- 
 trons and maidens, 
 Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate 
 
 welcome. 
 Then came the laborers home from the field, and 
 
 serenely the sun sank 
 Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. 14 Anon 
 
 from the belfry 
 Softly the Angelus 13 sounded, and over the roofs of 
 
 the village . 50 
 
 Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense 
 
 ascending, 
 Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and 
 
 contentment. 
 Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian 
 
 farmers — 
 
 13. Show that the sound of this line suggests the noise of 
 the looms. 
 
 14. Enumerate all the details which enter into the compo- 
 sition of the -word picture of lines 38-49. 
 
 15. A Roman Catholic devotion the name of which is derived from 
 the first words, Angelus Domini. The prayer is recited three times 
 a day, generally about 6. A. m., at noon, and about 6 P. M., at the sound 
 of a bell called the Angelus. 
 
EVANGELINE 7 
 
 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. 16 
 Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to 
 
 their windows ; 
 But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts 
 
 of the owners ; 
 There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in 
 
 abundance. 17 
 
 Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the 
 
 Basin of Minas, 
 Benedict Belief ontaine, the wealthiest farmer of 
 
 Grand-Pre, 60 
 
 Dwelt on his goodly acres ; and with him, directing 
 
 his household, 
 Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of 
 
 the village. 
 Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy 
 
 winters ; 
 Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with 
 
 snow-flakes ; 
 White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks 
 
 as brown as the oak-leaves. 
 
 16. In a state of society where legal equality prevails, an advan- 
 tageous position obtained by superior talents or wealth is naturally 
 envied by the less fortunate. 
 
 17. Study Introduction 2, paragraph 2. 
 
8 EVANGELINE 
 
 Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen 
 
 summers. 
 Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the 
 
 thorn by the way-side, 
 Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the 
 
 brown shade of her tresses ! 
 Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed 
 
 in the meadows. 
 When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers 
 
 at noontide 70 
 
 Flagons 18 of home-brewed ale, ah ! fair in sooth was 
 
 the maiden. 
 Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the 
 
 bell from its turret 
 Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with 
 
 his hyssop 19 
 Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon 
 
 them, 20 
 Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of 
 
 beads 21 and her missal, 
 Wearing her Norman cap, 22 and her kirtle of blue, 
 
 and the ear-rings, 
 Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as 
 
 an heirloom, 
 
 IS. Describe a flagon. 
 
 19. Aspersorium. The instrument used in Roman Catholic 
 Churches for sprinkling Holy Water. 
 •20. Explain and criticise this simile. 
 
 21. A Rosary. 
 
 22. Study Footnote 9, Canto I. 
 
EVANGELINE 9 
 
 Handed down from mother to child, through long 
 generations. 
 
 But a celestial brightness — a more ethereal beauty — 
 
 Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after 
 
 confession, 80 
 
 Homeward serenely she walked with God's benedic- 
 tion upon her. 
 
 When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of 
 exquisite music. 23 
 
 Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the 
 farmer 
 
 Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and 
 a shady 
 
 Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreath- 
 ing around it. 
 
 Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath ; and 
 a footpath 
 
 Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the 
 meadow. 
 
 Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a 
 pent-house, 
 
 Such as the traveler sees in regions remote by the 
 roadside, 
 
 Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of 
 
 Mary. 24 90 
 
 23. Explain this simile and criticise the accuracy of the 
 figure. What is the antecedent of "if"? 
 
 24. The reference is to the wayside shrines common in the rural 
 districts of Southern Europe. 
 
10 EVANGELINE 
 
 Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well 25 
 
 with its moss-grown 
 Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for 
 
 the horses. 
 Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were 
 
 the barns and the farm-yard. 
 There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique 
 
 plows and the harrows ; 
 There were the folds for the sheep ; and there, in his 
 
 feathered seraglio, 26 
 Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with 
 
 the self-same 
 Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent 
 
 Peter. 27 
 Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a village. 
 
 In each one 
 Far o'er the gable projected a roof of thatch ; and a 
 
 staircase, 
 Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous 
 
 corn-loft. 10 ° 
 
 There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and inno- 
 cent inmates 
 Murmuring ever of love ; w T hile above in the variant 2s 
 
 breezes 
 
 25. The traveler in the " Land of Evangeline " to-day is shown an 
 old well, discovered not long since, and now known as " Evangeline's 
 Well." 
 
 26. What is the meaning of this word! Is it a "native" or 
 a "foreign" word! IVote its pronunciation. 
 
 27. Tell the story to which reference is made in this line. 
 23. What is the meaning and significance of this epithet? 
 
EVANGELINE 11 
 
 Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of 
 mutation. 29 
 
 Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer 
 
 of Grand-Pre 
 Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed 
 
 his household. 
 Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened 
 
 his missal, 
 Fixed his eyes upon her, as the saint of his deepest 
 
 devotion ; 
 Happy was he who might touch her hand or the hem 
 
 of her garment ! 
 Many a suitor came to her door, by the darkness 
 
 befriended, 
 And as he knocked and waited to hear the sound of 
 
 her footsteps, 110 
 
 Knew not which beat the louder, his heart or the 
 
 knocker of iron ; 
 Or at the joyous feast of the Patron Saint of the vil- 
 lage, 
 Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the dance as 
 
 he whispered 
 Hurried words of love, that seemed a part of the 
 
 music. 
 But, among all who came, young Gabriel only was 
 
 welcome ; 
 Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the blacksmith, 
 
 29. Paraphrase the line. 
 
12 EVANGELINE 
 
 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. 30 
 Basil was Benedict's friend. Their children from 
 
 earliest childhood 12 ° 
 
 Grew up together as brother and sister, and Father 
 
 Felician, 
 Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had taught 
 
 them their letters 
 Out of the selfsame book, with the hymns of the 
 
 church and the plain-song. 31 
 But when the hymn w r as sung, and the daily lesson 
 
 completed, 
 Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the 
 
 blacksmith. 
 There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes 
 
 to behold him 
 Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a 
 
 plaything, 
 Nailing the shoe in its place ; while near him the 
 
 tire of the cart-wheel 
 
 30. Held in honor as the forger of weapons and tools without which 
 man could not maintain himself. 
 
 31. The name given by the Church of Rome to the ecclesiastical 
 chant; an extremely simple melody, admitting only notes of equal 
 value, rarely extending beyond the compass of an octave, and never 
 exceeding nine notes, the staff on which the notes are placed consist- 
 ing only of four lines. The clefs are C and F. 
 
EVANGELINE 13 
 
 Lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of cin- 
 ders. 
 
 Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gather- 
 ing darkness 130 
 
 Bursting with light seemed the smithy, through every 
 cranny and crevice, 
 
 Warm by the forge within they watched the laboring 
 bellows, 
 
 And as its panting ceased, and the sparks expired in 
 the ashes, 
 
 Merrily laughed, and said they were nuns going into 
 the chapel. 
 
 Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the 
 eagle, 
 
 Down the hillside bounding, they glided away o'er 
 the meadow. 
 
 Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests 
 on the rafters, 
 
 Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, 32 which 
 the swallow 
 
 Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight 
 of its fledglings 
 
 Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the 
 
 swallow ! 140 
 
 32. A stone fabled to be brought from the seashore by swallows to 
 give sight to their young. This stone, when found in the nest of the 
 swallow, will perform many wonderful cures. "If it be lapped in a 
 fair cloth and tyed to the right arm, it will cure lunaticks and mad- 
 men, and make them amiable and merry." — Burton's Anatomy of 
 Melancholy. 
 
14 EVANGELINE 
 
 Thus passed a few swift years, and they no longer 
 
 were children. 
 He was a valiant youth, and his face, like the face of 
 
 the morning, 
 Gladdened the earth with its light and ripened 
 
 thought into action. 
 She was a woman now, with the heart and hopes of 
 
 a woman. 
 "Sunshine of Saint Eulalie 33 was she called; for 
 
 that was the sunshine 
 Which, as the farmers believed, would load their 
 
 orchards with apples ; 
 She, too, would bring to her husband's house delight 
 
 and abundance, 
 Filling it full of love and the ruddy faces of children. 
 
 33. St. Eulalie's Day is the 1211i of February. Sunshine at that 
 season is supposed to he beneficial to the orchards. 
 
EVANGELINE 15 
 
 Canto II. The Royal Summons 
 
 Introductory Note. This portion of the poem', the opening 
 lines of which contain an exquisite description of the Indian 
 Summer, introduces the romantic element of the story. Al- 
 though the scenes described are, apparently, a continuation of 
 the peaceful scenes of the preceding canto, the impression pro- 
 duced is that of some impending calamity ; and the reader fails 
 to share the optimistic views of Benedict Bellefontaine in regard 
 to the significance of the royal summons. 
 
 Now had the season returned, -when the nights grow 
 colder and longer, 
 
 And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion 1 en- 
 ters. 150 
 
 Birds of passage sailed through the leaden 2 air, from 
 the ice-bound, 
 
 Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical is- 
 lands, 
 
 Harvests were gathered in ; and wild with the winds 
 of September 
 
 Wrestled the trees of the forests, as Jacob of old with 
 the angel. 3 
 
 All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement. 
 
 Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded 
 their honey 
 
 1. According to old astronomical notions, the apparent path of 
 the sun among the stars is divided into twelve sections called signs, 
 to which fanciful names of animals and other objects have been 
 given. The sun enters the sign of the Scorpion in the month of 
 October. 
 
 2. Give the fnll significance of this epithet. 
 
 3. Tell the story to which reference is made and state the 
 basis of the comparison. Learn Outline Study, ]Yote 17. 
 
16 EVANGELINE 
 
 Till the hives overflowed ; and the Indian hunters 
 asserted 
 
 Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of 
 the foxes. 
 
 Such was the advent of autumn. Then followed that 
 beautiful season, 
 
 Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of 
 
 All-Saints ! 4 "o 
 
 Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light ; 
 and the landscape 
 
 Lay as if new created in all the freshness of child- 
 hood. 
 
 Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless 
 heart of the ocean 
 
 Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in 
 harmony blended. 
 
 Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in 
 the farmyards, 
 
 Whir of wings in the drowsy air, 5 and the cooing of 
 pigeons, 
 
 All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, 
 and the great sun 
 
 Looked with the eye of love through the golden va- 
 pors around him ; 
 
 4. The second or autumnal summer, said to last thirty days, begins 
 about the time that the sun enters the sign of the Scorpion. It is 
 variously called (1) St.' Martin's summer; (2) All Saints' summer; 
 (3) Indian summer. 
 
 5. What effect is produced hy the sound of this line? 
 
EVANGELINE 17 
 
 While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and 
 
 yellow, 6 
 Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree 
 
 of the forest 170 
 
 Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with 
 
 mantles and jewels. 7 
 
 Now recommenced the reign of rest and affection and 
 stillness. 
 
 Day with its burden and heat had departed, and twi- 
 light descending 
 
 Brought back the evening star to the sky, and the 
 herds to the homestead. 
 
 Pawing the ground they came, and resting their necks 
 on each other, 
 
 And with their nostrils distended inhaling the fresh- 
 ness of evening. 
 
 Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's beautiful 
 heifer, 
 
 Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that 
 waved from her collar, 
 
 Quietly paced and slow, as if conscious of human 
 affection. 
 
 Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks 
 
 from the seaside, 180 
 
 Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them fol- 
 lowed the watch-dog, 
 
 6. Reproduce in your own words the scene described in 
 lines 161-171. 
 
 7. Iiearn Outline Study, Note* 13. 
 
18 EVANGELINE 
 
 Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of 
 his instinct, 
 
 Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and 
 superbly 
 
 Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the strag- 
 glers ; 
 
 Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept ; 
 their protector, 
 
 When from the forest at night, through the starry 
 silence, the wolves howled. 
 
 Late, with the rising moon, returned the wains from 
 the marshes, 
 
 Laden with briny hay, that filled the air with its 
 odor. 
 
 Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on their manes 
 and their fetlocks, 
 
 While aloft on their shoulders the wooden and pon- 
 derous saddles, 190 
 
 Painted with brilliant dyes, and adorned with tassels 
 of crimson, 
 
 Nodded in bright array, like hollyhocks heavy with 
 blossoms. 
 
 Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and yielded 
 their udders 
 
 Unto the milkmaid's hand ; whilst loud and in regular 
 cadence 
 
 Into the sounding pails the foaming streamlets de- 
 scended. 
 
EVANGELINE 19 
 
 Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard in 
 
 the farmyard, 
 Echoed back by the barns. Anon they sank into 
 
 stillness ; 
 Heavily closed with a jarring sound, the valves of 
 
 the barn doors, 
 Rattled the wooden bars, and all for a season was 
 
 silent. 
 Indoors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly 
 
 the farmer 200 
 
 Sat in his elbow chair ; and watched how the flames 
 
 and the smoke-wreaths 
 Struggled together like foes in a burning city. Be- 
 hind him, 
 Nodding and mocking along the wall, with gestures 
 
 fantastic, 
 Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away 
 
 into darkness. 
 Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his 
 
 arm-chair 
 Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates 
 
 on the dresser 
 Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies 
 
 the sunshine. 8 
 Fragments of song the old man sang, and carols of 
 
 Christmas, 
 
 8. Reproduce in your own words the scene described in lines 
 200-207. 
 
20 EVANGELINE 
 
 Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before 
 
 him 
 Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgun- 
 
 dian vineyards. ' 210 
 
 Close at her father's side was the gentle Evangeline 
 
 seated, 
 Spinning flax for the loom, that stood in the corner 
 
 behind her. 
 Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was its diligent 
 
 shuttle, 
 While the monotonous drone of the wheel, like the 
 
 drone of a bagpipe, 
 Followed the old man's song, and united the frag- 
 ments together. 9 
 As in a church, when the chant of the choir at inter- 
 vals ceases, 
 Footfalls are heard in the aisles, or words of the 
 
 priest at the altar, 
 So, in each pause of the song, with measured motion 
 
 the clock clicked. 10 
 Thus as they sat, there were footsteps heard, and 
 
 suddenly lifted, 
 Sounded the wooden latch, and the door swung back 
 
 on its hinges. 220 
 
 Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil 
 
 the blacksmith, 
 
 9. What is the poet's purpose in inserting this long descrip- 
 tion of an autumn day and evening in Grand-PreT 
 
 10. The clock clicked. Show that this is more expressive than 
 the usual expression " the clock ticked." 
 
EVANGELINE 21 
 
 And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was 
 
 with him. 
 "Welcome!" the farmer exclaimed, as their foot- 
 steps paused on the threshold, 
 "Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take thy place 
 
 on the settle 
 Close by the chimney-side, which is always empty 
 
 without thee ; 
 Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and the box 
 
 of tobacco ; 
 Never so much thyself art thou as when through the 
 
 curling 
 Smoke of the pipe or the forge thy friendly and jovial 
 
 face gleams 
 Round and red as the harvest moon through the mist 
 
 of the marshes." 
 Then, with a smile of content, thus answered Basil 
 
 the blacksmith, 230 
 
 Taking with easy air the accustomed seat by the fire- 
 side — 
 " Benedict Belief ontaine, thou hast ever thy jest and 
 
 thy ballad ! 
 Ever in • cheerf ulest mood art thou, when others are 
 
 filled with 
 Gloomy forebodings of ill, and see only ruin before 
 
 them. 
 Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked up 
 . a horseshoe." 11 
 
 11. It is "lucky" to pick up a horseshoe. This is clue to the old 
 superstition that a horseshoe was a protection against witches. 
 
22 EVANGELINE 
 
 Pausing a moment, to take the pipe that Evangeline 
 
 brought him, 
 And with a coal from the embers had lighted, he 
 
 slowly continued — 
 " Four days now are passed since the English ships 
 
 at their anchors 
 Ride in the Gaspereau's 12 mouth, with their cannon 
 
 pointed against us. 
 What their design may be is unknown; 13 but all are 
 
 commanded 240 
 
 On the morrow to meet in the church, where his 
 
 Majesty's mandate 14 
 Will be proclaimed as law in the land. Alas ! in the 
 
 meantime 
 Many surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the people." 
 Then made answer the farmer : " Perhaps some 
 
 friendlier purpose 
 Brings these ships to our shores. Perhaps the har- 
 vests in England 
 By the untimely rains or untimelier heat have been 
 
 blighted, 
 
 12. A small river flowing into the Minas basin near Grand-Pre. 
 
 13. The ships had just returned from a successful expedition against 
 the Canadian French on the isthmus connecting Nova Scotia with the 
 mainland. Many young men of the Acadians were found with the 
 French forces. 
 
 14. The expulsion of the Acadians was, of course, carried out in the 
 name of George II, King of England; but the orders under which 
 General Winslow acted emanated from William Shirley, Governor of 
 Massachusetts and Commander-in-chief of the British forces in North 
 America. 
 
EVANGELINE 23 
 
 And from our bursting barns they would feed their 
 
 cattle and children." 
 "Not so thinketh the folk in the village," said, 
 
 warmly, the blacksmith, 
 Shaking his head, as in doubt; then, heaving a sigh, 
 
 he continued — 
 " Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, nor 
 
 Port Royal. 15 250 
 
 Many already have fled to the forest, 16 and lurk on 
 
 its outskirts, 
 Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of to- 
 morrow. 
 Arms have been taken from us, and warlike weapons 
 
 of all kinds ; 
 Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the 
 
 scythe of the mower." 
 Then with a pleasant smile made answer the jovial 
 
 farmer : 
 " Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our flocks 
 
 and our cornfields, 
 Safer within these peaceful dikes, besieged by the 
 
 ocean, 
 Than were our fathers in forts, besieged by the 
 
 enemy's cannon. 
 Fear no evil, my friend, and to-night may no shadow r 
 
 of sorrow 
 
 15. Learn Outline Study, IVote 6. 
 
 16. Learn Outline Study, ]\ote 5. 
 
24 EVANGELINE 
 
 Fall on this house and hearth ; for this is the night 
 
 of the contract. 260 
 
 Built are the house and the barn. The merry lads 
 
 of the village 
 Strongly have built them and well ; and, breaking 
 
 the glebe round about them, 
 Filled the barn with hay, and the house with food 
 
 for a twelvemonth. 17 
 Rene Leblanc will be here anon, with his papers and 
 
 inkhorn. 
 Shall we not then be glad, and rejoice in the joy of 
 
 our children ? " 
 As apart by the window she stood, with her hand 
 
 in her lover's, 
 Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father 
 
 had spoken, 
 And as they died on his lips the worthy notary ls 
 entered. 
 
 17. " Among the Acadians, no one passed his youth in a state of 
 celibacy. As soon as a young man came to the proper age, the com- 
 munity built him a house, broke up the lands about it, sowed them., 
 and supplied him with all the necessaries of life for a twelvemonth. 
 Here he received the partner whom he had chosen, and who brought 
 him her portion in flocks."— Abbe Raynal. 
 
 18. A public officer authorized to attest deeds and contracts. 
 
EVANGELINE 25 
 
 Canto III. The Ceremony of Betrothal 
 
 Introductory Note. — Canto III shows the interior of a well- 
 ordered Acadian home, and gives the poet an opportunity for 
 some skillful character drawing. The attention of the reader 
 is centered upon the lovers, to the exclusion of the threatened 
 tragedy. 
 
 Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of the 
 ocean, 
 
 Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the 
 
 notary public ; .270 
 
 Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the 
 maize, hung 
 
 Over his shoulders ; his forehead was high ; and 
 glasses with horn bows 
 
 Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom super- 
 nal. 
 
 Father of twenty children was he, and more than a 
 hundred 
 
 Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his 
 great watch tick. 
 
 Four long years in the times of the war had he lan- 
 guished a captive, 
 
 Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend of 
 the English. 
 
 Now, though warier grown, without all guile or sus- 
 picion, 
 
 Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple and 
 childlike. 
 
26 EVANGELINE 
 
 He was beloved by all, and most of all by the chil- 
 dren ; " 28 ° 
 
 For he told them tales of the Loup-garou 1 in the 
 forest, 
 
 And of the goblin that came in the night to water 
 the horses, 2 
 
 And of the white Letiche, 3 the ghost of a child, who 
 unchristened 
 
 Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers 
 of children ; 
 
 And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the 
 stable, 4 
 
 And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in 
 a nutshell, 5 
 
 And of the marvelous powers of four-leaved clover 
 and horseshoes, 
 
 With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the vil- 
 lage. 
 
 1. A " bogie " who roams about devouring infants, sometimes under 
 the form of a man, sometimes as a wolf followed by dogs, sometimes 
 as a white dog, sometimes as a black goat, and occasionally invisible. 
 Its skin is bullet proof, unless the bullet has been blessed in a chapel 
 dedicated to St. Hubert. 
 
 2. The Kobold or Brownie. A house spirit who attaches himself to 
 certain families and resides with them for centuries, threshing the 
 corn, cleaning the house, watering the horses, and doing everything 
 done by the most industrious servant. These things are done secretly, 
 in the night; and as a reward, the goblin asks only that a nice bowl 
 of cream or some fresh honeycomb be left in a snug private corner. 
 
 3. The poet relates the whole of this superstition. 
 
 4. The belief was once common that at twelve o'clock on Christmas 
 Eve, the oxen in their stalls were always found on their knees as in 
 an attitude of devotion, offering thanks to God. 
 
 5. According to an old superstition, fever may be cured by wearing 
 a spider in a nutshell around the neck. 
 
EVANGELINE 27 
 
 Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the 
 blacksmith, 
 
 Knocked from his pipe the ashes, and slowly extend- 
 ing his right hand, " 29 ° 
 
 "Father Leblanc," he exclaimed, "thou hast heard 
 the talk in the village, 
 
 And, perchance, canst tell us some news of these 
 ships and their errand." 
 
 Then with modest demeanor made answer the notary 
 public — 
 
 " Gossip enough have I heard, in sooth, yet am never 
 the wiser ; 
 
 And what their errand may be I know not better 
 than others. 
 
 Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil inten- 
 tion 
 
 Brings them here, for we are at peace ; and why then 
 molest us ? " 
 
 "God's name!" shouted the hasty and somewhat 
 irascible blacksmith ; 
 
 " Must we in all things look for the how, and the 
 why, and the wherefore? 
 
 Daily injustice is done, and might is the right of the 
 
 strongest ! " 6 300 
 
 But, without heeding his warmth, continued the no- 
 tary public — 
 
 "Man is unjust, but God is just; and finally justice 
 
 6. Discuss this line. 
 
28 EVANGELINE 
 
 Triumphs ; and well I remember a story, that often 
 
 consoled me, 
 When as a captive I lay in the old French fort at 
 
 Port Royal." 
 This was the old man's favorite tale, and he loved to 
 
 repeat it 
 When his neighbors complained that any injustice 
 
 was done them. 
 " Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer 
 
 remember, 
 Raised aloft on a Column, a brazen statue of Justice 
 Stood in the public square, upholding the scales 7 in 
 
 its left hand, 
 And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice 
 
 presided 310 
 
 Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and homes 
 
 of the people. 
 Even the birds had built their nests in the scales of 
 
 the balance, 
 Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the sun- 
 shine above them. 
 But in the course of time the laws of the land were 
 
 corrupted ; 
 Might took the place of right, and the weak were 
 
 oppressed, and the mighty 
 Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a noble- 
 man's palace 
 
 7. The reference is to the conventional representation of Justice as 
 a goddess with eyes blindfolded, holding the scales and the sword. 
 
EVANGELINE 29 
 
 That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a • 
 
 suspicion 
 Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the 
 
 household. 
 She, after form of trial condemned to die on the 
 
 scaffold, 
 Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of 
 
 Justice. 320 
 
 As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit as- 
 cended, 
 Lo ! o'er the city a tempest rose ; and the bolts of 
 
 the thunder 
 Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath 
 
 from its left hand 
 Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of 
 
 the balance, 
 And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a 
 
 magpie, 
 Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was 
 
 inwoven." 
 Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was 
 
 ended, the blacksmith 
 Stood like a man who fain would speak, but findeth 
 
 no language ; 
 All his thoughts were congealed into lines on his 
 
 face, as the vapors 
 Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window-panes in 
 
 the winter. ,i3 ° 
 
 Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the table, 
 
30 EVANGELINE 
 
 Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with 
 
 home-brewed 
 Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the 
 
 village of Grand-Pre ; • ' 
 
 While from his pocket the notary drew his papers and 
 
 inkhorn, 
 Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the 
 
 parties, 
 Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep and 
 
 in cattle. 
 Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were 
 
 completed, 
 And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on 
 
 the margin. 
 Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on the 
 
 table 
 Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of silver ; 340 
 And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and the 
 
 bridegroom, 
 Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to their 
 
 welfare. 
 Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed 
 
 and departed, 
 While in silence the others sat and mused by the 
 
 fireside, 
 Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its 
 
 corner. 
 Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the 
 
 old men 
 
EVANGELINE 31 
 
 Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuver, 
 Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was 
 
 made in the king-row. 8 
 Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's 
 
 embrasure, 
 Sat the lovers, and whispered together, beholding the 
 
 moon rise - 350 
 
 Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the 
 
 meadows. 
 Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, 
 Blossomed the lovely stars, the for-get-me-nots of the 
 
 angels. 9 
 
 Thus passed the evening away. Anon the bell from 
 
 the belfry 
 Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew, 10 and 
 
 straightway 
 Rose the guests and departed ; and silence reigned in 
 
 the household. 
 Many a farewell word and sweet good-night on the 
 
 doorstep 
 Lingered long in Evangeline's heart, and filled it with 
 
 gladness. 
 
 8. Describe the manner in which the game of checkers or 
 draughts is played, and explain the expression "breach was 
 made in the king-row." 
 
 9. This metaphor has heen severely criticised. "What is your 
 opinion of the figure \ 
 
 10. Give the derivation and meaning of this -word. 
 
32 EVANGELINE 
 
 Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed 
 
 on the hearthstone, 
 And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the 
 
 farmer. ' 360 
 
 Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline 
 
 followed. 
 Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the 
 
 darkness, 
 Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the 
 
 • maiden. 
 Silent she passed through the hall, and entered the 
 
 door of her chamber. 
 Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white, 
 
 and its clothes-press 
 Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves were 
 
 carefully folded 
 Linen and woolen stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline 
 
 woven. 
 This was the precious dower she would bring to her 
 
 husband in marriage, 
 Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of her skill 
 
 as a housewife. 
 Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and 
 
 radiant moonlight 3?0 
 
 Streamed through the windows, and lighted the room, 
 
 till the heart of the maiden 
 Swelled and obeyed its power, like the tremulous tides 
 
 of the ocean. 11 
 
 11. Explain this line- 
 
EVANGELINE 33 
 
 Ah ! she was fair, exceeding fair to behold, as she 
 
 stood with 
 Naked snow-white feet on the gleaming floor of her 
 
 chamber ! 
 Little she dreamed that below, among the trees of the 
 
 orchard, 
 Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her 
 
 lamp and her shadow. 
 Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeling 
 
 of sadness 
 Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in 
 
 the moonlight 
 Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a 
 
 moment. 12 
 And as she gazed from the window she saw serenely 
 
 the moon pass, 13 380 
 
 Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow her 
 
 footsteps, 
 As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered 
 
 with Hagar ! 14 
 
 12. Wliat impression is produced by lines 370-379! 
 
 13. Criticise the arrangement of the line. 
 
 14. Tell that portion of the story which serves as a basis for 
 the simile. 
 
34 EVANGELINE 
 
 CANTO IV 
 
 The Betrothal Feast 
 
 Introductory Note. Canto IV consists of two parts, sharply 
 contrasted: (i) The Betrothal Feast set out '"'■under the open 
 sky, in the odorous air of the orchard" accompanied by the 
 gay music of Michael the fiddler and by the " dizzying dance," 
 and interrupted by the ominous sound of bell and beat of drum ; 
 (2) The angry tumult in the church, stilled by the gentle 
 rebuke of Father Felician. 
 
 The pathetic contrast between the closing scenes of cantos 
 iii and iv is worthy of careful study. 
 
 Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the village of 
 
 Grand-Pre. 
 Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the Basin 
 
 of Minas, 
 Where the ships, with their wavering shadows, were 
 
 riding at anchor. 
 Life had long been astir in the village, and clamorous 
 
 labor 
 Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gates 
 
 of the morning. 1 
 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 390 
 
 1. Paraphrase lines SiStt and 5*84. "What figure of speech Is 
 used here 1 
 
EVANGELINE 35 
 
 Made the bright air brighter, as up from the numer- 
 ous meadows, 
 Where no path could be seen but the track of wheels 
 
 in the greensward, 
 Group after group appeared, and joined, or passed 
 
 on the highway. 
 Long ere noon, in the village all sounds of labor were 
 
 silenced. 
 Thronged were the streets with people ; and noisy 
 
 groups at the house-doors 
 Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped 
 
 together, 
 Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed 
 
 and feasted ; 
 For with this simple people, who lived like brothers 
 
 together, 
 All things were held in common, and what one had 
 
 was another's. 
 Yet under Benedict's roof hospitality seemed more 
 
 abundant : 400 
 
 For Evangeline stood among the guests of her father ; 
 Bright was her face with smiles, and words of wel- 
 come and gladness 
 Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as 
 
 she gave it. 
 Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the orchard, 
 Bending with golden fruit, was spread the feast of 
 
 betrothal. 
 There in the shade of the porch were the priest and 
 
 the notary seated ; 
 
36 EVANGELINE 
 
 There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the black- 
 smith. 
 Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press 
 
 arid the beehives, 
 Michael the fiddler was placed, with the gayest of 
 
 hearts and of waistcoats. 
 Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played 
 
 on his snow-white 41 ° 
 
 Hair, as it waved in the wind ; and the jolly face of 
 
 the fiddler 
 Glowed like a living coal when the ashes are blown 
 
 from the embers. 
 Gayly the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his 
 
 fiddle, 
 Tons les Bourgeois de Chartres, and Le Carillon 
 
 de Dunkerque, 
 And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to the 
 
 music. 
 Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying 2 
 
 dances 
 Under the orchard-trees and down the path to the 
 
 meadows ; 
 Old folk and young together, and children mingled 
 
 among them. 
 Fairest of all the maids w T as Evangeline, Benedict's 
 
 daughter ! 
 Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the 
 
 blacksmith ! 
 
 2. What effect is produced hy the words, "dizzying 
 
 dances " 1 
 
EVANGELINE 37 
 
 The King's Mandate 
 
 So passed the morning away. And lo ! with a sum- 
 mons sonorous 420 
 
 Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the mead- 
 ows a drum beat. 
 
 Thronged ere long was the church with men. With- 
 out, in the churchyard, 
 
 Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and 
 hung on the headstones 
 
 Garlands of autumn leaves and evergreens fresh from 
 the forest. 
 
 Then came the guard from the ships, and marching 
 proudly among them 
 
 Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant 
 clangor 
 
 Echoed the sound of their brazen drums 3 from ceiling 
 and casement — 
 
 Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous 
 portal, 
 
 Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of 
 the soldiers. 
 
 Then uprose their commander, and spake from the 
 
 steps of the altar, 430 
 
 Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal 
 commission. 
 
 " You are convened this day," he said, " by his 
 Majesty's orders. 
 
 3. Brazen drums, i. e., irreverent or impudent drums. 
 
38 EVANGELINE 
 
 Clement and kind has he been ; but how you have 
 
 answered his kindness, 4 
 Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural make 
 
 and my temper 
 Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must 
 
 be grievous. 
 Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our 
 
 monarch ; 
 Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and 
 
 cattle of all kinds 
 Forfeited be to the crown ; and that you yourselves 
 
 from this province 
 Be transported to other lands. God grant you may 
 
 dwell there 
 Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable 
 
 people ! ' 440 
 
 Prisoners now I declare you ; for such is his Majesty's 
 
 pleasure ! " 
 As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice 5 of 
 
 summer, 
 Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the 
 
 hailstones 
 Beats down the farmer's corn in the field and shatters 
 
 his windows, 
 Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch 
 
 from the house-roofs, 
 
 i. Study Introduction 2, paragraph 2. 
 
 5. The time of longest daylight, when, for a few days, the diurnal 
 motion of the sun in declination ceases. 
 
E VANGELINE 39 
 
 Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their 
 
 inclosures ; 
 So on the hearts of the people descended the words 
 
 of the speaker. 
 Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, 
 
 and then rose 
 Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger, 
 And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to 
 
 the doorway. 45 ° 
 
 Vain was the hope of escape ; and cries and fierce 
 
 imprecations 
 Rang through the house of prayer ; and high o'er the 
 
 heads of the others 
 Rose, with his arms uplifted, the figure of Basil the 
 
 blacksmith, 
 As, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the billows. 
 Flushed was his face and distorted with passion, and 
 
 wildly he shouted — 
 " Down with the tyrants of England ! we never have 
 
 sworn them allegiance ! 6 
 Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our 
 
 homes and our harvests ! " 
 More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand 
 
 of a soldier 
 Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged him down 
 
 to the pavement. 
 In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry conten- 
 tion, 460 
 
 6. Learn Outline Study, IVote 2, paragraph 3. 
 
40 E VANGELINE 
 
 Lo ! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Fe- 
 
 lician 
 Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps 
 
 of the altar. 
 Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed 
 
 into silence 
 All that clamorous throng ; and thus he spake to his 
 
 people ; 
 Deep were his tones and solemn ; in accents measured 
 
 and mournful 
 Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the 
 
 clock strikes. 
 "What is this that ye do, my children? what mad- 
 ness has seized you ? 
 Forty years of my life have I. labored among you, and 
 
 taught you, 
 Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another ! 
 Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers 
 
 and privations ? 47 ° 
 
 Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and 
 
 forgiveness ? 
 This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would 
 
 you profane it 
 Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with 
 
 hatred ? 
 Lo ! where the crucified Christ from His cross is 
 
 gazing upon you ! 
 See ! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy 
 
 compassion ! 
 
EVANGELINE 41 
 
 Hark ! how those lips still repeat the prayer, ' O 
 
 Father, forgive them ! ' 
 Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked 
 
 assail us, 
 Let us repeat it now, and say, ' O Father, forgive 
 
 them ! ' " 
 Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts 
 
 of his people 
 Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded that pas- 
 sionate outbreak ; 48 ° 
 And they repeated his prayer, and said, " O Father, 
 
 forgive them ! " 7 
 Then came the evening service. The tapers gleamed 
 
 from the altar. 
 Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and the 
 
 people responded, 
 Not with their lips alone, but their hearts ; and the 
 
 Ave Maria s 
 Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their souls, 
 
 with devotion translated, 
 Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah ascending 
 
 to heaven. 9 
 
 Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidings of 
 ill, and on all sides 
 
 7. Reproduce in your own words tlie scene described in lines 
 430-481. 
 
 8. The first two words of the angel's salutation to the Virgin Mary 
 (Luke i. 28). In the Roman Catholic Church the phrase is applied to 
 an invocation to the Virgin beginning with these words. 
 
 9. Criticise the simile. 
 
42 EVANGELINE 
 
 Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women 
 
 and children. 
 Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with .her 
 
 right hand 
 Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, 
 
 that, descending, 490 
 
 Lighted the village street with mysterious splendor, 
 
 and roofed each 
 Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and emblazoned 
 
 its windows. 
 Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on 
 
 the table ; 
 There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant 
 
 with wild flowers ; 
 There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh 
 
 brought from the dairy ; 
 And at the head of the board the great armchair of 
 
 the farmer. 10 
 Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as the 
 
 sunset 
 Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad am- 
 brosial meadows. 11 
 Ah ! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had fallen, 
 And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial 
 
 ascended — 12 500 
 
 10. Show that lines 493-496 heighten the effect of the scenes 
 that follow. 
 
 11. Ambrosia is the name given to the food of the gods; hence any- 
 thing delicious to the taste or fragrant in perfume is called ambro- 
 sial. Here the adjective means sweet-smelling. 
 
 12. Explain this line. 
 
EVANGELINE 43 
 
 Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, 
 and patience ! 
 
 Then, all-forgetful of self, she wandered into the vil- 
 lage, 
 
 Cheering with looks and words the disconsolate hearts 
 of the women, 
 
 As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they 
 departed, 
 
 Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet 
 of their children. 
 
 Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glim- 
 mering vapors 
 
 Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descend- 
 ing from Sinai. 
 
 Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus 
 sounded. 13 
 
 Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evange- 
 line lingered. 
 
 All was silent within ; and in vain at the door and 
 
 the windows 510 
 
 Stood she, and listened and looked, until, overcome 
 by emotion, 
 
 ' ' Gabriel ! " cried she aloud with tremulous voice ; 
 but no answer 
 
 Came from the graves of the dead, nor the gloomier 
 grave of the living. 14 
 
 13. Bring out the contrast between this scene and the earlier 
 scene in which " the hell of the Angelus " sounded. 
 
 14. i. e. The church in -which the Acadians were confined. 
 
44 EVANGELINE 
 
 Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house 
 
 of her father. 
 Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board 
 
 stood the supper untasted, 
 Empty and drear was each room, and haunted with 
 
 phantoms of terror. 
 Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the floor of 
 
 her chamber. 
 In the dead of the night she heard the whispering 
 
 rain fall 
 Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore tree by 
 
 the window. 
 Keenly the lightning flashed ; and the voice of the 
 
 echoing thunder 520 
 
 Told her that God was in heaven, and governed the 
 
 world he created ! 
 Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the 
 
 justice of heaven ; 15 
 Soothed was her troubled soul, and she peacefully 
 
 slumbered till morning. 
 
 15. Relate the circumstances nnder which this tale had been 
 told. 
 
EVANGELINE 45 
 
 Canto V. At the Gaspereau's Mouth 
 
 Introductory Note. The scenes of this canto, described so 
 dramatically and with such minuteness of detail, produce the 
 impression intended — that the Deportation of the Acadians 
 was an act of unjustifiable cruelty. Whatever his previous 
 opinion may have been, the reader's sympathy, at the close 
 of Part I of the poem, is wholly with the Acadians as, leaving 
 behind them the dead o?i the shore and their village in ruins, 
 they begin that exile without an e?id and without an example in 
 story. 
 
 Four times the sun had risen and set ; and now on 
 
 the fifth day 
 Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the 
 
 farmhouse. 
 Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful 
 
 procession, 
 Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the 
 
 Acadian women, 
 Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to 
 
 the seashore, 
 Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their 
 
 dwellings, 
 Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road 
 
 and the woodland. 530 
 
 Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on 
 
 the oxen, 
 While in their little hands they clasped some frag- 
 ments of playthings. 
 
 Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth they hurried ; and 
 there on the sea-beach 
 
. 46 EVANGELINE 
 
 Piled in confusion lay the household goods of the 
 
 peasants. 
 All day long between the shore and the ships did the 
 
 boats ply ; 
 All day long the wains came laboring down from the 
 
 village. 
 Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near to his 
 
 setting, 
 Echoing far o'er the fields came the roll of drums 
 
 from the churchyard. 
 Thither the women and children thronged. On a 
 
 sudden the church-doors 
 Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in 
 
 gloomy procession 540 
 
 Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian 
 
 farmers. 
 Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes 
 
 and their country, 
 Sing as they go, and in singing forget they are weary 
 
 and wayworn, 
 So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants de- 
 scended 
 Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives 
 
 and their daughters. 
 Foremost the young men came ; and, raising together 
 
 their voices, 
 Sang they with tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic 
 
 Missions — 
 
EVANGELINE 47 
 
 "Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible 
 fountain ! 
 
 Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission 
 and patience ! " 
 
 Then the old men, as they marched, and the women 
 
 that stood by the wayside 550 
 
 Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sun- 
 shine above them 
 
 Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits 
 departed. 
 
 Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in 
 silence, 
 
 Not overcome with grief", but strong in the hour of 
 affliction — 
 
 Calmly and sadly waited, until the procession ap- 
 proached her, 
 
 And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emo- 
 tion. 
 
 Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to 
 meet him, 
 
 Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his 
 shoulder and wdiispered — 
 
 " Gabriel ! be of good cheer ! for if we love one an- 
 other, 
 
 Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances 
 
 may happen ! " 560 
 
 Smiling she spake these words ; then suddenly paused, 
 for her father 
 
48 EVANGELINE 
 
 Saw she slowly advancing. Alas ! how changed was 
 his aspect ! 
 
 Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the lire from 
 his eye, and his footstep 
 
 Heavier seemed with the weight of the weary heart 
 in his bosom. 
 
 But with a smile and a sigh she clasped his neck and 
 embraced him, 
 
 Speaking words of endearment where words of com- 
 fort availed not. 
 
 Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth moved on that mourn- 
 ful procession. 
 
 There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir of 
 
 embarking. 
 Busily plied the freighted boats ; and in the confu- 
 sion 
 Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, 
 
 too late, saw their children 57Q 
 
 Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest 
 
 entreaties. 
 So unto separate ships were Basil and Gabriel carried, 
 While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with 
 
 her father. 
 Half the task was not done when the sun went down, 
 
 and the twilight 
 Deepened and darkened around ; and in haste the 
 
 refluent ocean 
 Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the 
 
 sand-beach 
 
EVANGELINE 49 
 
 Covered with waifs 1 of the tide, with kelp 2 and the 
 
 slippery seaweed. 
 Farther back in the midst of the household goods and 
 
 the wagons, 
 Like to a gypsy camp, or a leaguer 3 after a battle, 
 All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near 
 
 them, 580 
 
 Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian 
 
 farmers. 
 Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellowing- 
 
 ocean, 
 Dragging adown the beach the rattling pebbles, and 
 
 leaving 
 Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of 
 
 the sailors. 
 Then, as the night descended, the herds returned 
 
 from their pastures ; 
 Sw r eet was the moist still air with the odor of milk 
 
 from their udders ; 
 Lowing they waited, and long, at the well-known 
 
 bars of the farmyard — 
 Waited and looked in vain for the voice and the hand 
 
 of the milkmaid. 
 Silence reigned in the streets ; from the church no 
 
 Angelus sounded, 
 
 1. Show that the expression " waifs of the tide " is an appro- 
 priate one in this connection. 
 
 2. Large seaweeds. 
 
 3. The camp of a besieging army. Is the word a common one 1 
 
50 EVANGELINE 
 
 Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights 
 
 from the windows. 4 590 
 
 But on the shores meanwhile the evening fires had 
 
 been kindled, 
 Built of the driftwood thrown on the sands from 
 
 wrecks in the tempest. 
 Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces 
 
 were gathered, 
 Voices of women were heard, and of men, and the 
 
 crying of children. 
 Onward from fire to fire, as from hearth to hearth in 
 
 his parish, 
 Wandered the faithful priest, consoling and blessing 
 
 and cheering, 
 Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's desolate sea- 
 shore. 5 
 Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat 
 
 with her father, 
 And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old 
 
 man, 
 Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either 
 
 thought or emotion, G0 ° 
 
 E'en as the face of a clock from which the hands have 
 
 been taken. 6 
 
 4. Give all the details which enter into the composition of the pic- 
 ture of lines 578-590. To what earlier scene does it form a striking 
 contrast! 
 
 5. Explain the comparison. 
 
 6. Carry out the simile and criticise the figure. 
 
EVANGELINE 51 
 
 Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to 
 
 cheer him, 
 Vainly offered him food ; yet he moved not, he 
 
 looked not, he spake not, 
 But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the nickering 
 
 firelight. 7 
 "Benedicite /" 8 murmured the priest, in tones of 
 
 compassion. 
 More he fain would have said, but his heart was full, 
 
 and his accents 
 Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child 
 
 on a threshold, 
 Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the awful pres- 
 ence of sorrow. 
 Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of 
 
 the maiden, 
 Raising his eyes, full of tears, to the silent stars that 
 
 above them 6I0 
 
 Moved on their way, unperturbed by the wrongs and 
 
 sorrows of mortals. 9 
 Then sat he down at her side, and they wept together 
 
 in silence. 
 Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in autumn 
 
 the blood-red 
 
 7. From the character of Benedict as it has been revealed to you, 
 show the reason why this tragedy affected Benedict more deeply than 
 it affected Basil the blacksmith. 
 
 8. Give the meaning. From what language is the word! 
 
 9. What is the effect of this line in the midst of the description 
 of a scene so tragic. 
 
52 EVANGELINE 
 
 Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o'er the 
 horizon 
 
 Titan-like stretches its hundred hands 10 upon moun- 
 tain and meadow, 
 
 Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling huge 
 shadows together. 
 
 Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the roofs of 
 the village, 
 
 Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the ships that 
 lay in the roadstead. 
 
 Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes of 
 flame were 
 
 Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the 
 
 quivering hands of a martyr. G20 
 
 Then as the wind seized the srleeds 11 and the burning 
 thatch, and, uplifting, 
 
 Whirled them aloft through the air, at once from a 
 hundred housetops 
 
 Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame in- 
 termingled. 12 
 
 These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the 
 
 shore and on shipboard. 
 Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in 
 
 their anguish, 
 
 10. The Titans were the children of Heaven and Earth, who, insti- 
 gated by their mother, deposed their father, and liberated from Tar- 
 taros their brothers, the Hundred-handed giants. 
 
 11. Burning brands. 
 
 12. Reproduce, in your own words, lines 623-63:t. 
 
EVANGELINE 53 
 
 "We shall behold no more our homes in the village 
 
 of Grand-Pre ! " 
 Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the 
 
 farmyards, 
 Thinking the day had dawned ; and anon the lowing 
 
 of cattle 
 Came on the evening breeze, by the barking of dogs 
 
 interrupted. 
 Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the 
 
 sleeping encampments 630 
 
 Far in the western prairies or forests that skirt the 
 
 Nebraska, 13 
 When the wild horses affrighted sweep by with the 
 
 speed of the whirlwind, 
 Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the 
 
 river. 14 
 Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the 
 
 herds and the horses 
 Broke through their folds and fences, and madly 
 
 rushed o'er the meadows. 
 Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the 
 
 priest and the maiden 
 Gazed on the scene of terror that reddened and 
 
 widened before them ; 
 
 13. Now known as the Platte River. 
 
 14. When Evangeline was written, in 1848, immense herds of buffalo 
 and wild horses were hunted by Indians and a few adventurous white 
 men over the region now occupied by the grain fields of Kansas, 
 Nebraska and the Dakotas. 
 
54 EVANGELINE 
 
 And as they turned at length to speak to their silent 
 
 companion, 
 Lo ! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched abroad 
 
 on the seashore 
 Motionless lay his form from which the soul had 
 
 departed. 640 
 
 Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the 
 
 maiden 
 Knelt at her father's side, and wailed aloud in her 
 
 terror. 
 Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her head on 
 
 his bosom. 
 Through the long night she lay in deep, oblivious 
 
 slumber : 
 And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a 
 
 multitude near her. 
 Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully 
 
 gazing upon her, 
 Pallid, with tearful eyes, and looks of saddest com- 
 passion. 
 Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the 
 
 landscape, 
 Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on the 
 
 faces around her, 
 And like the day of doom it seemed to her wavering 
 
 senses, 650 
 
 Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to the 
 
 people — 
 14 Let us bury him here by the sea. When a happier 
 
 season 
 
EVANGELINE 55 
 
 Brings us again to our homes from the unknown 
 
 land of our exile, 
 Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in the 
 
 churchyard." 
 Such were the words of the priest. And there in 
 
 haste by the seaside, 
 Having the glare of the burning village for funeral 
 
 torches, 
 But without bell or book, 15 they buried the farmer of 
 
 Grand-Pre . 
 And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of 
 
 sorrow, 
 Lo ! with a mournful sound, like the voice of a vast 
 
 congregation, 
 Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar with 
 
 the dirges. 16 66 ° 
 
 'Twas the returning tide,' that afar from the waste of 
 
 the ocean, 
 With the first dawn of the day, came heaving and 
 
 hurrying landward. 
 Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of 
 
 embarking ; 
 And with the ebb of that tide the ships sailed out of 
 
 the harbor, 
 Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, and the 
 
 village in ruins. 
 
 15. i. e. Without the rites of formal burial. 
 
 16. Notice the beauty of lines 668-6 TO. 
 
PART THE SECOND 
 
 Canto I. Evangeline's Quest 
 
 Introductory Note. Ten years have passed since the burning 
 of Grand-Pre, and many of the exiled Acadians are still 
 wandering from city to city seeking their friends and relatives 
 from whom they were separated on the day of the embarkation. 
 Among them is Evangeline, who has spent these years in a 
 futile search for her lover Gabriel. With her is Father Felician, 
 her guide and counselor, who has taught her that her life need 
 not be lived in vain even though her quest is destined to be 
 hopeless ; that her love for Gabriel can find expression in 
 thoughtful and loving service for those whom she meets on her 
 journeying. 
 
 Many a weary year had passed 1 since the burning of 
 
 Grand-Pre, 
 When on the falling tide the freighted vessels departed, 
 Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, 2 into 
 
 exile, 
 Exile without an end, and without an example in 
 
 story. 
 Far asunder, on separate coasts, 3 the Acadians landed ; 670 
 Scattered were they, like flakes of snow when the 
 
 wind from the northeast 
 
 1. Learn Outline Study, IVote 7. 
 
 2. i. e. All those things which help to endear home. The Romans 
 had household gods who were supposed to preside over their private 
 dwellings. 
 
 3. Learn Introduction 2, paragraph O. 
 
EVANGELINE 57 
 
 Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks 
 
 of Newfoundland. 4 
 Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from 
 
 city to city, 
 From the cold lakes of the North to sultry Southern 
 
 savannas — 5 
 From the bleak shores of the sea to the lands where 
 
 the Father of Waters 6 
 Seizes the hills in his hands, and drags them down to 
 
 the ocean, 7 
 Deep in their sands to bury the scattered bones of the 
 
 mammoth. 
 Friends they sought and homes ; and many, despair- 
 ing, heartbroken, 
 Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer a 
 
 friend nor a fireside. 
 Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the 
 
 churchyards. 680 
 
 Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and 
 
 wandered, 
 
 4. When Evangeline was written, this word was always pro- 
 nounced with the accent on the second syllable. The Banks of New- 
 foundland are the fishing ground of the North Atlantic, where the 
 warm and cold currents of the ocean meet, causing perpetual fog. 
 
 5. From what language is this -word borrowed 1 What is 
 its meaning 1 In what part of America is it used! 
 
 6. The Mississippi. The name is said to mean " Father of Waters." 
 
 7. Seizes the hills in his hands. A rather extravagant meta- 
 phor for the erosive action of the Mississippi and its tributaries, of 
 which the land known as the Mississippi Delta is the result. 
 
58 EVANGELINE 
 
 Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently suffering all 
 
 things. 
 Fair was she and young ; but, alas ! before her ex- 
 tended, 
 Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its 
 
 pathway 
 Marked by the graves of those who had sorrowed and 
 
 suffered before her, 
 Passions long extinguished, and hopes long dead and 
 
 abandoned, 
 As the emigrant's way 8 o'er the Western desert is 
 
 marked by 
 Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in 
 
 the sunshine. 
 Something there was in her life incomplete, imperfect, 
 
 unfinished ; 
 As if a morning of June, with all its music and 
 
 sunshine, 6 
 
 Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, slowly 
 
 descended 
 Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen. 
 Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the 
 
 fever within her, 
 Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and thirst of 
 
 the spirit, 
 
 8. In 1848, the emigrant's way was only a wagon trail across the 
 Continent, the usual halting places along which were marked by the 
 ashes of camp-fires and the hones of slaughtered animals. 
 
EVANGELINE 59 
 
 She would commence again her endless search and 
 
 endeavor ; 9 
 Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the 
 
 crosses and tombstones, 
 Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that perhaps 
 
 in its bosom 
 He was already at rest, and she longed to slumber 
 
 beside him. 
 Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whisper, 
 Came with its airy 10 hand to point and beckon her 
 
 forward. 700 
 
 Sometimes she spake with those who had seen her 
 
 beloved and known him, 
 But it was long ago, in some far-off place or forgotten. 
 " Gabriel Lajeunesse ! " said they ; " O, yes ! we have 
 
 seen him. 
 He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have gone 
 
 to the prairies ; 
 Coureurs-des-Bois xx are they, and famous hunters 
 
 and trappers," 
 "Gabriel Lajeunesse!" said others; " O, yes! w T e 
 
 have seen him. 
 
 9. It must be understood that regular and certain means of com- 
 umnication did not exist in North America at this period. The post- 
 office was conducted as a private monopoly and was an expensive 
 and not very trustworthy medium of exchange between the larger 
 towns. In the backwoods, and outside of the British colonies, com- 
 munication was possible only by means of private messenger. 
 
 10. State the full significance of this epithet. 
 
 11. " Rovers of the woods." The French Canadian name for those 
 white adventurers who spent their lives hunting and trapping with 
 the Indians. 
 
60 EVANGELINE 
 
 He is a Voyageur™ in the lowlands of Louisiana." 
 Then would they say : i ' Dear child ! why dream 
 
 and wait for him longer? 
 Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel ? others 
 Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as 
 
 loyal ? 710 
 
 Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's 13 son, who has 
 
 loved thee 
 Many a tedious year ; come, give him thy hand and 
 
 be happy ! 
 Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine's 
 
 tresses." 14 
 Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly — 
 
 ■ " I cannot ! 
 Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, 
 
 and not elsewhere. 
 For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and 
 
 illumines the pathway, 
 Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in 
 
 darkness." 
 And thereupon the priest, her friend and father 
 
 confessor, 
 Said, with a smile — "O daughter! thy God thus 
 
 speaketh within thee ! 
 
 12. A hunter, guide and transportation agent for the fur traders. 
 
 13. In what earlier scene lias the notary been the chief 
 figure 1 
 
 14. i. e., To remain unmarried. St. Catherine was the patron saint 
 of maidens. 
 
EVANGELINE 61 
 
 Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was 
 
 wasted ; 720 
 
 If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, 
 
 returning 
 Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full 
 
 of refreshment ; 
 That which the fountain sends forth returns again to 
 
 the fountain. 15 
 Patience ; accomplish thy labor ; accomplish thy work 
 
 of affection ! 
 Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance 
 
 is godlike. 
 Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart 
 
 is made godlike, 
 Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more 
 
 worthy of heaven ! " 
 Cheered by the good man's words, Evangeline labored 
 
 and waited. 
 Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the 
 
 ocean, 
 But with its sound there was mingled a voice that 
 
 whispered, " Despair not ! " 730 
 
 Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheerless 
 
 discomfort, 
 
 15. l.earn Hues 730-7S7. These words are the keynote of the 
 poem. Evangeline's life was not wasted even though her quest was 
 unsuccessful. The perfect love which she had for Gabriel made her 
 a blessing to all with whom she came in contact during her long 
 journey. 
 
62 EVANGELINE 
 
 Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and thorns of 
 
 existence. 16 
 Let me essay, O Muse ! to follow the wanderer's 
 
 footsteps ; 
 Not through each devious path, each changeful year 
 
 of existence ; 
 But as a traveler follows a streamlet's course through 
 
 the valley ; 
 Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam of 
 
 its water 
 Here and there, in some open space, and at intervals 
 
 only : 
 Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan glooms 
 
 that conceal it, 
 Though he behold it not, he can hear its continuous 
 
 murmur ; 
 Happy, at length, if he find the spot where it reaches 
 
 an outlet. 17 740 
 
 16. The shards and thorns of existence are the " sharp " things 
 of life. Things which seem to exist only to annoy. What is the 
 meaning of the word "shard"! 
 
 17. Describe the manner in -which the poet brings Canto I 
 to a close. 
 
EVANGELINE 63 
 
 CANTO II 
 Down the Mississippi 
 
 Introductory Note. Canto II opens with a description of the 
 tropical country through which the lower Mississippi flows on 
 its way to the Gulf. This description presents, in every detail, 
 a strong contrast to that of Cantos I and II of Part I, and the 
 effect of languor and drowsiness produced by these lines is quite 
 different from the feeling of well-earned rest after toil produced 
 by the corresponding lines of the earlier stanzas. 
 
 Here the tragedy of Evangeline's story reaches its climax. 
 Under the Wachita willows, Evangeline lies asleep, while the 
 lover for whom she is searching passes close by her on his way 
 to the hunting grounds of the West. 
 
 It was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful 
 River, 1 
 
 Past the Ohio shore 2 and past the mouth of the Wa- 
 bash, 3 
 
 Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mis- 
 sissippi, 
 
 Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Acadian 
 boatmen. 
 
 It was a band'of exiles; a raft, 4 as it were, from the 
 shipwrecked 
 
 Nation, scattered along the coast, now floating to- 
 gether, 
 
 Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a com- 
 mon misfortune ; 
 
 1. This is said to be tlie meaning of the word " Ohio." 
 
 2. The shore which is now the state of Ohio. 
 
 3. Between what is now the states of Indiana and Illinois. 
 
 4. Carry out the metaphor in detail. 
 
64 EVANGELINE 
 
 Men and women and children, who, guided by hope 
 or by hearsay, 
 
 Sought for their kith and their kin among the few- 
 acred farmers 
 
 On the Acadian coast, 5 and the prairies of fair Ope- 
 
 lousas. 6 750 
 
 With them Evangeline went, and her guide, the 
 Father Felician. 7 
 
 Onward, o'er sunken sands, 8 through a wilderness 
 somber with forests, 
 
 Day after day they glided adown the turbulent river ; 
 
 Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped on 
 its borders, 
 
 Now through rushing chutes, 9 among green islands, 
 where plumelike 
 
 Cotton-trees 10 nodded their shadowy crests, they swept 
 with the current, 
 
 Then emerged into broad lagoons, 11 where silvery sand- 
 bars 
 
 5. The Acadian plantations fronted on the Bayou Tgche, west of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 6. Now St. Landry Parish, La., the center of the Acadian settle- 
 ments. 
 
 7. In what scenes of the story lias Father Felician already 
 figured! 
 
 8. The shifting sandbars of the Mississippi. 
 
 9. Rapids caused by the obstruction of the channel by islands and 
 sandbars. 
 
 10. Cottonwood, a kindof poplar common along the rivers of the 
 Western United States. 
 
 11. Quiet eddies. 
 
EVANGELINE 65 
 
 Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling 12 waves of 
 their margin, 
 
 Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks of peli- 
 cans waded. 
 
 Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of 
 
 the river, 760 
 
 Shaded by china-trees, 13 in the midst of luxuriant 
 gardens, 
 
 Stood the houses of planters, with negro-cabins and 
 dove-cotes. 
 
 They were approaching the region where reigns per- 
 petual summer, 
 
 Where through the Golden Coast, 14 and groves of 
 orange and citron, 
 
 Sweeps with majestic curv^e the river away to the 
 eastward. 
 
 They, too, swerved from their course; 15 and, entering 
 the Bayou of Plaquemine, 16 
 
 Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious 
 waters, 
 
 Which, like a network of steel, extended in every 
 direction. 
 
 12. Point out other instances of similar alliteration. State 
 the effect produced hy such alliteration. What is the signifi- 
 cance of this adjective I 
 
 13. An East Indian shade tree cultivated on Southern plantations 
 
 14. Tropical Louisiana, the Delta Region. 
 
 15. As the river trended toward the east, the travelers turned to 
 the west through one of the Bayous, which, at a high stage of water, 
 form navigable channels between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya. 
 
 16. Pronounced Plait-men. In Iberville Parish, La. 
 
66 EVANGELINE 
 
 Over their heads the towering and tenebrous 17 boughs 
 
 of the cypress 
 Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses 18 in mid-air 770 
 Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient 
 
 cathedrals. 
 Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by 
 
 the herons 
 Home to their roosts in the cedar-trees returning at 
 
 sunset, 
 Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac 
 
 laughter. 
 Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed 
 
 on the water, 
 Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sus- 
 taining the arches, 
 Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through 
 
 chinks in a ruin. 
 Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were all things 
 
 around them ; 19 
 And o'er their spirits there came a feeling of wonder 
 
 and sadness — 
 Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be 
 
 compassed. 780 
 
 17. Give the derivation, meaning and significance of this 
 adjective. 
 
 18. The Spanish Moss, an epiphytic plant growing on trees in our 
 Southern forests. It hangs from the branches in matted, greenish- 
 gray strips, three and four feet long, and is said to resemble an old 
 man's beard. (Cf. line 2.) 
 
 19. Describe in your own words the picture of lines 
 •779-T89. 
 
EVANGELINE 67 
 
 As, at the tramp of a horse's hoof on the turf of the 
 
 prairies, 
 Far in advance are closed the leaves of the shrinking 
 
 mimosa, 20 
 So, at the hoof -beats of fate, with sad forebodings of 
 
 evil , 
 Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom 
 
 has attained it. 21 
 But Evangeline's heart was sustained by a vision, that 
 
 faintly 
 Floated before her eyes, and beckoned her on through 
 
 the moonlight. 
 It was the thought of her brain that assumed the 
 
 shape of a phantom. 
 Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel wandered 
 
 before her, 
 And every stroke of the oar now brought him nearer 
 
 and nearer. 
 Then in his place, at the prow of the boat, rose one 
 
 of the oarsmen, ■ 790 
 
 And, as a signal sound, if others like them perad- 
 
 venture 
 Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew a 
 
 blast on his bugle. 
 
 20. The sensitive plant. The slightest touch causes the leaf to 
 •curve downward and the leaflets to fold together as if shrinking from 
 the contact. 
 
 21. Describe the sensation so poetically expressed in lines 
 789-794. 
 
68 EVANGELINE 
 
 Wild through the dark colonnades and corridors 
 
 leafy the blast rang, 
 Breaking the seal of silence, and giving tongues to 
 
 the forest. 
 Soundless above them the banners of moss just 
 
 stirred to the music. 
 Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance, 
 Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverberant 
 
 branches ; 22 
 But not a voice replied ; no answer came from the 
 
 darkness ; 
 And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain 
 
 was the silence. 
 Then Evangeline slept ; but the boatmen rowed 
 
 through the midnight, 800 
 
 Silent at times, then singing familiar Canadian boat- 
 songs, 
 Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers. 
 And through the night were heard the mysterious 
 
 sounds of the desert, 
 Far off, indistinct, as of wave or wind in the forest, 
 Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of 
 
 the grim alligator. 
 Thus ere another noon they emerged from those 
 
 shades ; and before them 
 Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya. 23 
 
 22. Paraphrase line 807. 
 
 23. The largest is Grand Lake, into the lower end of which the 
 Bayou Teche empties. 
 
EVANGELINE 69 
 
 Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undula- 
 tions 
 
 Aiade by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, 
 the lotus 2i 
 
 Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boat- 
 men. . 810 
 
 Faint was the air with the odorous breath of mag- 
 nolia blossoms, 
 
 And with the heat of noon ; and numberless sylvan 25 
 islands, 
 
 Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming 
 hedges of roses, 
 
 Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to 
 slumber. 
 
 Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were 
 suspended. 
 
 Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by 
 the margin, 
 
 Safely their boat was moored ; and scattered about on 
 the greensward, 26 
 
 Tired with their midnight toil, the weary travelers 
 slumbered. 
 
 24. A yellow water-lily, two feet or more in diameter, found in 
 Southern lakes. The huge golden blossoms are poised on stout stems 
 rising three feet above the water. 
 
 25. Give the derivation, meaning and. significance of* this 
 adjective. 
 
 26. Give the derivation and meaning of this word. 
 
70 EVANGELINE 
 
 Over them vast and high extended the cope 27 of a 
 cedar. 
 
 Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower 2s 
 
 and the grape-vine , 820 
 
 Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of 
 Jacob, 
 
 On whose pendulous 29 stairs the angels ascending, de- 
 scending, 30 
 
 Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from 
 blossom to blossom. 
 
 Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered 
 beneath it. 
 
 Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an 
 opening heaven 
 
 Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions 
 celestial. 
 
 Nearer and ever nearer, among the numberless islands, 
 
 Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o'er the 
 water, 
 
 Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters 
 and trappers. 
 
 Northward its prow T was turned, to the land of the 
 
 bison and beaver. . 830 
 
 At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thought- 
 ful and careworn. 
 
 27. Anything spread or extended over the head. What is the 
 specific meaning of the word " cope"? 
 
 28. A vine bearing reddish-yellow flowers. 
 
 29. What is the exact significance of this adjective 1 
 
 30. Carry out the details of this figure. 
 
EVANGELINE 71 
 
 Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his brow, 
 
 and a sadness 
 Somewhat beyond his years on his face was legibly 
 
 written. 
 Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, unhappy 
 
 and restless, 
 Sought in the Western wilds oblivion of self and of 
 
 sorrow. 
 Swiftly they glided along, close under the lee of the 
 
 island, 
 But by the opposite bank, and behind a screen of 
 
 palmettos, 
 So that they saw not the boat, where it lay concealed 
 
 in the willows, 
 And undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and un- 
 seen, were the sleepers ; 
 Angel of God was there none to awaken the slumber- 
 ing maiden. 31 840 
 Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud 
 
 on the prairie. 
 After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died 
 
 in the distance, 
 As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the 
 
 maiden 
 Said with a sigh to the friendly priest — " O Father 
 
 Felician ! 
 Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel 
 
 wanders. 
 
 31. Learn Outline Study, IVote 3. 
 
72 EVANGELINE 
 
 Is it a foolish dream, an idle vague superstition? 
 
 Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my 
 
 spirit ? " 
 Then, with a blush, she added — " Alas for my credu- 
 lous fancy ! 
 Unto ears like thine such words as these have no 
 
 meaning." 32 
 But made answer the reverend man, and he smiled 
 
 as he answered — 850 
 
 " Daughter, thy words are not idle; nor are they to 
 
 me without meaning. 
 Feeling is deep and still ; and the word that floats 
 
 on the surface 
 Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor 
 
 is hidden. 33 
 Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world 
 
 calls illusions. 
 Gabriel truly is near thee ; for not far away to the 
 
 southward, 
 On the banks of the Teche 34 are the towns of St. 
 
 Maur and St. Martin. 35 
 There the long-- wandering; bride shall be given again 
 
 to her bridegroom, 
 There the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his 
 
 sheepfold. 
 
 32. i. e. As a Priest, Father Felician might not he ahle to sympa- 
 thize with Evangeline's feelings. 
 
 33. Explain the poet's meaning in lines 862, S63. 
 
 34. Pronounced Tesh. The river which drains Central Louisiana. 
 
 35. The Acadian towns in what is now the Parish of St. Martin. 
 
EVANGELINE 73 
 
 Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of 
 
 fruit-trees ; 
 Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of 
 
 heavens 8G0 
 
 Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of 
 
 the forest. 
 They who dwell there have named it the Eden of 
 
 Louisiana." 
 And with these words of cheer they arose and con- 
 tinued their journey. 
 Softly the evening came. The sun from the western 
 
 horizon 
 Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the 
 
 landscape ; 
 Twinkling vapors arose ; and sky and water and 
 
 forest 
 Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and 
 
 mingled together. 
 Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of 
 
 silver, 
 Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the mo- 
 tionless water. 
 Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexpressible 
 
 sweetness. 8T0 
 
 Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of 
 
 feeling 
 Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters 
 
 around her. 
 
74 EVANGELINE 
 
 Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, 
 
 wildest of singers, 
 Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the 
 
 water, 
 Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious 
 
 music, 
 That the whole air and the woods and the waves 
 
 seemed silent to listen. 
 Plaintive at first were the tones and sad ; then soar- 
 ing to madness 
 Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied 
 
 Bacchantes. 36 
 Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low 
 
 lamentation ; 
 Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad 
 
 in derision, 880 
 
 As w T hen, after a storm, a gust of wind through the 
 
 tree-tops 
 Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on 
 
 the branches. 37 
 With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed 
 
 with emotion, 
 Slowly they entered the Teche, where it flows through* 
 
 the green Opelousas, 
 
 36. Among the Greeks, Bacchus, the god of wine, was worshiped 
 with rites in which the participants, mostly women, excited them- 
 selves to the point of insanity. 
 
 37. Wliat idea as to the song of the Mocking Bird does this 
 simile give yon! 
 
EVANGELINE 75 
 
 And through the amber 38 air, above the crest of the 
 woodland, 
 
 Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neighbor- 
 ing dwelling ; 
 
 Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing 
 of cattle. 39 
 
 38. What idea does this adjective convey to your mind ! 
 
 39. Iiearn Outline Study, B, III, 2, a, <1>-c4). 
 Suggestion.— After reading Canto II, write a paper on "Nature in 
 
 the Tropics." 
 
EVANGELINE 
 
 Canto III. Basil the Herdsman 
 
 Introductory Note. In Canto III, the reader meets again 
 Basil the Blacksmith, now become Basil the Herdsman, happy 
 in his new surroundings but still cherishing a bitter grudge 
 against the English King who had driven him away from his 
 home in Acadie. 
 
 Basil tells Evangeline that Gabriel has started that very day 
 for the West, but, as he intends to stop at Adayes, and as the 
 current is against him, he can be overtaken easily ; and he gives 
 to Evangeline the comforting assurance that Gabriel's thoughts 
 are ever of her. 
 
 On the morrow, accompanied by Basil, Father Felician and 
 Evangeline start again upon their quest, and reach Adayes only 
 to find that Gabriel has already left the village, and has taken 
 the road of the prairie. 
 
 Near to the bank of the river, o'ershadowed by oaks, 
 from whose branches 
 
 Garlands of Spanish moss 1 and of mystic mistletoe 
 flaunted, 
 
 Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at 
 
 Yule-tide, 2 890 
 
 Stood, secluded and still, the house of the herdsman. 
 A garden 
 
 Girded it round about w r ith a belt of luxuriant blos- 
 soms, 
 
 1. See footnote 18, Canto II. 
 
 2. In the religion of the Druids, the mistletoe was regarded with 
 the utmost veneration. On a certain day in each year, the ancient 
 Britons, accompanied by their priests, the Druids, sallied forth with 
 great pomp and rejoicings to gather this mystic parasite. When the 
 oak was reached on which the mistletoe grew, the chief Druid, 
 clothed in white, ascended and with a golden knife cut the sacred 
 plant, which was caught by another priest in the folds of his robe. 
 
EVANGELINE 77 
 
 Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself was 
 
 of timbers 
 Hewn from the cypress-tree, and carefully fitted to- 
 gether. 
 Large and low was the roof ; and on slender columns 
 
 supported, 
 Rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and spacious 
 
 veranda , 
 Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, extended 
 
 around it 
 At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the 
 
 garden, 
 Stationed the dove-cotes were, as love's perpetual 
 
 symbol , 
 Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentions of 
 
 rivals. 900 
 
 Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of shadow 
 
 and sunshine 
 Ran near the tops of the trees ; but the house itself 
 
 was in shadow, 
 And from its chimney-top, ascending and slowly ex- 
 panding 
 Into the evening air, a thin blue column of smoke 
 
 rose. 
 In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a 
 
 pathway 
 Through the great groves of oak to the skirts of the 
 
 limitless prairie, 
 
78 EVANGELINE 
 
 Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly descend- 
 ing. 
 
 Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy 
 canvas 
 
 Hanging loose from their spars in a motionless calm 
 in the tropics, 
 
 Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of 
 grape ' 
 
 rapevines. 910 
 
 Just where the woodlands met the flowery surf of the 
 
 prairie, 
 Mounted upon his horse, with Spanish saddle and 
 
 stirrups, 
 Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doublet of 
 
 deerskin. 
 Broad and brown was the face that from under the 
 
 Spanish sombrero 
 Gazed on the peaceful scene, with the lordly look of 
 
 its master. 
 Round about him were numberless herds of kine, that 
 
 were grazing 
 Quietly in the meadows, and breathing the vapory 
 
 freshness 
 That uprose from the river, and spread itself over 
 
 the landscape. 
 Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, and 
 
 expanding 
 Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast, that 
 
 resounded 920 
 
EVANGELINE 79 
 
 Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air 
 
 of the evening. 
 Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the 
 
 cattle 
 Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse currents of 
 
 ocean. 
 Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed 
 
 o'er the prairie, 
 And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the 
 
 distance. 3 
 Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, through 
 
 the gate of the garden 
 Saw he the forms of the priest and the maiden ad- 
 vancing to meet him. 
 Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in amaze- 
 ment, and forward 
 Rushed with extended arms and exclamations of 
 
 wonder ; 
 When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the 
 
 Blacksmith. . 930 
 
 Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the 
 
 garden. 
 There in an arbor of roses with endless question and 
 
 answer 
 Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their 
 
 friendly embraces, 
 Laughing and weeping by turns, or sitting silent and 
 
 thoughtful. 
 
 3. Study Examination Question No. 13. 
 
80 EVANGELINE 
 
 Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not; and now dark 
 
 doubts and misgivings 
 Stole o'er the maiden's heart ; and Basil, somewhat 
 
 embarrassed, 
 Broke the silence and said — "If you come by the 
 
 Atchafalaya, 
 How have you nowhere encountered my Gabriel's 
 
 boat on the bayous ? " 
 Over Evangeline's face at the words of Basil a shade 
 
 passed. 
 Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a trem- 
 ulous accent — 940 
 "Gone? is Gabriel gone?" and, concealing her face 
 
 on his shoulder, 
 All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and she wept 
 
 and lamented. 
 Then the good Basil said — and his voice grew blithe 
 
 as he said it — 
 "Be of good cheer, my child; it is only to-day he 
 
 departed. 
 Foolish boy ! he has left me alone with my herds and 
 
 my horses. 
 Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, 
 
 his spirit 
 Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet exist- 
 ence. 
 Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful ever, 
 Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troubles, 
 
EVANGELINE 81 
 
 He at length had become so tedious to men and to 
 
 maidens, 950 
 
 Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me 
 and sent him 
 
 Unto the town of Adayes 4 to trade for mules with the 
 Spaniards. 
 
 Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the Ozark 
 Mountains, 
 
 Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers trapping 
 the beaver. 
 
 Therefore be of good cheer ; we will follow the fugi- 
 tive lover ; 
 
 He is not far on his 'way, and the Fates and the 
 streams are against him. 
 
 Up and away to-morrow, and through the red dew 
 of the morning 
 
 We will follow him fast and bring him back to his 
 prison." 
 
 Then glad voices were heard, and up from the banks 
 
 of the river, 
 Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came Michael the 
 
 fiddler. 6 930 
 
 4. The most northerly settlement of the Spaniards of Texas. Some 
 ruins and the surviving name of "Spanish Lake "mark the spot, a 
 few miles west of Natchitoches, La. 
 
 5. In Northwestern Arkansas. 
 
 6. In what earlier scene has Michael the tiddler been the 
 chief personage I 
 
82 EVANGELINE 
 
 Long under Basil's roof had he lived like a god on 
 
 Olympus, 7 
 Having no other care than dispensing music to 
 
 mortals, 
 Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his 
 
 fiddle. 
 "Long live Michael," they cried, "our brave Aca- 
 dian minstrel ! " 
 As they bore him aloft in triumphal procession ; and 
 
 straighway 
 Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, greeting 
 
 the old man 
 Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while Basil, 
 
 enraptured, 
 Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions and 
 
 gossips, 
 Laughing loud and long, and embracing mothers and 
 
 daughters. 
 Much they marveled to see the wealth of the ci-de- 
 vant 8 blacksmith, 970 
 All his domains and his herds, and his patriarchal 
 
 demeanor ; 
 Much they marveled to hear his tales of the soil and 
 
 the climate, 
 And of the prairies, whose numberless herds were his 
 
 who would take them ; 
 
 7. The fabled home of the gods of Greek mythology. 
 
 8. Former. From what language is this word borrowed 1 
 Why does Ijongfellow use it here, instead of the correspond- 
 ing English word! 
 
EVANGELINE 83 
 
 Each one thought in his heart that he, too, would 
 
 go and do likewise. 
 Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the airy 
 
 veranda, 
 Entered the hall of the house, where already the 
 
 supper of Basil 
 Waited his late return ; and they rested and feasted 
 
 together. 
 
 Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness descended. 
 
 All was silent without, and illuming the landscape 
 with silver, 
 
 Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars ; but 
 
 within doors, 9&0 
 
 Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the 
 glimmering lamplight. 
 
 Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, 
 the herdsman 
 
 Poured forth his heart and his wine together in end- 
 less profusion. 
 
 Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet Natchi- 
 toches tobacco. 9 
 
 Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled 
 as they listened : 
 
 9. Virginia tobacco obtained from tbe traders of Natchitoches. 
 lYatchitoches bas bere four syllables although tbe usual pronuncia- 
 tion is lYak-i-tosli. It was an old town in Nortbwestern Louisiana 
 where American backwoodsmen, French from Louisiana and 
 Canada, and Spaniards from Texas, met to trade, drink and fight. 
 
84 E VANGELINE 
 
 "Welcome once more, my friends, who so long have 
 been friendless and homeless, 
 
 Welcome once more to a home, that is better per- 
 chance than the old one ! 
 
 Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the 
 rivers ; 
 
 Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the 
 farmer. 
 
 Smoothly the plowshare runs through the soil as a 
 
 keel through the water. "° 
 
 All the year round the orange-groves are in blossom ; 
 and grass grows 
 
 More in a single night than a whole Canadian sum- 
 mer. 
 
 Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed 
 in the prairies ; 
 
 Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and for- 
 ests of timber 
 
 With a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed 
 into houses. 
 
 After your houses are built, and your fields are yellow 
 with harvests, 
 
 No King George of England shall drive you away 
 from your homesteads, 
 
 Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing your 
 farms and your cattle." 
 
 Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from 
 his nostrils, 
 
EVANGELINE 85 
 
 And his huge, brawny hand came thundering down 
 
 on the table, 100 ° 
 
 So that the guests all started ; and Father Felician, 
 
 astounded, 
 Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff half-way to 
 
 his nostrils. 
 But the brave Basil resumed, and his words were 
 
 milder and gayer — 
 "Only beware of the fever, my friends, beware of 
 
 the fever ! 
 For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate, 
 Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck in 
 
 a nutshell ! " 10 
 Then there were voices heard at the door, and foot- 
 steps approaching 
 Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy 
 
 veranda. 
 It was the neighboring Creoles 11 and small Acadian 
 
 planters, 
 Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil 
 
 the Herdsman. l01 ° 
 
 Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and 
 
 neighbors ; 
 Friend clasped friend in his arms ; and they who 
 
 before were as strangers, 
 
 10. In what part of the poem has reference been made to 
 this superstition! 
 
 11. Any native of Louisiana of French or Spanish descent. 
 
86 EVANGELINE 
 
 Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to 
 
 each other, 
 Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country 
 
 together. 
 But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, pro- 
 ceeding 
 From the accordant strings of Michael's melodious 
 
 fiddle, 
 Broke up all further speech. Away, like children 
 
 delighted, 
 All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves to 
 
 the maddening 
 Whirl of the dizzy dance, as it swept and swayed to 
 
 the music, 
 Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of flut- 
 tering garments. • 102 ° 
 Meanwhile, apart, at the head of the hall, the priest 
 
 and the herdsman 
 Sat, conversing together of past and present and 
 
 future ; 
 While Evangeline stood like one entranced, for within 
 
 her 
 Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst of the 
 
 music 
 Heard she the sound of the sea, and an irrepressible 
 
 sadness 
 Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into 
 
 the garden. 
 
EVANGELINE 87 
 
 Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall of 
 
 the forest, 
 Tipping its summit with silver, arose the moon. On 
 
 the river 
 Fell here and there through the branches a tremulous 
 
 gleam of the moonlight, 
 Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened and 
 
 devious spirit. 1030 
 
 Nearer and round about her, the manifold flowers of 
 
 the garden 
 Poured out their souls in odors, that were their 
 
 prayers and confessions 
 Unto the night, as it went its way, like a silent Car- 
 thusian. 12 
 Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with 
 
 shadows and night-dews, 
 Hung the heart of the maiden. The calm and the 
 
 magical moonlight 
 Seemed to inundate her soul with indefinable longings, 
 As, through the garden gate, beneath the brown shade 
 
 of the oak-trees, 
 Passed she along the path to the edge of the measure- 
 less prairie. 
 Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and the 
 
 fire-flies 
 Gleaming and floating away in mingled and infinite 
 
 numbers. 104,) 
 
 12. One of an order of monks whose rule enforced unbroken silence 
 during the greater part of the day. 
 
88 EVANGELINE 
 
 Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the 
 
 heavens, 13 
 Shone on the eyes, of man, who had ceased to marvel 
 
 and worship, 
 Save when a blazing comet was seen on the walls of 
 
 that temple, 
 As if a hand had appeared and written upon them, 
 
 "Upharsin." 14 
 And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and the 
 
 fire-flies, 
 Wandered alone, and she cried — " O Gabriel ! O my 
 
 beloved ! 
 Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot behold 
 
 thee ? 
 Art thou so near unto me, and yet thy voice does not 
 
 reach me? 
 Ah ! how often thy feet have trod this path to the 
 
 prairie ! 
 Ah ! how often thine eyes have looked on the wood- 
 lands around me ! 1050 
 Ah ! how often beneath this oak, returning from labor 
 Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me in 
 
 thy slumbers. 
 When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded 
 
 about thee? " 
 
 13. By what oilier metaphor have the stars been described 
 in this poem 1 
 
 14. The warning message written in fire on the wall at Belshazzar's 
 feast. (Daniel v. 25.) 
 
EVANGELINE 89 
 
 Loud and sudden and near the note of a whippoorwill 
 
 sounded 
 Like a flute in the woods ; and anon, through the 
 
 neighboring thickets, 
 Farther and farther away it floated and dropped into 
 
 silence. 
 "Patience!" whispered the oaks from oracular 
 
 caverns of darkness ; 
 And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh responded, 
 
 " To-morrow ! " 
 
 Bright rose the sun next day ; and all the flowers of 
 
 the garden 
 Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and anointed 
 
 his tresses 1060 
 
 With the delicious balm that they bore in their vases 
 
 of crystal. 
 "Farewell!" said the priest, as he stood at the 
 
 shadowy threshold ; 
 " See that you bring us the Prodigal Son from his 
 
 fasting and famine, 
 And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the 
 
 bridegroom was coming." 
 "Farewell!" answered the maiden, and, smiling, 
 
 with Basil descended 
 Down to the river's brink, where the boatmen already 
 
 were waiting. 
 Thus beginning their journey with morning, and sun- 
 shine and gladness, 
 
90 EVANGELINE 
 
 Swiftly they followed the flight of him who was 
 
 speeding before them, 
 Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the 
 
 desert. 
 Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that 
 
 succeeded, 1070 
 
 Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or 
 
 river, 
 Nor, after many days, had they found him ; but vague 
 
 and uncertain 
 Rumors alone were their guides through a wild and 
 
 desolate country, 
 Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of Adayes, 
 Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned from the 
 
 garrulous landlord, 
 That on the day before, with horses and guides and 
 
 companions, 
 Gabriel left the village, and took the road of the 
 
 prairies. 
 
EVANGELINE 91 
 
 Canto IV. The Indian Woman 
 
 Introductory Note. The function of this canto is to impress 
 the reader with the hopelessness of Evangeline's quest. The 
 means employed by the poet to accomplish this result is the In- 
 dian woman whose tales of the bridegroom of snow and of the 
 spirit bridegroom sought in vain by his mortal bride inspire 
 Evangeline with the conviction that she, too, is pursuing a 
 phantom lover. 
 
 Far in the West 1 there lies a desert land, where the 
 mountains 
 
 Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and lumi- 
 nous summits. 
 
 Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the 
 
 gorge, like a gateway, 1080 
 
 Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the emigrant's 
 wagon, 
 
 Westward the Oregon 2 flows and the Walleway 3 and 
 Owyhee. 4 
 
 Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind- 
 river Mountains, 5 
 
 Through the Sweetwater Valley 6 precipitate leaps the 
 Nebraska ; 7 
 
 1. The mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, now one of the 
 most flourishing sections of the United States and famed for its 
 mines, climate and scenery. In 1348 it was known only as the scene 
 of the wildest adventures of the fur-trappers. 
 
 2. The Columbia Eiver. 
 
 3. The main stream of the Snake River. 
 
 4. The largest tributary of the Snake River from the South. 
 
 5. In Western Wyoming. 
 
 6. In Central Wyoming. The Sweetwater River is one of the 
 sources of the North Fork of the Platte, or Nebraska River. 
 
 7. The Platte River. 
 
92 E VANGELINE 
 
 And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout 8 and the 
 
 Spanish sierras, 9 
 Fretted with sands and rocks,- and swept by the wind 
 
 of the desert, 
 Numberless torrents, 10 with ceaseless sound, descend 
 
 to the ocean, 
 Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn 
 
 vibrations. 11 
 Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, 
 
 beautiful prairies, 1090 
 
 Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sun- 
 shine, 
 Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple 
 
 amorphas. 12 
 Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk and 
 
 the roebuck ; 
 Over them wander the wolves, and herds of riderless 
 
 horses ; 
 Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary 
 
 with travel ; 
 Over them wander the scattered tribes of IshmaePs 
 
 children, 13 
 
 8. Colorado Springs. 
 
 9* Spanish peaks in Southern Colorado. 
 
 10. Tributaries of the Arkansas and Rio Grande Rivers 
 
 11. What does this phrase modify? 
 
 12. The False-Indigo. A small shrub bearing purple-blue flowers. 
 
 13. It was prophesied of the children of Ishmael, son of Abra- 
 ham, that their hand should be against every man and every man's 
 hand should be against them. This was the exact condition in which 
 the Indians of the West were living in 1848. 
 
EVANGELINE 93 
 
 Staining the desert with blood ; and above their ter- 
 rible war-trails 
 
 Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vul- 
 ture, * 
 
 Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in 
 battle, 
 
 By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens. 
 
 Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these 
 
 savage marauders ; 110 ° 
 
 Here and there rise groves from the margins of swift- 
 running rivers ; 
 
 And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of 
 the desert, 
 
 Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by 
 the brookside, 
 
 And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline 
 heaven, 
 
 Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them. 
 
 Into this wonderful land, at the base of the Ozark 
 
 Mountains, 
 Gabriel far had entered, with hunters and trappers 
 
 behind him. 
 Day after day, with their Indian guides, the maiden 
 
 and Basil 
 Followed his flying steps, and thought each day to 
 
 o'ertake him. 
 Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the smoke 
 
 of his camp-fire m0 
 
94 E VANG E LINE 
 
 Rise in the morning air from the distant plain ; but 
 
 at nightfall, 
 When they had reached the place, they found only 
 
 embers and ashes. 
 And, though their hearts were sad at times and their 
 
 bodies were weary, 
 Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata Morgana 14 
 Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and 
 
 vanished before them. 
 
 Once, as they sat by their evening fire, there silently 
 
 entered 
 Into the little camp an Indian woman, whose features 
 Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as great as 
 
 her sorrow. 
 She was a Shawnee woman returning home to her 
 
 people, 
 From the far-off hunting grounds of the cruel Ca- 
 
 manches, ]1 ~° 
 
 Where her Canadian husband, a Coureur-des-Bois, 15 
 
 had been murdered. 
 Touched were their hearts at her story, and warmest 
 
 and friendliest welcome 
 Gaye they, with w r ords of cheer, and she sat and 
 
 feasted among them 
 
 14. (The illusion of the Fairy Morgan). The well-known phe- 
 nomenon of the mirage is so called in Italy and Sicily. 
 
 15. Define this word from an earlier note. 
 
EVANGELINE 95 
 
 On the buffalo meat and the venison cooked on the 
 
 embers. 
 But when their meal was done, and Basil and all 
 
 his companions, 
 Worn with the long day's march and the chase of the 
 
 deer and the bison, 
 Stretched themselves on the ground, and slept where 
 
 the quivering firelight 
 Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms 
 
 wrapped up in their blankets, 
 Then at the door of Evangeline's tent she sat and 
 
 repeated 
 Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm of her 
 
 Indian accent, 113 ° 
 
 All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, and pains, 
 
 and reverses. 
 Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know that 
 
 another 
 Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been 
 
 disappointed. 
 Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and woman's 
 
 compassion, 
 Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had suffered 
 
 was near her, 
 She in turn related her love and all its disasters. 
 Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she 
 
 had ended 
 Still was mute ; but at length, as if a mysterious 
 
 horror 
 
96 EVANGELINE 
 
 Passed through her brain, she spake, and repeated 
 
 the tale of the Mowis ; 16 
 Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded 
 
 a maiden, 114 ° 
 
 But, when the morning came, arose and passed from 
 
 the wigwam, 
 Fading and melting away and dissolving into the sun- 
 shine, 
 Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far 
 
 into the forest. 
 Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seem like a 
 
 weird incantation, 
 Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, 17 who was wooed 
 
 by a phantom, 
 That, through the pines o'er her father's lodge, in the 
 
 hush of the twilight, 
 Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love 
 
 to the maiden, 
 Till she followed his green and waving plume through 
 
 the forest, 
 And never more returned, nor was seen again by her 
 
 people. 
 Silent with wonder and strange surprise Evangeline 
 
 listened 1150 
 
 36. This story is recorded in the Indian Eesearches of Schoolcraft; 
 hut the idea of the spirit bridegroom sought in vain hy his mortal 
 bride is common to the folk lore of all races. The classical story of 
 Cupid and Psyche is an example. 
 
 17. See Note 16 above. 
 
EVANGELINE 97 
 
 To the soft flow of her magical words, till the region 
 
 around her 
 Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy 
 
 guest the enchantress. 
 Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the 
 
 moon rose, 
 Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious splendor 
 Touching the somber leaves, and embracing and fill- 
 ing the woodland. 
 With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and the 
 
 branches 
 Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely audible 
 
 whispers. 
 Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline's 
 
 heart, but a secret, 
 Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror, 
 As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of 
 
 the swallow. " 1160 
 
 It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region of 
 
 spirits 
 Seemed to float in the air of night ; and she felt for 
 
 a moment 
 That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing a 
 
 phantom. 
 And with this thought she slept, and the fear and 
 
 the phantom had vanished. 18 
 
 18. Study Examination Questions, No. 11. 
 
98 EVANGELINE 
 
 Early upon the morrow the march was resumed ; and 
 
 the Shawnee 
 Said, as they journeyed along — " On the western 
 
 slope of these mountains 
 Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of 
 
 the Mission. 19 
 Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary 
 
 and Jesus ; 
 Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep with pain, 
 
 as they hear him." 
 Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evangeline 
 
 answered— 1170 
 
 kt Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings 
 
 await us ! " 
 Thither they turned their steeds ; and behind a spur 
 
 of the mountains, 
 Just as the sun went down, they heard a murmur of 
 
 voices, 
 And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a 
 
 river, 
 Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit 
 
 Mission. 
 Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the 
 
 village, 
 
 19. The usual name among the Western Indians for the Roman 
 Catholic missionaries who visited them. From the beginning of 
 French settlement in America, the Roman Catholic religious orders 
 sought to convert the Indians to Christianity by means of mission- 
 aries who visited their tribes and lived their savage life. These 
 missionaries, particularly those belonging to the Society of Jesus, 
 were everywhere the first European explorers of the Western 
 wilderness. 
 
EVANGELINE 99 
 
 Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A 
 crucifix fastened 
 
 High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed by 
 grape-vines, 
 
 Looked with its agonized face on the multitude kneel- 
 ing beneath it. 
 
 This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the 
 
 intricate arches 1180 
 
 Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers, 
 
 Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus 20 and sighs 
 of the branches. 
 
 Silent, with heads uncovered, the travelers, nearer 
 approaching, 
 
 Knelt on the swarded 21 floor, and joined in the evening- 
 devotions. 
 
 But when the service was done, and the benediction 
 had fallen 
 
 Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the 
 hands of the sower, 
 
 Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers, 
 and bade them 
 
 Welcome ; and when they replied, he smiled with 
 benignant expression, 
 
 Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother tongue in 
 the forest, 
 
 And with words of kindness conducted them into his 
 
 20. Whispers. What kind of a word is this! 
 
 21. Covered with turf. 
 
100 EVANGELINE 
 
 There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on 
 
 cakes of the maize-ear 
 Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the water-gourd 
 
 of the teacher. 
 Soon was their story told ; and the priest with solem- 
 nity answered : 
 "Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, 
 
 seated 
 On this mat by my side, where now the maiden 
 
 reposes, 
 Told me this same sad tale ; then arose and continued 
 
 his journey ! " 
 Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with 
 
 an accent of kindness ; 
 But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter 
 
 the snowflakes 
 Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have 
 
 departed. 22 
 " Far to the north he has gone," continued the priest ; 
 
 " but in autumn, Y ~ m 
 
 When the chase is done, will return again to the 
 
 Mission." 
 Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and 
 
 submissive — 
 "Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and 
 
 afflicted." 
 
 22. Describe the sensation so poetically designated in lines 
 1208-12091 
 
EVANGELINE 101 
 
 So seemed it wise and well unto all ; and betimes on 
 
 the morrow, 
 Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides 
 
 and companions, 
 Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed at 
 
 the Mission. 
 
 Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other — 
 Days and weeks and months ; and the fields of maize 
 
 that were springing 
 Green from the ground when a stranger she came, 
 
 now waving above her, 
 Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, and 
 
 forming 121 ° 
 
 Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries pillaged 
 
 by squirrels. 
 Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, 
 
 and the maidens 
 Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a 
 
 lover, 23 
 But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in 
 
 the corn-field. 
 Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her 
 
 lover. 
 u Patience ! " the priest would say ; " have faith, and 
 
 thy prayer will be answered ! 
 
 23. See Outline Study, Note 14. 
 
102 EVANGELINE 
 
 Look at this delicate plant that lifts its head from the 
 
 meadow, 
 See how its leaves all point to the north, as true as 
 
 the magnet ; 
 It is the compass-flower, 24 that the finger of God has 
 
 suspended 
 Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the traveler's 
 
 journey ]22 ° 
 
 Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the 
 
 desert. 
 Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of 
 
 passion, 
 Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of 
 
 fragrance, 
 But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their odor 
 
 is deadly. 
 Only this humble plant can guide us here, and here- 
 
 after 
 Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with 
 
 the dews of nepenthe." 25 
 
 24. A large plant growing on the prairies, whose leaves are said 
 to point north and south. It is said that hunters, lost on the prairies 
 in the night, can get their bearings hy feeling the edges of the leaves. 
 It is not a delicate plant, nor does its yellow flower grow on a 
 fragile stalk. 
 
 25. Asphodel flowers. In the Greek mythology, the bloom of the 
 Elysian Fields, the abode of the righteous dead. IVepeiithe, in the 
 same mythology, was the draught of release from care and pain. 
 
EVANGELINE 103 
 
 So came the autumn, and passed, and the winter — 
 
 yet Gabriel came not ; 
 Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes of the 
 
 robin and bluebird 
 Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood, yet Gabriel 
 
 came not. 
 But on the breath of the summer winds a rumor was 
 
 wafted 12 30 
 
 Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odor of blossom. 
 Far to the north and east, it said, in the Michigan 
 
 forests, 
 Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the Saginaw 
 
 river. 26 
 And, with returning guides, that sought the lakes of 
 
 St. Lawrence, 27 
 Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline went from the 
 
 Mission. 
 When over weary ways, by long and perilous marches, 
 She had attained at length the depths of the Michigan 
 
 forests, 
 Found she the hunter's lodge deserted and fallen to 
 
 ruin ! 
 
 Thus did the long sad years glide on, and in seasons 
 
 and places 
 Divers and distant far was seen the wandering 
 
 maiden ; 1240 
 
 26. A river of Central Michigan flowing into Lake Huron. 
 Suggestion.— Paraphrase and amplify lines 1226-1236. 
 
 27. The Great Lakes, of which the St. Lawrence is the final outlet. 
 
1 04 E VAN GE LINE 
 
 Now in the tents of grace of the meek 28 Moravian 
 
 Missions, 29 
 Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields of the 
 
 army, 30 
 Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and populous 
 
 cities, 
 Like a phantom she came, and passed away unre- 
 
 membered. 
 Fair was she and young, when in hope began the long 
 
 journey ; 
 Faded was she and old, when in disappointment it 
 
 ended. 
 Each succeeding year stole something away from her 
 
 beauty, 
 Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the gloom and 
 
 the shadow. 
 Then there appeared and spread faint streaks of gray 
 
 o'er her forehead, 
 Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her earthly 
 
 horizon, 125 ° 
 
 As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks of the 
 
 morning. 31 
 
 28. What is the significance of the epithet I 
 
 29. The Moravians or United Brethren, a German Protestant Epis- 
 copal sect, made strenuous efforts to convert the Indians by forming 
 settled communities where the savages might be instructed in the 
 conditions of civilized life. 
 
 30. The war between the English and the Canadian French was in 
 progress during the action of this story. 
 
 31. At what point in the story does Evangeline reach the 
 conclusion that her quest is hopeless! 
 
EVANGELINE 105 
 
 Canto V. The Finding of Gabriel 
 
 Introductory Note. Evangeline, young and fair no longer, 
 has abandoned her fruitless search. Her life of trial and 
 sorrow has taught her that all that counts in this world is 
 patie?tce, abftegation of self and devotion to others ; and, having 
 learned this lesson, she becomes a Sister of Mercy in the city 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 In an almshouse, during a frightful pestilence, Evangeline 
 finds her lover ; and the story ends amid scenes which form a 
 most dramatic contrast to those among which the simple tale 
 opened. 
 
 In that delightful land which is washed by the Dela- 
 ware's waters, 1 
 
 Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the 
 apostle, 2 
 
 Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city 
 he founded. 3 
 
 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, 4 
 
 As if they fain would appease the Dryads 5 whose 
 haunts they molested. 
 
 1. Pennsylvania. 
 
 2. Identify "Penn." Relate the circumstances under which 
 Pennsylvania was founded. Why is Penn called " Penn the 
 apostle"! 
 
 3. Philadelphia. 
 
 4. Paraphrase the line. 
 
 5. Wood nymphs who make their homes in the trees and whose life 
 is the life of the tree. 
 
106 EVANGELINE 
 
 There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, 
 an exile, 
 
 Finding among the children of Penn a home and a 
 country. 
 
 There old Rene Leblanc 6 had died ; and when he de- 
 parted, • !260 
 
 Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descend- 
 ants. 
 
 Something at least there was in the friendly streets 
 of the city, 
 
 Something that spake to her heart, and made her no 
 longer a stranger : 
 
 And her ear was pleased with the Thee and Thou of 
 the Quakers, 
 
 For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country, 
 
 Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and 
 sisters. 
 
 So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed en- 
 deavor, 
 
 Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncom- 
 plaining, 
 
 Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her 
 thoughts and her footsteps. 
 
 As from a mountain's top the rainy mists of the 
 
 morning 1270 
 
 Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below 
 us, 
 
 6. Under what circumstances lias Rene Leblanc been men- 
 tioned before 1 
 
EVANGELINE 107 
 
 Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and 
 
 hamlets, 
 So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the 
 
 world far below her, 
 Dark no longer, but all illumined with love ; and the 
 
 pathway 
 Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth and fair 
 
 in the distance. 
 Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart was 
 
 his image, 
 Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as last she 
 
 beheld him, 
 Only more beautiful made by his deathlike silence 
 
 and absence. 
 Into her thoughts of him time entered not, for it was 
 
 not. 
 Over him years had no power ; he was not changed, 
 
 but transfigured ; 1280 
 
 He had become to her heart as one who is dead, and 
 
 not absent ; 
 Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion to 
 
 others, 
 This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had 
 
 taught her. 
 So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous 
 
 spices, 
 Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with 
 
 aroma. 7 
 
 7. Connect this passage with lines 730-737. 
 
108 EVANGELINE 
 
 Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to 
 follow 
 
 Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her 
 Saviour. 
 
 Thus many years she lived as a Sister of Mercy ; fre- 
 quenting 
 
 Lonely and wretched roofs in the crowded lanes of 
 the city, 
 
 Where distress and want concealed themselves from 
 
 the sunlight, 1290 
 
 Where disease and sorrow in garrets languished neg- 
 lected. 
 
 Night after night when the world was asleep, as the 
 watchman repeated 
 
 Loud, through the gusty streets, that all was well in 
 the city, 8 
 
 High at some lonely window he saw the light of her 
 taper. 
 
 Day after day, in the gray of the dawn, as slow 
 through the suburbs 
 
 Plodded the German farmer, with flowers and fruits 
 for the market, 
 
 Met he that meek, pale face, returning home from its 
 watchings. 
 
 Then it came to pass that a pestilence 9 fell on the city. 
 Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks of 
 wild pigeons, 
 
 8. Describe the old custom to which reference is made here. 
 
 9. Tlie great yellow fever epidemic which afflicted Philadelphia 
 in July, 1793. 
 
EVANGELINE 109 
 
 Darkening the sun in their flight, with naught in 
 
 their craws but an acorn. 1300 
 
 And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of 
 
 September, 
 Flooding some silver stream, till it spread to a lake 
 
 in a meadow, 
 So death flooded life, and o'erflowing its natural 
 
 margin, 
 Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of exist- 
 ence. 
 Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, 
 
 the oppressor ; 
 But all perished alike beneath the scourge of his 
 
 anger — 10 
 Only, alas ! the poor, who had neither friends nor 
 
 attendants, 
 Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the 
 
 homeless ; 
 Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows 
 
 and woodlands — 
 Now the city surrounds it ; but still with its gateway 
 
 and wicket 13]0 
 
 Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls seem 
 
 to echo 
 Softly the words of the Lord — " The poor ye always 
 
 have with you." 
 Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of 
 
 Mercy. The dying 
 
 10. Paraphrase lines 1311-1316. 
 
110 EVANGELINE 
 
 Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, to be- 
 hold there 
 
 Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead with 
 splendor, 
 
 Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of saints and 
 apostles, 
 
 Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at a dis- 
 tance. 
 
 Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city celes- 
 tial, 
 
 Into whose shining gates ere long their spirits would 
 enter. 
 
 Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, de- 
 serted and silent, 1320 
 
 Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the 
 almshouse. 
 
 Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers in 
 the garden ; 
 
 And she paused on her way to gather the fairest 
 among them, 
 
 That the dying once more might rejoice in their fra- 
 grance and beauty. 
 
 Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, 
 cooled by the east wind, 
 
 Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the 
 belfry of Christ Church, 11 
 
 11. The church in which Benjamin Franklin is buried. 
 
EVANGELINE 111 
 
 While, intermingled with these, across the meadows 
 
 were wafted 
 Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in 
 
 their church at Wicaco. 12 
 Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on 
 
 her spirit ; 
 Something within her said — " At length thy trials 
 
 are ended ; " 13 3° 
 
 And, with a light in her looks, she entered the cham- 
 bers of sickness. 
 Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful at- 
 tendants, 
 Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, 
 
 and in silence 
 Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and concealing 
 
 their faces, 
 Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts of snow by 
 
 the roadside. 
 Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline entered, 
 Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed, 
 
 for her presence 
 Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on the walls 
 
 of a prison. 
 And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the 
 
 consoler, 
 Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it 
 
 forever. 1340 
 
 12. Now a suburb of Philadelphia. 
 
112 EVANGELINE • 
 
 Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night- 
 time ; 
 Vacant their places were, or filled already by 
 
 strangers. 
 Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of 
 
 wonder, 
 Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a 
 
 shudder 
 Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flowerets 
 
 dropped from her fingers, 
 And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom of 
 
 the morning. 
 Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such ter- 
 rible anguish, 
 That the dying heard it, and started up from their 
 
 pillow T s. 
 On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an 
 
 old man. 
 Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded 
 
 his temples ; 1350 
 
 But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a 
 
 moment 
 Seemed to assume once more the forms of its earlier 
 
 manhood ; 
 So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are 
 
 dying. 
 Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the 
 
 fever, 
 
• EVANGELINE 113 
 
 As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had besprinkled 
 
 its portals, 
 That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and pass 
 
 over, 13 
 Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit 
 
 exhausted 
 Seemed to be sinking down to infinite depths in the 
 
 darkness, 
 Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and 
 
 sinking. 
 Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied 
 
 reverberations, 1360 
 
 Heard he that cry of pain, and through the hush that 
 
 succeeded 
 Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender and saint- 
 like, 
 "Gabriel! O my beloved!" and died away into 
 
 silence. 
 Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of 
 
 his childhood ; 
 Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among 
 
 them, 
 Village, and mountain, and woodlands ; and, walk- 
 ing under their shadow, 
 As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his 
 
 vision. 
 Tears came into his eyes ; and as slowly he lifted his 
 
 eyelids, 
 
 13. Read the story from Exodus xii. 
 
114 EVANGELINE 
 
 Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knelt by 
 his bedside. 
 
 Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the accents 
 
 unuttered 1370 
 
 Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what his 
 tongue would have spoken. 
 
 Vainly he strove to rise ; and Evangeline, kneeling 
 beside him, 
 
 Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her bosom 
 
 Sweet was the light of his eyes ; but it suddenly sank 
 into darkness, 
 
 As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a 
 casement. 
 
 All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the 
 sorrow, 
 
 All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied long- 
 ing, 
 
 All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of pa- 
 tience ! 
 
 And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her 
 bosom, 
 
 Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, " Father, 
 
 I thank thee ! " 1380 
 
 Still stands the forest primeval; 14 but far away from 
 
 its shadow, 
 Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are 
 
 sleeping. 
 
 14. Compare with the Prologue. 
 
E VAN GE LINE 115 
 
 Under the humble walls of the little Catholic church- 
 yard, 
 
 In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and un- 
 noticed ; 
 
 Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside 
 them, 
 
 Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at 
 rest and forever, 
 
 Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer 
 are busy, 
 
 Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased 
 from their labors, 
 
 Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed 
 their journey ! 15 
 
 Still stands the forest primeval ; but under the shade 
 
 of its branches 1390 
 
 Dwells another race, with other customs and lan- 
 guage. 
 
 Only along the shore of the mournful and misty At- 
 lantic 
 
 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 kir- 
 tles of homespun, 
 
 15. What effect is produced hy the repetition of these lines! 
 
116 EVANGELINE 
 
 And by the evening lire repeat Evangeline's story, 16 
 While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neigh- 
 boring ocean 
 Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
 
 of the forest. l ™ 
 
 16. English-speaking settlers occupy Grand-Pre now, and there are 
 no descendants of the French- Acadians in the valley; but a few are 
 living in humble circumstances on the other coast, not far from 
 Yarmouth. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY 
 
 NO. 23 
 
 EVANGELINE 
 (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882) 
 
 **. 
 
 A. Preparatory Work. — History of the Poem ; His- 
 torical Foundation of the Narrative ; Acadia. 
 
 B. First Reading. — The Narrative of the Poem; 
 Time and Place of Action of the Story. 
 
 C. Second Reading. — Characters of the Narrative ; 
 Details of the Poem. 
 
 D. Third Reading. — Literary Analysis; Material 
 used in the Composition of Evangeline. 
 
 E. Supplementary Work. — Remarks on the Poem; 
 Theme Subjects ; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 
 
4 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 A. PREPARATORY WORK 
 
 HISTORY OF THE POEM; HISTORI- 
 CAL FOUNDATION OF THE 
 NARRATIVE; ACADIA- 
 
 I. History of the Poem 
 
 Note 1. In Field's Yesterdays With Authors, we find the following 
 statement concerning the poem Evangeline : " Hawthorne dined 
 one day with Longfellow, and brought with him a friend from 
 Salem. After dinner the friend said : ' I have been trying to 
 persuade Hawthorne to write a story based upon a legend of 
 Acadie, and still current there ; a 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.' " 
 
 Longfellow wondered that this legend did not strike the 
 fancy of Hawthorne, and said to him: "If you have really 
 made up your mind not to use it for a story, will you give it to 
 me for a poem ? " To this Hawthorne assented, and promised 
 not to treat the subject in prose until Longfellow had seen what 
 he could do with it in verse. 
 
 Critics in England and America had long been demanding 
 a poem which should be thoroughly American in subject and 
 scenery, and this legend seemed to Longfellow to answer the 
 demand. The poem was received with immediate and general 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 II. Historical Foundation of the Narrative 
 
 Note 2. In 1604 the French settled in Acadia (now Nova Scotia), 
 choosing for the settlement Port Royal, now Annapolis, because 
 of its vicinity to the countries abounding in furs, of which the 
 exclusive trade had been given to the new settlers. The colony 
 was yet in its infancy when the settlement, which has since 
 become so famous under the name New England, was established 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 in its neighborhood. The rapid success of the plantations in 
 this new colony did not at first arouse the jealousy of the French 
 in Acadia ; but when competition in the fur trade was threat- 
 ened, the French endeavored to secure to themselves the monopoly 
 of it, and were unfortunate enough to succeed. 
 
 On their arrival at Acadia, the French had found the 
 peninsula, as well as the forests of the neighboring continent, 
 peopled with small tribes of Indians, who were disposed to be 
 very friendly. The French missionaries, easily insinuating 
 themselves among these, had not only taught the Indians their 
 religion, but had, also, inspired them with that hatred which 
 the French entertained for the English name. Therefore, the 
 Indians not only refused to make any kind of exchange with the 
 English, but frequently attacked and plundered their settlements. 
 When the English saw that all efforts either to reconcile the 
 savages or to destroy them were ineffectual, they fell upon 
 Acadia, which they looked upon with reason as the sole cause 
 of their difficulties. 
 
 After a series of struggles, Acadia was ceded to Great 
 Britain in 1713. The inhabitants were induced to swear alle- 
 giance to their new masters upon the sole condition that they 
 should be exempt from bearing arms against either the French 
 or the Indians in defense of the province. Before the termina- 
 tion of the French and Indian War, the Acadians were accused 
 of having forfeited their neutrality by supplying intelligence, pro- 
 visions, and quarters to the French and Indians at Beau Sejour. 
 The punishment for this crime was delayed until the harvests 
 were gathered in, that the British army might seize the grain. 
 The villagers were then called, on a certain day, into the church, 
 to hear the proclamation of the king. The king declared that 
 all lands, houses, herds, crops, and other possessions, except 
 money and household goods, were forfeited to the crown ; and 
 stated that the people themselves were to be deported to distant 
 colonies. Ships and soldiers were at hand to execute these 
 orders. The Acadians were hurried on shipboard with the most 
 cruel confusion, and lifelong separations of child from parent, 
 husband from wife, and lover from lover, followed. An inci- 
 dent of the last kind furnishes the story of Evangeline. 
 
 III. Acadia 
 
 1. History. — Colonized by France, 1604 ; ceded to 
 Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713 ; 
 Acadians deported by the British, 1755. 
 
6 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 2. Extent in 1755. — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
 Maine, east of the Penobscot. 
 
 3. Meaning of the Name. — In the earliest records Acadie 
 is called Cadie ; afterwards it was called Acadia, 
 Accadia, or L'Acadie. 
 
 The name is probably a French adaptation of a word com- 
 mon among the Micmac Indians, signifying place or region. 
 The French turned this Indian term into Cadie or Acadie ; the 
 English, into ^jioddy, in which form it remains when applied 
 to the Quoddy Indians, and in the compound Passamaquoddy, 
 or Pollock Ground. — Riverside Edition of Longfellow's Poems. 
 
 4. Name Changed to Nova Scotia (New Scotland) 1621. 
 
 B. FIRST READING 
 
 THE NARRATIVE OF THE POEM; 
 
 TIME AND PLACE OF THE 
 
 ACTION OF THE STORY 
 
 I. The Narrative of the Poem 
 
 1. Outline of the Narrative. 
 
 a. Introduction. — Description of the forest ; hint 
 as to the character of the story ; place of action 
 of the story ; two aspects of Grand Pre ; class 
 of readers to whom the poem will appeal; char- 
 acterization of the poem ; characterization of 
 Acadie. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 b. Part I. Acadie, Home of the Happy. 
 
 (1.) Canto 1 . — Grand Pre and its Inhab- 
 itants. 
 
 (2.) Canto 2. — By Benedict's Fire. 
 
 (3.) Canto 3. — The Ceremony of Be- 
 trothal. 
 
 (4.) Canto 4. — The Tragic Ending of the 
 Betrothal Feast. 
 
 (5.) Canto 5 . — At the Gaspereau's Mouth. 
 
 c. Part II. Evangeline's Quest. 
 
 (1.) Canto 1. — Prolonged Separation of 
 the Lovers. 
 
 (2.) Canto 2. — Down the Mississippi. 
 
 (3.) Canto 3. — The Home of Basil the 
 Herdsman. 
 
 (4.) Canto 4. — The Hopeless Quest. 
 
 (5.) Canto 5. — The Quest Ended. 
 
 d. Conclusion. — Description of Evangeline's 
 grave ; characterization of those who pass by it ; 
 description of the Acadia of to-day ; popularity 
 of the story. 
 
 Suggestion 1. The pupils are expected to relate, from memory, the 
 circumstances which justify each of the above headings. The 
 headings of introduction and conclusion should be accurately 
 quoted. 
 
 Note 3. The climax of the story is reached in the scene which may 
 be entitled " Under the Wachita Willows." 
 
8 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 2. Points to be especially noted. 
 
 a. The historical setting of the story. 
 
 Suggestion 2. How is the historical situation brought to the reader's 
 notice ? 
 
 (1.) The English ships in the bay. 
 
 (2.) The Acadian men ordered to assemble 
 in the church to hear the king's 
 mandate. 
 
 (3.) Deprived of their arms. 
 
 (4.) The king's proclamation. 
 
 (5.) The farmers imprisoned in the church ; 
 duration of imprisonment. 
 
 (6.) Deportation of the Acadians ; tragic 
 separations. 
 
 (7.) The fate of the exiled Acadians. 
 
 Note 4. The Acadians were distributed among different English 
 colonies, to prevent the possibility of their joining with the 
 French against the English. Some settled on the border between 
 Canada and the United States, and others established themselves 
 in Louisiana, on both sides of the Mississippi, from the Gulf 
 Coast to Baton Rouge. The banks of the river were long 
 called " the Acadian coast." 
 
 (a.) "Many already have fled to the forest." 
 
 Note 5. These sought the protection of their Indian allies, — the 
 Maliceet Tribe in New Brunswick, and the Quoddy Tribe in 
 Maine, whom the Acadians had converted to Christianity and 
 partially civilized. Their descendants are still to be found 
 among those Indians and among the French settlers along the 
 upper St. John in northern Maine, in the district known as 
 Madawaska. 
 
 Suggestion 3. Give accurate quotations for each of the headings 
 under topic " a." 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 (8.) Beau Sejour, Port Royal, Louisberg. 
 
 Note 6. Louisberg in Cape Breton was taken by the English in 
 1745, and Port Royal (now Annapolis) in 1710. Beau Sejour 
 was a fort built by the Canadian French on the frontier of Acadia 
 (at the head of Chegnecto Bay, near Sackville, N. B.), which 
 had been taken by the English in July of the same year in which 
 the deportation of the Acadians took place. 
 
 b. Grand Pre. 
 
 (1.) Its situation. 
 
 (2.) Description of the village and the 
 surrounding country. 
 
 (3.) Its inhabitants. 
 
 (a.) Their descent ; their character. 
 (b.) Condition of society in Grand 
 Pre. 
 
 (4.) Meaning of the name Grand Pre. 
 Suggestion 4. Verify each heading by accurate quotation. 
 
 3. Summary of the stpry. 
 
 Suggestion 5. Tell the story in the briefest possible manner. 
 
 II. Time of the Action of the Narrative 
 
 1. Part I. — September, 1755. 
 
 2. Part II.— 
 
 a. Opens in May, 1765. 
 
 Note 7. In 1765, about six hundred and fifty Acadians from New 
 Brunswick, Northern Maine, and Canada arrived at New 
 Orleans, attracted by the French population there. They were 
 sent to form settlements in Attakapas and Opelousas. 
 
 b. Ends in 1793, the year of the yellow fever pes- 
 
 tilence in Philadelphia. 
 
10 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 III. Place of Action of the Story 
 
 1. Part I. — Acadia. 
 
 Note 8. Hoiv is Acadia characterized by Longfello-zv ? 
 
 2. Part II. — 
 
 a. Evangeline's journey. 
 Suggestion 6. Verify the following by accurate quotation. 
 
 ( 1.) From the Great Lakes down the 
 Ohio. 
 
 (a.) Past the shores of Ohio and of 
 Indiana. 
 
 (2.) Down the Mississippi. 
 
 (a.) Through southern Louisiana, 
 toward the Delta. 
 
 (b.) Into the Bayou of Plaquemine. 
 
 ( 3.) Down the Atchafalaya River, thread- 
 ing the numerous lakes and bayous. 
 
 (a.) Stop to rest on the shores of 
 Lake Wachita (one of the 
 Atchafalaya Lakes.) 
 
 (b.) Making their way westward 
 through the lakes, they reach 
 the Bayou Teche. 
 
 ( 4.) Stop at St. Martins. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 11 
 
 ( 5.) Retracing their steps through the 
 Atchafalaya Bayous, Basil, Evange- 
 line, and Father Felicien enter the 
 Red River and sail northwest, leav- 
 ing the raft at Natchitoches {pos- 
 sibly). Then, continuing the 
 journey by land, they stop at 
 Adayes. 
 
 Note 9. The remains of the ancient town of Adayes are a few miles 
 west of Natchitoches, and twenty-five miles from the Texan 
 frontier. 
 
 ( 6.) From Adayes to the base of the 
 Ozark Mountains. 
 
 (7.) Evangeline tarries at the mission {in 
 Indian Territory, probably). 
 
 (8.) Journeys northeast to the Michigan 
 forests. 
 
 (9.) Spends several years in New York 
 and Pennsylvania. 
 
 (10.) Makes her home at last in Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Suggestion?. In this connection, identify the following : (1.) The 
 Acadian Coast {See Note 4). (2.) The Father of Waters. 
 (3.) That delightful land which is washed by the Delaware's 
 waters. (4.) The Beautiful River. (5.) Region where reigns 
 perpetual summer. 
 
12 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 C. SECOND READING 
 
 CHARACTERS OF THE NARRATIVE; 
 DETAILS OF THE POEM 
 
 1. Evangeline. 
 
 a. The little Acadian maiden. 
 
 (1.) Give quotations covering the following 
 points : Circumstances under which 
 she is first mentioned ; personal ap- 
 pearance ; popularity in the vil- 
 lage ; the lover ; her position in the 
 household. 
 
 (2.) Pen pictures of Evangeline. 
 
 (a.) Evangeline carrying ale to the 
 
 reapers. 
 (b.) Evangeline on her way to 
 
 church. 
 (c.) Evangeline and Gabriel in the 
 
 window. 
 (d.) Evangeline at the Bethrothal 
 
 Feast. 
 (e. ) Evangeline at her father's door 
 
 in the sunset. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 13 
 
 (/. ) Evangeline cheering the women. 
 
 (g.) Evangeline at the door of the 
 church. 
 
 (h.) Evangeline by the side of her 
 dying father. 
 
 Suggestion 8. Enumerate all the details which enter into the com- 
 position of each picture. 
 
 Note 10. Evangeline is the typical Acadian peasant girl, — pretty, 
 modest, and graceful. 
 
 b. The woman in search of her lover. 
 
 (1.) Mode of life after the expatriation. 
 
 ( 2 . ) Pen Pictures of Evangeline from 
 Part II. 
 
 (a.) Sat by some nameless grave. 
 
 (b.) Under the Wachita Willows. 
 
 (c. ) In the garden of Basil the 
 herdsman. 
 
 (d.) Evangeline and the Indian 
 woman. 
 
 (e.) Evangeline by the bedside of 
 Gabriel. 
 
 2. Benedict Bellefontaine. 
 
 a. Cite quotations covering the following points : 
 Characterization o f ; personal appearance ; 
 attitude toward h i s fellows ; character as 
 revealed in Part I, Canto 2 ; appearance after 
 the imprisonment ; death. 
 
14 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 3. Basil Lajeunesse. 
 
 a. Basil the Blacksmith . 
 
 (1.) Give quotations covering the follow- 
 ing points : Characterization ; char- 
 acter as revealed in I, 2 ; personal 
 appearance ; his imprecation in the 
 church. 
 
 b. Basil the Herdsman. 
 
 (1.) Personal appearance. 
 
 4. Gabriel Lajeunesse. 
 
 a. Personal appearance ; character before and after 
 the deportation. 
 
 5. Father Felician. 
 
 a. Position in the village ; influence over his 
 people ; length of his sojourn among the 
 Acadians ; on the night before the deportation ; 
 association with Evangeline ; death. 
 
 6. Rene Leblanc. 
 
 a. Position in the village ; personal appearance ; 
 family ; war record ; character. 
 
 II. Details of the Poem 
 1. Illustrations to accompany the text. 
 
 a. The old priest with his little troop of village 
 dames and children. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 15 
 
 b. The bethrothed lovers in the old-fashioned 
 
 homestead. 
 
 c. The merry old fiddler. 
 
 d. The stout herdsman of the prairie. 
 
 e. Evangeline turning for a last look at the desolate 
 
 Grand Pre. 
 
 /. The game of checkers. 
 
 g. "Without, in the churchyard, waited the 
 women." 
 
 h. "The silent and mournful procession." 
 
 Suggestion 9. Make a complete list of all scenes that might be illus- 
 trated in this manner. 
 
 2. Manners and customs of the Acadian peasants. 
 
 a. Houses ; dress ; position of parish priest ; occupa- 
 
 tion of the women ; Angelus ; religion ; 
 church customs (in this connection give the 
 meaning and significance of hyssop, missal, 
 beads, plain-song) ; boxes for the poor ; wells ; 
 amusements ; oxen and their trappings ; dishes ; 
 food and drink ; carols ; curfew ; ceremonies 
 of betrothal, etc. 
 
 b. Old sayings ; superstitions, etc. 
 
 (1.) Wonderous stone of the swallow. 
 
 Note 11. The stone described in the poem when found in the swal- 
 low's nest, would perform miraculous cures. 
 
16 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 (2.) Sunshine of St. Eulalie ; signs of a 
 hard winter ; oxen on Christmas eve ; 
 Loup Garou ; Letiche ; fever cured 
 by a spider ; four-leaved clover ; find- 
 ing a horseshoe ; to braid St. Cath- 
 erine's tresses. 
 
 Suggestion 10. Use "b" for the subject of a carefully written 
 composition. 
 
 3. Allusions to explain. 
 
 Suggestion 11. Give the context for each. 
 
 a. The story of the Statue of Justice. 
 
 Note 12. Under 'what circumstances does this story bring comfort 
 to E-vangeline ? 
 
 b. The Penitent Peter. 
 
 c. The Plane Tree adorned by the Persian with 
 
 jewels. 
 
 Note 13. In Herodotus, we read, Xerxes, going by this way, met 
 with a plane tree, which, on account of its beauty, he presented 
 with golden ornaments ; and having committed it to the care of 
 one of the immortals, on the next day he arrived at Sardis, the 
 capital of the Lydians. 
 
 d. Fata Morgana. 
 
 e. The battlefields of the army. 
 /. Without bell or book. 
 
 g. Legend of the red and the crooked ears of corn. 
 
 Note 14. The corn-husking season was one of great hilarity, and 
 many young people met together at social huskings. On such 
 occasions if a girl finds a red ear of corn she must present it to 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 17 
 
 the lad she likes best. If, however, the ear is crooked, it is 
 considered the image of an old man thief, and the whole com- 
 pany sings : — 
 
 " Crooked ear, crooked ear, 
 Walker at night ; 
 Stop, little old man, 
 And take not to flight. 
 
 Crooked ear, crooked ear, 
 
 Stand up strong ; 
 Little old crooked man, 
 
 I'll give you a song." 
 
 " The Poetry of Indians." — Harper's Magazine. 
 
 h. Druids and the "mystic mistletoe." 
 4. Paraphrase, and give the context. 
 
 a. The craft of the smith. 
 
 b. The sign of the Scorpion enters. 
 
 c. Waifs of the tide. 
 
 d. Crown us with asphodel flowers that ar^ wet 
 
 with the dew of Nepenthe. 
 
 e. Its household gods into exile. 
 /. Ambrosial meadows. 
 
 g. Scattered tribes of Ishmael's children. 
 
18 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 D. THIRD READING 
 
 LITERARY ANALYSIS; MATERIAL 
 USED IN THE COMPOSITION 
 OF EVANGELINE 
 
 V 
 
 I. Literary Analysis 
 
 1. Characteristics of the poem. 
 
 Note 15. The characteristics enumerated below are those which are 
 obvious to the young and sympathetic reader. 
 
 a. Full of tranquil scenes of humble content. 
 
 (Enumerate.) 
 
 b. Faultless finish. 
 
 c. Great simplicity of diction. 
 
 d* Moral tone, pure and elevated. 
 
 e. Appeals to the affection and sympathy of the 
 reader. 
 
 /. Full o f homely details and natural feelings, 
 graced with fanciful images. 
 
 g. The grace and melody of the verse leave little 
 room for criticism. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 19 
 
 h. The numerous descriptive passages are con- 
 spicuously fine. 
 
 (1.) Re-read the following: Benedict's 
 house ; Basil's forge ; twilight scenes 
 in Acadia ; return of the laborers ; 
 the burning village ; the stampede 
 of the herds; death and burial of 
 Benedict ; the garden of Basil the 
 herdsman ; Ozark Mountains in the 
 moonlight ; vespers at the mission ; 
 description of the Mississippi ; the 
 mocking bird's song; the Lakes of 
 the Atchafalaya ; the deserts ; sun- 
 s e t in Grand Pre ; under the 
 Wachita willows. 
 
 Note 16. Note Longfellow's characterization of Autumn. Note the 
 different epithets and images used in the description of the ocean. 
 Note the contrasts of the poem, particularly the contrast in the 
 sounds of Parts I and II. 
 
 /'. The most conspicuous feature of the poem is its 
 wealth of imagery. 
 
 (1.) Personifications: Pines; the 
 ocean ; forest ; sea ; mists of 
 looms ; weather cock ; trees ; 
 the sun ; labor ; oaks. 
 
 Suggestion 12. Quote the line or lines in which each is personified. 
 
 (2.) Similes and metaphors. 
 
 Suggestion 13. Complete each. Designate those which seem to 
 you faulty, and state the reason for your decision. 
 
20 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 a. The roe when he hears ; rivers that water the ; 
 leaves when the mighty ; clouds of incense ; 
 oak that is covered ; the berry that grows ; the 
 breath of kine that ; like the ceasing of 
 exquisite music ; like a fiery snake coiled ; 
 nuns going into ; as the swoop of an eagle ; 
 as Jacob of old ; like foes in a ; as shields of 
 armies; like a laboring oar that; as the 
 vapors freeze; the forget-me-nots of; like the 
 tremulous tides; as out of Abraham's tent; 
 like Elijah ; like the prophet ; like unto ship- 
 wrecked Paul; the face of a clock from 
 which; like flakes of snow when the ; like the 
 ladder of Jacob ; like a silent Carthusian ; 
 the thoughts of God in the heavens; like a 
 dead leaf over ; like the impeccable soul of a 
 chieftain ; like the great chords of a harp ; as 
 if life like the Hebrew ; as when a lamp is 
 blown out. 
 
 Note 17. The Biblical images of Evangeline have been severely- 
 censured ; but they may be justified on the ground that they 
 accord with the atmosphere of the poem. Such images would 
 be appropriate in a poem whose subject is the " pious Acadian 
 peasants." 
 
 a. Its meter : Hexameter. 
 
 Note 18. The Hexameter consists of two feet or measures of two 
 or three syllables each. The last of these feet must consist of two 
 syllables ; and the last but one of three syllables. 
 
 (1.) The cadence of the poem is very 
 appropriate to that life-long melan- 
 choly search, — never satisfied, never 
 ending. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 21 
 
 (2.) "The hexameter has been often 
 criticised, but I do not believe any 
 other measure could have told that 
 lovely story with such effect as we 
 feel when carried along the tranquil 
 current of these brimming, slow- 
 moving, soul-satisfying lines. Im- 
 agine for one moment a story like 
 this minced into octosyllables. The 
 poet knows better than his critics 
 the length of step which best befits 
 his muse." — 0. W. Holmes. 
 
 Suggestion 14. Criticise II, 3 : 1-3 ; II, 1 : 7; Hoof-beats of fate; 
 %oar of the grim alligator ; Shards of existence. 
 
 2. Class of poetry to which Evangeline belongs. — Nar- 
 
 rative poem, idyllic in character. 
 
 3. Germ of the poem. — The tradition of Evangeline 
 
 and Gabriel. 
 
 4. Subject of the poem.— The deportation of the Aca- 
 
 dians. 
 
 5. Characterization of Evangeline. 
 
 Note 19. Observe Longfellow's own characterization of his poem. 
 
 6. Criticism of Evangeline. — "Of the longer poems of 
 
 Longfellow, I should not hesitate to select Evan- 
 geline as the masterpiece. From the first line 
 of the poem, from its first words, we read as we 
 would float down a broad and placid river, mur- 
 muring softly against its banks, heaven over it, 
 and the glory of the unspoiled wilderness all 
 around." — 0. W . Holmes. 
 
22 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 E. SUPPLEMENTARY WORK 
 
 REMARKS ON THE POEM; 
 THEME SUBJECTS; HENRY 
 WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 
 
 I. Remarks on Evangeline 
 
 1. Its place among the author's works. 
 
 Note 20. Evangeline is the best loved of Longfellow's major poems. 
 
 2. Material used in its composition. 
 
 a. In the measure and character of his poem, 
 
 Longfellow follows a German model, Her- 
 mann and Dorothea, by Gcethe. 
 
 b. His description of the Acadians is from the 
 
 Abbe RaynaPs account of the French settlers. 
 
 Note 21. The historical basis of the Hermann and Dorothea is the 
 expulsion of the Protestants from his territory by the Archbishop 
 of Salzburg. Dorothea is exiled, and leads a wandering and 
 unsettled life, until she finally marries Hermann. 
 
 3. Names considered by Longfellow as a title for his 
 
 poem : Gabrielle, Celestine, Evangeline. 
 
 II. Theme Subjects 
 
 1. Fear that Reigns with the Tyrant. 
 
 2. Envy the Vice of Republics. 
 
 3. Might is the Right of the Strongest. 
 
 4. Story of the Statue of Justice. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 23 
 
 5. Part Played by the Indian Woman in the Narrative. 
 
 6. Retell the Story, Giving it a Happy Ending. 
 
 7. Lesson Taught by the Compass Flower. 
 
 8. Patient Endurance is Godlike. 
 
 9. Evangeline, the Sister of Mercy. 
 
 10. Affection Never was Wasted. 
 
 11. Evangeline's Journey. 
 
 12. Under the Wachita Willows. 
 
 13. Imaginary Story of Gabriel's Search for Evangeline. 
 
 14. Contrast of the Ocean and the Mississippi in the 
 
 Poem. 
 
 15. Contrast Between Benedict's Home and that of 
 . Basil the Herdsman. 
 
 16. Different Aspects of Grand Pre. 
 
 17. Grand Pre to-day. 
 
 18. Was there any Justification for the Deportation of 
 
 the Acadians ? 
 
 19. Longfellow's Attitude Toward the Deportation ; 
 
 Devices Used by Longfellow to arouse the Read- 
 er's Sympathy for the Acadians. 
 
 20. Nature Pictures in the Similes and Metaphors. 
 
 III. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 
 
 1. Significant Events in His Career. 
 
 2. Classification of His Works. 
 
 3. Longfellow's Famous Contemporaries. 
 
24 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 EXAMINATION QUESTIONS 
 
 i. Relate the entire story of the poem. Enumerate 
 those incidents, scenes, and allusions of the poem which 
 are historical. Give the date of the event which is the 
 foundation of the poem. How long a period does the 
 action of the narrative cover ? 
 
 2. State the significance of the "Prologue" of the 
 poem. Describe the pictures which the first four lines 
 bring before the reader. 
 
 3. Write a detailed description of the village of 
 Grand Pre and its environs. What is the meaning of 
 the name? Write a character sketch of the villagers 
 in general. Of what nationality were they? 
 
 4. Name the actors of the story in the order of their 
 appearance. Identify each. State the circumstances 
 under which each first appears upon the scene and de- 
 scribe the condition of each at the end of the narrative. 
 
 5. Describe in full an imaginary visit to the Grand 
 Pre of the poem, bringing into your description every 
 local custom, however trivial, mentioned in Cantos 1-3 
 of Part I. 
 
 6. Enumerate those scenes of the poem in which 
 Evangeline appears as the central figure. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 25 
 
 7. Reproduce in your own words Canto 4 of Part I. 
 Had the King oE England any justification for his 
 treatment of the Acadians? What is the poet's opinion 
 of the deed? Quote two lines from Part II which 
 characterize this event. 
 
 8. Describe in detail the word picture of the last 
 stanza of Part I. What impression does it produce 
 upon you? 
 
 9. Select ten similes or metaphors from Part I which 
 seem to you to be particularly expressive, and state 
 in each case the basis of resemblance. Select two 
 which seem to you to be faulty and inadequate. What 
 other figures of speech do you find in Part I ? 
 
 10. After the deportation, where did the Acadians 
 settle? Trace the journey of Evangeline from Canada 
 to the home of Basil the Herdsman. Designate the 
 pronunciation of all the geographical names occurring 
 in this description of the journey. 
 
 11. What most tragic incident occurs in Part II, 
 Canto 1 of our poem? What part does the Indian 
 woman play in the story? 
 
 12. Draw carefully the contrast between the out-door 
 scene described in Canto 2, Part I, and that described 
 in Canto 3, Part II. Draw the contrast between Basil 
 the Blacksmith and Basil the Herdsman. Enumerate 
 all the details that enter into the composition of the 
 word picture of Canto 4, stanza 1, Part II. 
 
 13. What impression does stanza 1 of the " Epilogue" 
 of the poem make upon you? What rhetorical figure 
 
26 OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 
 
 is used with great effect in this stanza? Compare the 
 " Epilogue" with the "Prologue." 
 
 14. Enumerate those characteristics of Evangeline 
 which, in your judgment, account for the fact that it is 
 one of the most widely read poems in the language. 
 
 15. Make a list of the most conspicuous allusions in 
 the poem and tell the story which justifies the use of 
 each as an illustration. 
 
 16. Quote from the "Prologue " the line which states 
 the theme or motif of our poem. Point out a particu- 
 larly expressive and beautiful line in Canto 2, stanza 1, 
 Part I. 
 
 17. Explain the epithets in the following expressions : 
 Gossiping" looms, noisy weathercocks, populous nests, 
 drowsy air, briny hay, diligent shzittle, mendicant 
 crows. Which of them personify the noun? 
 
 18. Define the following words and state the connec- 
 tion in which each is used : kirtle, missal, hyssop, 
 penthouse, wains, seraglio, plain-song, elbow-chair, 
 dresser, hob-nailed, glebe, iitk-horn. Which one of 
 these words seems not to belong in the list ? Why ? 
 
 19. Give the meaning of the following lines and give 
 the context for each : Rattled and sang of mutation; 
 The retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion enters; 
 Regent of the flocks was he when the shepherd slept ; 
 The bell of the A?tgehis sounded ; Without bell or 
 book ; The shards and thorns of existence; Wet with 
 the dews of Nepenthe. 
 
 20. Rewrite the story of Evangeline, making her 
 quest successful. 
 
OUTLINE STUDY XXIII, EVANGELINE 27 
 
 21. Make a list of twenty illustrations for the poem 
 Describe two of the pictures. 
 
 22. Describe an imaginary visit to the " Land of 
 Evangeline" as it exists to-day. 
 
 23. What use does Longfellow make of the following 
 traditions in his poem : The Statue of Justice, The Tale 
 of the Mowis, The Legend of the Compass- flower? 
 
 24. Compare Evangeline with the last poem read 
 by you (1) as to the interest of the story ; (2) as to the 
 impression made by the beauty of the verse. 
 
 25. To what class of poetry does Evangeline be- 
 long? Quote some of the criticisms which you have 
 learned regarding the literary merits of Evangeline. 
 Enumerate those literary characteristics which are 
 apparent to you. Why is Evangeline called an 
 "Idyll"? Describe the meter of the poem.