TICAL AIDS
LITERATURE
Nv.mber Two
G
a
ANGELINE
ARR A NOED WITH NO TES BY
£lt.THuk U HAMILTON
11 J
«© ij^Sv PUBJ JSHED ;BY
THE WHIT AKER & RAY CO.
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS
EVANGELINE
BY
Henry W. Longfellow
ARRANGED WITH NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR USE AS A BASIS
IN ELEMENTARY ENGLISH WOBK8
ARTHUR L. HAMILTON
San Francisco
The Whitaker & Ray Co.
( incorporated )
1903
I ' i . : - 5S
Tws Copies Received
FEB 25. (904
i Copyrignt Entry
&LL. I 1-1 <? e 1
CLASS
COPY 8
XXc. No-.
EVANGELINE
The Method of Work in this Study and the
Results to be Obtained
Longfellow's choice poem is presented in this lorm that the pupil
may be led by way of an interesting road into the desire to study
good English and into the ability to write it.
The pupil should be trained to see clearly the pictured scenes por-
trayed by words or contained in figures of speech. He should be
able to describe these with exactness, in good, strong, English
sentences of his own making. His composition book should contain
written work on the suggestions for every selection herein. If but
a sentence is asked for, it should be written out fully and be made
to convey exactly the thought required by that upon which it is
based.
All work must be neatly done and therefore worthy of preserva-
tion. It should bear the imprint of the teacher's judgment at regular
intervals. It should grow better in thought and arrangement as the
work progresses. Combined with a good text book in English
Grammar, this may profitably be carried through an entire year.
The words selected should be carefully studied. Their spelling
and pronunciation should be mastered ; their meaning and derivation
understood. Very interesting discussions may be had upon their
analyses and derivations; upon comparisons with their synonyms;
or upon their peculiar uses and shades of meaning. The forms are
given as used in the poem, and definition should be made to fit the
particular form given. For instance, if the word is plural, possessive,
that fact should be noted and its proper definition given.
The pupil can not really enlarge his vocabulary merely by study-
ing definitions of words. He must be able to recognize prefixes,
suffixes, radicals or stems, if he would make the words his own.
The pupil who is able thus to analyze words, knows the definition.
4 EVANGEUNE.
Word-building should occupy much of the pupil's time in the years
preceding the High School. What better opportunity is afforded
than in the English work. A few good books for reference will whet
the appetite for word collecting. The following are good : "A Stem
Dictionary," by John Kennedy; also "What Words Say," by the
same author; "Trench on the Study of Words;" "Short Stories
from the Dictionary," by Gilman; "Forgotten Meanings," by
Waites; "Rambles among Words," Swinton; "Folk-Etymology,"
Palmer; also a little book, "The Problem of Elementary Com-
position," by Elizabeth H. Spalding, will be found to contain helpful
suggestions for the teacher in the general English work of the
earlier years.
Frequent illustrated work is suggested. This may be done in
amount as desired. To be able to rapidly make simple cuts is a
pleasant, and in these days, often a profitable accomplishment. A
dormant germ of talent in this line may be aroused.
The memory work is important. Only those parts which seem
most worthy of memorizing have been selected. These should be
carefully memorized for two reasons : first, young folks need training
in the ability to accurately remember. They obtain the ability by
exercising that faculty ; second, the desire to make a really meritor-
ious passage their own, by storing it in the memory, should be
cultivated.
The ability to make good topical outlines in the study of English,
is so important that no opportunity for practice should be .neglected.
The analysis of any selection demands of the student the power to
see the symmetrical arrangement, and to have at his command the
art of outlining.
The object to be attained in this study is the development of
the student, not merely to know the poem. Do not allow a multitude
of things to crowd the time in which this work is done.
A year of careful discussion of this poem and of conscientious
work done as outlined will bring to the student a greatly increased
ability to write English which shall contain good thought, expressed
in well-constructed sentences, and will prove to be a year most
delightfully and profitably spent. The student will find also that
he has acquired much added ability to read the thought contained in
the standard authors which follow in his English course, and will
certainly appreciate their worth as he could not before.
May all enjoy the work on this poem as much as did we of the
Garfield Grammar School.
A. L. H.
Pasadena, Cal., 1902.
EVANGELINE.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF LONGFELLOW
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, the author of the
poem here presented for study, was born in the beautiful "Forest
City," Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807.
Near the end of the same year in a plain Quaker farmhouse in
the valley of the Merrimac, near the little town of Haverhill, Mas-
sachusetts, the poet Whittier was born. Thomas Jefferson was
nearing the end of his second term as President of the United States ;
and the Embargo Acts were that year laid on commerce. Robert
Fulton also made that year famous by the voyage on the Hudson of
the first steamboat in the world, the Clermont. Nathaniel Haw-
thorne was three years old, living over in Salem town, and Emerson
a little lad of four in the city of Boston. Bryant was thirteen and
already surprising people with products of his literary precocity.
Holmes, Motley and Lowell had not yet been born.
Longfellow was a quiet boy, loving books, and caring little for
the games of schoolmates. In Portland Academy, or the sylvan
shades of Deering's Woods, or among the picturesque islands of
beautiful Casco Bay,
"islands that were the Hesperides
Of all my boyish dreams,"
he was thinking the "long, long thoughts of youth." He enjoyed
summer vacation trips to the farm of his grandfather, Judge Long-
fellow, a few miles from Portland, or to that of his grandfather,
General Wadsworth, at Hiram, farther away. These visits gave
him a taste of country life and its pleasures. In after years he wrote
of these pleasant hours and the old clock on the stairs :
"O precious hours ! O golden prime,
And affluence of love and time !
Even as a miser counts his gold,
Those hours the ancient timepiece told."
His mother was of a gentle, loving disposition. During her
latter years she was an invalid, but always patient and cheerful. — a
6 EVANGELINE.
devoted Christian woman. The training she gave her son was of
the best. She was a Wadsworth, and a descendant of John Alden
and Priscilla. His father was kind, but strict, a graduate of Har-
vard College, and a successful lawyer.
Longfellow was sent to Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, at
the age of fifteen, and after four years of faithful work was gradu-
ated in 1825. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a classmate.
In September of that year, Longfellow received the appointment
as Professor of Modern Languages in Bowdoin College, with the
understanding that he should first spend some time in Europe fitting
himself for the position. A winter passage of the stormy Atlantic
in a sailing vessel was not inviting. (This was twelve years before
the first steamer crossed the Atlantic.) He, therefore, spent the
winter at home in Portland writing and studying law in his father's
office. During the winter he wrote the "Burial of the Minnisink,"
"Autumn," — the one beginning "With what a glory comes and goes
the year !"— the "Song of the Birds," "Musings," and "Song."
In April he left for Europe, running over to Philadelphia from
New York while waiting for the vessel. It is said that during a
morning stroll here, he passed the Pennsylvania Hospital, the picture
of which he had in mind when he portrayed the final meeting of
Evangeline and Gabriel.
While in Europe he studied the modern languages in France,
Spain, Italy and Germany, spending three years thus, and returning,
assumed his duties at Bowdoin at the age of twenty-two.
In 1 83 1, about two years after entering upon his college work,
he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Stover Potter.
In 1834 he received the offer of the Smith Professorship of
Modern Languages in Harvard University. He accepted and
immediately left for Europe to still further fit himself for the duties
of that place. The time was devoted to Northern Europe — Norway,
Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Tyrol and Switzerland. While
in Holland his wife died, leaving him to continue his studies in sor-
row. He calls her to mind, the "Being Beauteous," as he writes the
"Footsteps of Angels," in 1839.
Before leaving for Europe this time, 1835, he had put "Outre
Mer" in the hands of the publishers.
He began his Harvard work in December, 1836, later taking up
his residence in the historic Craigie House, once the headquarters of
Washington.
When Charles Dickens, then thirty years of age, visited this
country, early in 1842, Mr. Longfellow entertained him at breakfast
at the Craigie House. This visit was soon returned, for Mr. Long-
fellow spent nearly all the remainder of 1842 in Europe, on leave
of absence, for his health. He then had the pleasure of visiting
Dickens at his home in London.
In 1839 ne wove into Hyperion a love-story in which the
EVANGELINE. 7
description of its heroine was that of Miss Appleton, a lady whom
he had met while in Switzerland and who in 1843 became his wife.
This happy union continued till 1861 when Mrs. Longfellow was
accidentally burned so severely that death resulted. This was a sad
blow to Mr. Longfellow, who did not cease to mourn her death
through his remaining years.
In 1854 he had resigned his Harvard professorship in order to
devote himself to literary work, which he did up to his death,
March 24, 1882.
LONGFELLOW'S WRITINGS
Longfellow was truly America's poet. His life has been a
benediction to many a home. George William Curtis thus writes:
''Among the great poetic names of the century in English literature,
Burns, in a general way, is the poet of love ; Wordsworth, of lofty
contemplation of nature; Byron, of passion; Shelley, of aspiration;
Keats, of romance ; Scott, of heroic legend ; and not less, and quite
as distinctively, Longfellow, of the domestic affections. He is the
poet of the household, of the fireside, of the universal home feeling.
The infinite tenderness and patience, the pathos and the beauty of
daily life, of familiar emotion, and the common scene, — these are
the significance of that verse whose beautiful and simple melody,
softly murmuring for more than forty years, made the singer the
most widely beloved of living men."
Though his sympathies were world-wide, and he sought all
countries and ages for material of which to weave his golden product,
yet "Evangeline," "The Song of Hiawatha," and the "Courtship of
Miles Standish" proclaim him America's poet.
In 1835 he published "Outre Mer," — pleasantly told sketches of
his European travel, and in 1839, Hyperion, a Romance, also upon
European life. "Voices of the Night" appeared in 1839 and brought
him fame. In several of these lovely songs the poet speaks from
his own heart's experiences, breathing love and sorrow, comfort,
patience and trusting faith. Notably of these are the "Footsteps of
Angels", the "Hymn to the Night", "The Light of Stars", "Psalm
of Life", and "The Beleaguered City."
Longfellow drew much of his inspiration from books and from
the spirit of romance enkindled in foreign lands. He brought to
American literature the flavor of old world learning. His trans-
8 . EVANGELINE.
lations are exquisite renderings of the originals, and his own produc-
tions breathe the essence of European poetry transformed in a way
to touch the hearts of all his countrymen.
Ballads and Other Poems, 1842, contained translations from
the German and Scandanavian languages. Notably among the
original pieces were "The Skeleton in Armor," suggested by the
digging up of a mail-clad skeleton at Fall River, and "The Wreck
of the Hesperus," written one night between midnight and three.
"The Belfry of Bruges," in 1846, and "The Seaside and the Fire-
side," 1850, were also collections of translations, and very beautiful
original poems. Among the latter are "Seaweed," "The Old Clock
on the Stairs," "The Building of the Ship," "The Occultation of
Orion," "The Fire of Drift Wood," "The Bridge," "Resignation"
and "The Day is Done," all reflecting tender feeling, and teaching
pure, sweet morality.
In 1847 Evangeline was published; in 1851, "The Golden
Legend;" in 1855, "Hiawatha," and to crown his labors, the great
translation of Dante's "Divina Commedia," 1867-1870.
THE CREATION OF THE POEfl
Sometime about the year 1845, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Rev.
H. L. Conolly were dining at the Craigie House with Mr. Long-
fellow, when the clergyman remarked that he had vainly tried to
interest Mr. Hawthorne in a pathetic incident which had been told
him by one of his parishioners, and one which he believed would
make the basis for an admirable romance, but Mr. Hawthorne did
not care to use it. He then narrated the history of a young Acadian
girl who had been carried from her home when her people were
banished, and cruelly separated from her lover, whom she sought
through long years, finally finding him, old and dying in a hospital.
Mr. Longfellow said to Hawthorne, "If you really do not want this
incident for a tale, let me have it for a poem." And thus it came
about that Mr. Longfellow began the writing of what Dr. Holmes
selects as his masterpiece.
In Mr. Longfellow's diary he remarks on November 28, 1845,
"Set about Gabrielle my idyll in hexameters, in earnest," adding that
while others were doubtful of the measure, to him it seemed the only
one for such a poem.
On December 7, he was musing on what to call it, "Gabrielle,"
or "Celestine," or "Evangeline." On January 8, he was mourning
EVANGELINE. 9
that he must be so often interrupted, and January 12, two cantos
had been finished. During the spring ana summer, he records his
neglect in writing upon his "dearly loved Evangeline," saying, "The
cares of the world choke the good seed." December 10, commenced
the second part. Half sick with a cold, he says he felt all day
wretched enough to give it the somber tone of coloring that belongs
to the theme. On December 17, he finished the first canto of part
second, and on December 19, went to see a moving diorama of
the Mississippi, in which, he says, "one seems to be sailing down the
great stream, and sees the boats and the sand-banks, crested with
cottonwood, and the bayous by moonlight."
On January 14, 1847, ne records the last canto finished, but
with three intermediate ones yet to write. On January 26, he fin-
ished second Canto of Part II, and February 1st saw Canto third of
Part II nearly done. On February 17, he records the ground cov-
ered with snow, and that he that day wrote the description of the
prairies.
On February 27, his fortieth birthday, the last line was written
and Evangeline ended, and in April he was reading proof sheets.
The poem came from the press October 30, 1847, not quite two years
from its beginning.
Mr. Longfellow never visited Nova Scotia, nor the scenes of
the Mississippi River and the great West. He did not aim to write
a historical account, yet his statements with reference to the expul-
sion of the Acadians agree substantially with the facts, and his
descriptions of scenery are remarkably true. He speaks in his diary
of having obtained for consultation, "Watson's Annals of Philadel-
phia," the "Historical Collections of Pennsylvania" and "Darby's
Geographical Description of Louisiana." He probably, among other
works, also consulted Haliburton's "Historical and Statistical Ac-
count of Nova Scotia," besides studying such graphic representa-
tions as scenes from Bauvard's diorama.
THE ACADIAN TRAGEDY.
Seventeen hundred fifty-five is a memorable year in the annals
of Nova Scotia. For forty-two years the province had been under
English rule. In 1713 it came into the hands of the English by the
treaty of Utrecht (Utrekt), and the French Acadians took the oath
of allegiance to England, but only on condition that they be exempt
from taking up arms against their native land, — France. They were
therefore termed "French Neutrals."
In 1749 the English began to plant settlements, founding Hah-
IO EVANGELINE.
fax that year, and to spread themselves over the fertile lands about.
They and their French neighbors did not live peaceably together.
The mother countries were enemies. France incited the Indians to
annoy the English settlers, it is *aid. The boundaries between the
English and French provinces were in dispute. These and other
things deepened the feeling of enmity between them.
While the Acadians were a gentle, peaceful people, as a rule,
who loved to live quietly amid their rural scenes, yet there were
young men over-zealous in behalf of their own country, and embit-
tered old ones who added fuel to the strife. The boundary trouble
culminated in the building of two forts (Beau Sejour, or Fort Cum-
berland, and Fort Lawrence) by the French on the isthmus between
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. These forts interfered with land
communication between New England and Nova Scotia, and annoyed
the English settlers very much. Three thousand soldiers were sent
from Massachusetts and the forts were captured. Several hundred
French neutrals were found within the fortifications. The English
therefore classed all Acadians as enemies to the English government.
A council of four English authorities in the province was held, and
it was resolved that the entire Acadian population should be removed
from their homes and from the country. It was decided also that
in the removal they should be scattered among the English colonists
along the Atlantic coast in such a manner as to prevent their return.
Governor Lawrence, who was a member of the council, issued
a proclamation, dated September 2nd, 1755, ordering all the men,
and the boys over ten years of age, to assemble at the church of
Grand Pre on Friday, September 5th, on pain of forfeiture of prop-
erty in case of refusal. On the appointed day four hundred eighteen
men and boys met in the church and there found themselves pris-
oners under guard of soldiers. The fatal order was read. The
church was made their prison while the soldiers gathered the women
and children, with such household stuff as they could hastily get
together to carry with them. Over a thousand people from Grand
Pre were thus collected upon the shore, the men and boys being
brought from the church under guard of soldiers with fixed bayonets.
The men were loaded upon vessels, the women and children upon
separate ones, and all were thus transported to the English colonies
along the Atlantic, where they were discharged at intervals from
Massachusetts to Carolina, families separated, unprotected, and with-
out means of support.
The poem deals with these facts of history, and follows the
wanderings of its heroine, Evangeline, in her life-long quest for
her lover, from whom she was separated on their betrothal day.
EVANGEUNE.
I I
VERSE=riAKING.
To assist the pupil in understanding the measure in which
Evangeline is written, it seems best to refer in a general way to the
laws of versification, at least in so far as these laws may be studied
in this poem. Writing poetry means more than merely making lines
rhyme.
The pleasing and rhythmic cadence of poetry is produced by
dividing the line into measures as in music. Poetry may be said
to be written in double or triple time, and you may beat time for it
as for music. The accented beat must fall upon an accented syllable.
Accent in poetry, is of two kinds, — the dictionary, or word
accent, in words of more than one syllable, and the metrical accent,
that placed upon words of one syllable only.
The meter of a line is the number of measures, or feet, into
which the line is divided. Each measure is made up of either two
or three syllables, or beats. The long or accented syllable is usually
denoted by - and the unaccented, or short syllable, by v .
The two-syllable foot is called a Trochee when the accent is on
the first syllable, as in tro'chee, mourn'ful, and an Iambus when the
accent is on the second, as in re main', en dure'.
The three-syllable foot is called a Dactyl when the accent is on
the first syllable, as in tur'bulent, mournfully, and an Anapaest when
the accent is on the last, as in interfere', ambuscade'.
Dactylic and trochaic feet may easily be used in the same line,
as the accent falls upon the first beat in each. The time, however,
for the two short beats in the dactyl will be the same as for the one
short beat in the trochee. Take for example the lines:
Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness descended
All was silent without, and illuming the landscape with silver,
or
rrr
r r
r rrtt
r rr T)f p it r
riwiinvrr
The number of feet in a line gives the line its name. Lines of
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight feet are named re-
spectively, monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter,
hexameter, heptameter, and octameter.
Evangeline is written with six measures in each line, and as
dactyls predominate the measure is known as dactylic haxameter.
12
EVANGELINE.
The two-syllable foot, as it appears in dactylic hexameter,
should more properly consist of two long, or equally accented sylla-
bles, and be called a Spondee instead of a Trochee.
A difficult piece will be most easily scanned by first marking
the word accent in all words of more than one syllable, — a very
easy thing to do. The monosyllable words can then be marked
with but little uncertainty.
Certain pauses occur which will be found to correspond to
rests in music and which give emphasis or otherwise add to the sense
or beauty of the production. For example, after the word strong,
in the following:
Patience ; accomplish thy labor ; accomplish thy work of affection.
Sorrow and silence are strong and patient endurance is godlike.
or
There are other interesting points which might be noted in the
subject of verse-making, but these will be left for the pupils' future
research.
-^\z~z\z*z\zzz\z~z\z~
r rrrrrr> vmtrz rr
EVANGELINE. 1 3
EVANGELINE
SELECTION I
I,ines 1 to 19
THE PROLOGUE
This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hem-
locks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms,
c Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that be-
neath it
Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the voice of the
huntsman ?
Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers, —
10 Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands,
Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven?
Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed !
Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October
Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the
ocean.
i$ 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.
14 EVANGELINE.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Primeval, — find derivation. What is a primeval forest? Mur-
muring, — an imitative word, — give its meaning here; also its
meaning as a noun; as a verb. What form of the verb is used here? Add
er to the noun and define; er means what? hemlock, — is this the variety-
referred to in Macbeth, Scene I, Act IV.? bearded, — give meaning of beard
as a noun; as a verb. What part of speech here? Define. Add to beard
the suffix less and define; less means what? Add to this ness and define;
ness means what? eld, — old. prophetic, — give original meaning of prophet
(teacher) and also its meaning now. Define prophetic and give meaning
of ic. hoar, — from Anglo— Saxon har, meaning hoary, white or whitish-
gray, accents, — define as used here, disconsolate, — sad, cheerless; analyze
the word, roe, — the roebuck, or a female deer, thatch-roofed, — define
thatch. What is the form of this word? Compare spelling and pronuncia-
tion of Acadia (a-ka'dia) and Acadie (a-ka-de'). reflecting, — state form of
the verb and define, naught, — or nought, — define as a noun; as an adjective;
as an adverb, tradition, — give meaning of noun, and state part of speech
and meaning when suffix al is added. Prologue, — Greek, pro, before, and
logos, a speech; an introductory statement to a poem or discourse.
Write a short paragraph in which you use correctly, and in such a man-
ner as to convey their meaning, the words hexameter, trochee, spondee, and
dactyl.
A STUDY IN ROOTS. ^ or — outs ide, beyond. L. foras. Forest, the wild,
or uncared-for tree land outside or beyond the
cultivated portions. Prim — first. L. primus. Ev (aev) — life, age. L. aevum.
Primeval, of the first age. Phet — spoken. G. phetes. Prophet=pro-{-phet —
one who foretells. Tradit — deliver, betray. L. tradere, traditus. Tradition,
a story delivered from father to son, — from generation to generation. Fleet —
bend. L. flectere, flexus. Reflecting=re+flect-f-ing.
SOME RULES ^ et us ' at ^ e beginning, adopt the following rules for
FOR OUR our wr ' tteri work in this study:
WRITTEN WORK I- P rocure a good blank book suitable for com-
position work. 2. Write the proper heading and follow
with the special written work called for in the "suggestions" for each selec-
tion. 3. Leave a margin of at least an inch at the left for the teacher's
corrections. 4. Write your thoughts first on scratch paper; correct by eras-
ing, interlining, or striking out, and then transcribe to your note-book. Should
you wish to correct in your note-book by striking out a word do not use a
parenthesis for that purpose, but draw a horizontal line through it. Use the
caret for inserting omitted words. 5. Indent at the beginning of each new
paragraph. 6. Use black ink for your note-book work unless directed other-
wise by your teacher. 7. Note carefully all corrections made upon your
manuscript by your teacher, that you may avoid repeating an error once
corrected. 8. In following the suggestions for special written work through-
out the poem, write everything that may be written, even though it be but
a sentence. Make each sentence complete, so that one need not refer to the
question to know what you mean. Say exactly what you mean, all that you
mean and no more. You may feel that you have a thought well arranged
in the mind, as to the form in which you would express it, but when you
attempt to express it orally and to write it, you find that it was somewhat
misty as to wording and arrangement.
SUGGESTIONS
FOR SPECIAL
1. Write a description of the "forest primeval," based
upon the first four lines, using your own best wording.
2. Study and make notes upon the subject of "Druids."
wvnrv. 2. Investigate in the same manner "Harper." (Read
the introduction to Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel.") 4. Scan lines 7-8.
EVANGELINE. 1 5
5. Select lines containing figures of speech. 6. Later in the study of the
poem, when applicable, recall the simile of "farmers .... scattered like
dust and leaves." 7. Commit to memory lines 1-19.
3. "Druids of eld." These were pagan priests who lived in Brit-
NOTES. ain and Gaul centuries ago. Ruins of their sacrificial altars, and
their rude stone temples are yet found in England and France.
Caesar in his Commentaries tells us that they had charge of the service of
worship, performed the sacrifices, and explained all religious questions.
They were the judges, and annually met, in some sacred place, all who had
disputes to settle. They fixed all rewards and punishments, and none dared
dispute the justice of their decrees. They were highly honored in the nation,
their power over the people being due perhaps to the superstitions which
they taught. They were the teachers, and many young men gathered about
them, committing to memory what was to be learned, — to write being con-
sidered by them an unholy thing to do. They believed in the immortality
of the soul, but that at death it passed from one individual to another. They
considered the oak a sacred tree, and all the more sacred if upon it they
found the mistletoe, which to them was a plant of rare medicinal properties.
They were governed by a chief of their own number, elected by themselves,
whose selection often led to bloody quarrels. They took no part in national
wars, paid no taxes, and bore no other such public burdens. These privileges
led many to join them, but caused the Romans to so seriously dislike them
as finally to destroy them.
(For the facts in history to which reference is made in this selection
read "The Acadian Tragedy" — page 9.)
SELECTION II
Lines 20 to 57
GRAND PRK
Part the First
20 In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward,
Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks without number.
Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant,
25 Shut out the turbulent tides ; but at stated seasons the flood-gates
Opened and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er the meadows.
West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards and corn-
fields
Spreading afar and unf enced o'er the plain ; and away to the north-
ward
Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the mountains
30 Sea- fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantic
Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their station descended.
1 6 EVANGEUNE.
Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and of hemlock,
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian village.
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries
35 Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and gables pro-
jecting
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 chimneys,
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in kirtles
40 Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the golden
Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles within doors
Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels and the songs of
the maidens.
Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and the children
Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to bless them.
45 Reverend walked he among them ; and up rose matrons and maidens,
Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate welcome.
Then came the laborers home from the field, and serenely the sun
sank
Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from the belfry
Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the roofs of the village
Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense ascending,
Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and contentment.
Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian farmers, —
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were they free from
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics.
cc 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.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Minas (mee-nahs). Locate on the map. secluded, — what form
of the verb? What does secluded modify? Find derivation,
and define, dikes, — what form has this word? Define dike as a noun; as a
verb; with suffix meaning one who. incessant, — not to cease; analyze, turbu-
lent, — agitated, tumultuous, orchards, — an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "herb
yards." Collections of fruit trees, generally apples, pears, peaches, and like
fruits. Blomidon (blom'-i-don), a high bluff at the head of the bay of Minas.
Locate on the map. Henries, — note form of word. When and where did
they reign? tranquil (trank'wil), — compare with turbulent. Normandy, —
locate on a map, and find out something about it. vanes, — weather-cocks.
kirtle, — a short jacket, distaff, — the staff for holding the flax to be spun
into thread, anon, — an adverb meaning quickly, soon or immediately, — from
an old English word meaning "in a moment." incense, — perfume from burn-
ing fragrant gums and spices as an offering to some deity. Angelus (an'-je-
lus), — a prayer; a bell calling to prayer, hearth (harth), — define, tyrant, —
a cruel or oppressive ruler. Grand-Pre (granh-pra), — "great meadows."
EVANGELINE. 1 7
A STUDY IN ROOTS ^ u ^> — c ^ us — c l° se > shut. Latin claudere, clausus.
Secluded=se-f-clud-j-ed. Define. Stant — standing.
L. stans, stantis. Distant=di-f-stant, standing away or apart. Past — feed.
L. passere, pastus. Pasture, a feeding place. Cess — cease. L. cessare. Inces-
sant=in-fcess+ant=that which ceases not. Labor — work. L. labor. Turb —
causing commotion, drive. L. turba, a crowd. Scand, scans — climb. L.
scandere. Descend, to climb down. Scan, to climb along the feet in a line
of poetry. Pos — lay, put, place. French, poser. Greek, pausis, a pause ;
pauein, to cease. Repose, laid or placed back. Regn — reign. L. regnum,
kingdom; regere, to rule. Ject — cast, hurl. L. jacere, jectus. Projecting=
pro+ject+ing, being cast forward. Teg, tect — cover. L. tegere. Protected=
pro-j-tect-f-ed, covered in front. Tranquill — at rest. L. tranquillus. Mater,
tnatr — mother. L. mater, matris. Matron, a motherly woman.
AN OUTLINE. Grand-Pre. i. Situation and surroundings. 2. Its houses.
3. Evening street scene. 4. In the twilight. 5. At night.
SUGGESTIONS 1 ' Compare above outline with the selection and decide
FOR SPECIAL whether or not other general topics should be inserted,
w,q„|, or these changed in any way. 2. Arrange sub-topics
for the above outline. (Do not use sentences for topics.
A topic would have no sub-topics unless there were more than one of them.)
3. Select the figures of speech in this selection. (Learn the names of the
figures of speech as you have need of them. Carefully keep all your written
work.) 4. See clearly the pictures in the figures, especially the most vivid,
as: "Sea-fogs pitched their tents"; "Mists . . . looked on the happy
valley" ; "reposed the Acadian village" ; "Columns . . . like clouds of
incense." 5. Write out the connection in thought, in lines 48-51, between
"Angelus" and "columns of smoke." 6. Prepare to reproduce orally from
your outline. 7. Make a written reproduction, in prose, of this selection,
illustrating your paper with simple sketches. Illustrations of the size of a
silver half-dollar to that of a dollar are large enough for such work. For
this, — a simple landscape, a flood-gate, a Norman house, a distaff, a shuttle,
a spinning-wheel, a belfry. 8. Commit to memory this selection.
NOTES 20 * "The Acadian land," — this is Nova Scotia. It was_ settled
by the French more than a century after its discovery in 1497,
by the Cabots, and, under the names Acadia, Arca'dia, Cadie', Acadie or
L'Acadh, was held by them until 1627, when it passed into the hands of the
English. In 1632 it reverted to France, but was restored to the English
again, by the treaty of Utrecht, 1714. The favorite early name was the
poetical Acadie. It is supposed to have been derived from a Micmac Indian
word from which the English derived the word Quoddy.
24. "Dikes." The early settlers probably chose a region which must
be protected by dikes because it was like their own marshy country of west-
ern France, where they had learned to dike and drain. This land was rich
and productive.
49. "Angelus." Angelus Domini (dom'i-ni). Latin. "Angel of the Lord."
A prayer of the Roman Catholic church ordered by Pope John XXII, in 1326,
to be repeated three times a day. at the ringing of the bell. It commemorates
the announcement of the incarnation of the Son of God.
29. "Blomidon." A promontory on the right as you enter the Basin of
Minas from the Bay of Fundy. It stands, its head among the mists of the
storm, 500 feet above the sea. It is said to be familiarly known among the
sailors as "Blow-me-down."
1 8 EVANGEUNE.
SELECTION HI
Lines 58 to 81
BENEDICT BEIXEFONTAINE AND EVANGELINE
Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the Basin of Minas,
Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pre,
6o Dwelt on his goodly acres ; and with him, directing his household,
Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of the village.
Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy winters ;
Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with snow-flakes ;
White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks as brown as the
oak-leaves.
65 Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers ;
Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the
wayside,
Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her
tresses !
Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows.
When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noontide
70 Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah ! fair in sooth was the maiden.
Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell from its turret
Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with his hyssop
Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon them,
Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of beads and her
missal,
75 Wearing her Norman cap and her kirtle of blue, and the ear-rings
Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as an heirloom,
Handed down from mother to child, through long generations.
But a celestial brightness — a more ethereal beauty —
Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confession,
80 Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction upon her.
When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Wealthiest, — note form, stalworth, — an old English word mean-
ing stout and brave, stately, — dignified, hearty, — full of health.
hale, — whole, strong, kine, — the old English plural form of cow. chaplet, —
a string of beads used by Roman Catholics in reciting the Rosary ; a form of
prayer. The word bead originally meant prayer.) missal, — the mass-book.
celestial (from a Latin word meaning heaven), — angelic, ethereal, — airy
Compare the synonyms celestial and ethereal, benediction, — analyze and
define. Note spelling and look up definitions of heirloom, serenely, exquisite.
Pronounce: Benedict, Bellefontaine', Evan'geline.
SUGGESTIONS I> Study to reproduce orally. 2. Study carefully the
FOR SPECIAL description of each person, especially that of Evange-
yyoRK line on Sunday morning, and write carefully describing
the picture of each as impressed on your mind. 3. Se-
lect figures of speech. 4. Commit to memory lines 58-70.
EVANGELINE. 1 9
SELECTION IV
Lines 82 to 102
benedict's HOME AND SURROUNDINGS
Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer
Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea ; and a shady
Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it.
3 5 Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath ; and a footpath
5 Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the meadow.
Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a penthouse,
Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the roadside,
Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of Mary.
90 Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well with its moss-
grown
Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the horses.
Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were the barns and
the farm-yard;
There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique ploughs and
the harrows;
There were the folds for the sheep; and there, in his feathered
seraglio,
95 Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with the selfsame
Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent Peter.
Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a village. In each one
Far o'er the gable projected a roof of thatch; and a staircase,
Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous corn-loft.
100 There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and innocent inmates
Murmuring ever of love ; while above in the variant breezes
Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Study spelling, derivation, meaning, etc., of sycamore, antique,
rudely, thatch, mutation. Wains, wagons.
SUGGESTIONS I# What is the use in the sentence of each of the
FOR SPECIAL following words: builded, commanding, wreathing,
W ORK overhung, built, fastened, shielding, murmuring and
bursting? — Find out all you can on the subject of parti-
ciples. 2. To what does the expression "penitent Peter" refer? 3. What is
the connection in thought between "the variant breezes" and the weathercock's
"song of mutation"? 4. Scan line 93. 5. Make a map of Benedict's home
and surroundings. 6. Write a short description to accompany the map drawn.
NOTES. 87. Pent- house. Any shed-like projection upon a wall to pro-
tect something beneath, or, it may be, a few boards roughly put
together to protect on three sides that which is placed within. These are
often seen, especially in Catholic countries, by rural roads, as the poem recites
94. Seraglio has reference to the old palace of the Sultans at Constan-
tinople, — the harem or apartments of the palace in which the women and
children of Mohammedan rulers and noblemen are kept.
96. For reference to "the penitent -Peter" see Matthew 26 : 69-75.
20 EVANGELINE.
SELECTION V
Lines 103 to 147
EVANGELINE AND HER SUITORS
Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer of Grand-Pre
Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his household.
105 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,
1 10 Knew not which beat the louder, his heart or the knocker of iron ;
Or, at the joyous feast of the Patron Saint of the village,
Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the dance as he whispered
Hurried words of love, that seemed a part of the music.
But among all who come young Gabriel only was welcome;
115 Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the blacksmith,
Who was a mighty man in the village, and honored of all men ;
For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations,
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people.
Basil was Benedict's friend. Their children from earliest childhood
120 Grew up together as brother and sister; and Father Felician,
Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had taught them their
letters
Out of the selfsame book, with the hymns of the church and the
plain-song.
But when the hymn was sung, and the daily lesson completed,
Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the blacksmith.
125 There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to behold him
Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a plaything,
Nailing the shoe in its place ; while near him the tire of the cart-wheel
Lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of cinders.
Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering darkness
13° 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,
135 Down the hillside bounding, they glided away o'er the meadow.
Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests on the rafters,
Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, which the swallow
Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of its fledglings ;
Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the swallow !
140 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.
EVANGEUNE. 21
She was a woman now, with the heart and hopes of a woman.
"Sunshine of Saint Eulalie" was she called; for that was the sun-
shine
145 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 with love and the ruddy faces of children.
FOR STUDY
WORDS Devotion, — vote. Latin uotum, a wish, originally a vow. de-
wtum, vow fully, suitor, — (stem su, follow), suit, from French
and Latin words meaning to follow, to pursue, and or, one who. craft, — an
English word meaning skill. A trade or occupation, repute, — French reputer;
derived from Latin reputare, to repute (literally to reconsider) ; derived from
Latin re, again, putare, to think, to suppose. The original sense was to make
clean, then to make clear, to come to a clear result, — from Latin putus, clean,
clear, — stem put, think, reckon, suppose, pedagogue, — from two Greek
words meaning to lead and a boy. Originally pedagogue meant a slave whose
duty it was to lead a boy to school; a tutor, a teacher. (Stems, ped, paed,
boy, child, and agog, leading, bringing), cranny, — Middle English crany,
made by adding English -y to French cran, a notch ; derived from Latin
crena, a notch, crevice, crevasse, — Middle English crevice, crevase, crevasse ;
derived from Old French crevasse, a rift; derived from Old French crever,
to burst asunder ; derived from Latin crepare, to crackle, burst. Forge, — Old
French forge, a workshop ; derived from Latin fabrica, a workshop, bellows,
— plural of Middle English bellow, a bag. fledgelings, — fledge, to furnish
with feathers, is now substituted for the Middle English Hegge, ready to fly ;
young birds just feathered. Suffix ling means small or young. (The above
illustrates writing the biography of a word, so to speak.) Pronounce:
Felician (felish'i-an). Lejeunesse (lah-zhu-nes). Basil (baz'l).
SUGGESTIONS l ' Make a topical outline for this selection, — main
FOR SPECIAL headings with proper sub-headings. 2. Select if you
\*#ORK can, a dozen figures of speech in this. 3. Write the
meaning of line 121. 4. In what way did the darkness
befriend? 5. Why did his heart beat so? 6. See the picture of the smithy
"bursting with light" and compare it with the picture in line 97. 7. Write
explanation of line 142. 8. Reproduce this selection from your outline, —
orally.
MnT _ Q 117-18. Tubal-cain is recorded in the earliest history, — Genesis,
NOTES. 4:22, — as being "an instructor of every artificer in brass and
iron." All through the centuries since then deeds of valor by brave knights
have depended upon the skill with which their armor was constructed by the
worker in metals. The god Vulcan, forging the thunderbolts, was the per-
sonification of strength and power.
122. The plain-song has been defined as a "monotonic recitative of the
collects." It is a chant wlr.ch was prescribed by Pope Gregory for the Roman
Catholic church, and is sung with but little variation in tone.
133 The French children see the sparks as "nuns going into the chapel,"
or as guests to the wedding. German children speak of them as "people
going out of church" and watch for the last one, which they call the clerk.
137. A French writer speaks of the "swallow's stone" mentioned by
Pliny as having, at least according to village legend, miraculous properties.
With it the mother-bird could cure the blinded eyes of her fledgelings.
144. "The sunshine of Saint Eulalie" was that especially of the 12th day
of February, St. Eulalie's day, which was supposed to insure fruitful orchards.
22 EVANGELINE.
SELECTION VI
Lines 148 to 170
DESCRIPTION OF AUTUMN
II.
Now had the season returned, when the nights grow colder and
longer,
And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion enters.
J 50 Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from the ice-bound,
Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical islands.
Harvests were gathered in ; and wild with the winds of September
Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of old with the angel.
All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement.
155 Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded their honey
Till the hives overflowed ; and the Indian hunters asserted
Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the foxes.
Such was the advent of autumn. Then followed that beautiful
season,
Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of All-Saints !
160 Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the land-
scape
Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of childhood.
Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless heart of the ocean
Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in harmony blended.
Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in the farm-yards,
165 Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing of pigeons,
All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, and the great sun
Looked with the eye of love through the golden vapors around him ;
While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and yellow,
Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree of the forest
170 Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with mantles and
jewels.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. L°°k U P derivations and meanings of the following: Leaden,
September, wrestled, inclement, prophetic, instinct, hoarded, ad-
vent, peasants, consoled, harmony, drowsy, subdued.
SUGGESTIONS J " Study Signs of the Zodiac, and write explana-
FOR SPECIAL ^ on °* the sun's entering the sign of the Scorpion. 2.
WORK. Explain "the retreating sun." 3. Why do the nights
grow longer? Why colder? 4. Is the description of
the Summer of All-Saints, — Indian Summer — a good one? Give reasons
for your answer. 5. Select several especially good descriptive statements.
6. Arrange the parts of this selection under topical headings that you may
the better tell it. 7. Give the picture in your own words. 8. Read the prose
description of "Indian Summer" in the opening lines of Emerson's essay on
"Nature" and compare with this one. (See notes.) 9. Commit to memory
EVANGELINE. 23
this description of Summer of All-Saints. 10. Look up the reference in line
153, and tell why the simile is a good one. 11. How could the Indians
prophesy a cold winter from the thick fur of the foxes? 12. If animals do
have thicker coverings of hair before a cold winter, what conclusion would
you draw from the fact?
NOTES 150-151. The annual migration of birds is in itself one interesting
topic of investigation. Students will find pleasure and profit in
recording the time of arrival of various kinds, and by correspondence with
students in other localities may collect some interesting data on the subject.
153. For the account of Jacob's wrestling read Genesis 32.
159. November first is All-Saints' day, November 11 is Saint Martin's.
The Summer of All-Saints, Saint Martin's Summer, and our Indian Summer
all have reference to the same season, — parts of October and November.
170. This reference is to Xerxes (zurks'ez), who, Herodotus' says, on
invading Greece found a beautiful plane-tree which' he adorned with jewels
and placed under a guard, that it should not be harmed.
Emerson's From the Essay on Nature: "There are days which occur
¦pjt. in this climate, at almost any season of the year, wherein
of Autumn c ^ e wor ^ reaches its perfection ; when the air, the heav-
' enly bodies and the earth, make a harmony, as if nature
would indulge her offspring; when, in these bleak upper sides of the planet,
nothing is to desire that we have heard of the happiest latitudes, and we bask
in the shining hours of Florida and Cuba; when everything that has life
gives sign of satisfaction, and the cattle that lie on the ground seem to have
great and tranquil thoughts. These halcyons may be looked for with a little
more assurance in that pure October weather which we distinguish by the
name of the Indian Summer. The day, immeasurably long, sleeps over the
broad hills and warm wide fields. To have lived through all its sunny hours,
seems longevity enough."
SELECTION VII
Lines 171 to 217
EVENING AT THE FARM
Now recommenced the reign of rest and affection and stillness.
Day with its burden and heat had departed, and twilight descending
Brought back the evening star to the sky, and the herds to the home-
stead.
Pawing the ground they came, and resting their necks on each other,
175 And with their nostrils distended inhaling the freshness of evening.
Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's beautiful heifer,
Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that waved from her
collar,
Quietly paced and slow, as if conscious of human affection.
Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the sea-
side,
24 EVANGELINE.
1 80 Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them followed the watch-
dog,
Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of his instinct,
Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and superbly
Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the stragglers ;
Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept ; their protector,
185 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 fet-
locks,
While aloft on their shoulders the wooden and ponderous 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 descended.
195 Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard in the farm-yard,
Echoed back by the barns. Anon they sank into stillness ;
Heavily closed, with a jarring sound, the valves of the barn-doors,
Rattled the wooden bars, and all for a season was silent.
In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly the farmer
200 Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames and the smoke-
wreaths
Struggled together like foes in a burning city. Behind him,
Nodding and mocking along the wall with gestures fantastic,
Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into darkness.
Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his arm-chair
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates on the dresser
Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies the sunshine.
Fragments of song the old man sang, and carols of Christmas,
Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before him
Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgundian vineyards.
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 bag-
pipe,
Followed the old man's song, and united the fragments together.
2I 5 As in a church, when the chant of the choir at intervals ceases,
Footfalls are heard in the aisles, or words of the priest at the altar,
So, in each pause of the song, with measured motion the clock clicked.
20
EVANGEUNE. 25
FOR STUDY
Compare reign and regent, marsh, — a swamp; from an Anglo-
Saxon word meaning "fall of meres or pools"; mere, a lake.
fetlock, — Anglo-Saxony*^, feet. The lock of hair above a horse's foot carol,
— a song. Old French carole, a singing dance. A merry song, monotonous,
— Greek monos, single, and ionos, tone -f- suffix ous, full of; without change
in tone, drone, — a dull, monotonous, humming sound; the name of each of
three pipes of a bag-pipe which give fixed tones. The fourth pipe, the one
upon which the air is played, is called the chanter.
SUGGESTIONS l ' Wr * te explanation of line 171. 2. Locate Normandy
FOR SPECIAL" and Burgundy. 3. Explain the simile in line 213. 4.
K Analyze the sentence, lines 215-217. 5. Note the imi-
tative alliteration in line 217. 6. Write an explanation
of lines 213-214. 7. Divide the selection into two parts: outdoors, indoors, —
and complete the outline. 8. Study to reproduce orally. Reproduce. 9.
Make a written reproduction, illustrating your paper. Some simple cuts for
your production would be: a fireplace; an arm-chair; a dresser with plates;
Evangeline spinning; a barnyard; the watch dog and flocks; a wain with load
of hay; milk-stool and pail, etc. 10. Commit to memory lines 199-217.
SELECTION VIII
I^ines 218 to 267
THE VISIT OF BASII, AND GABRIEL
Thus as they sat, there were footsteps heard, and, suddenly
lifted,
Sounded the wooden latch, and the door swung back on its hinges.
Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil the blacksmith,
And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was with him.
"Welcome!" the farmer exclaimed, as their footsteps paused on
the threshold,
"Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take thy place on the settle
Close by the chimney-side, which is always empty without thee;
Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and the box of tobacco;
Never so much thyself art thou as when, through the curling
Smoke of the pipe or the forge, thy friendly and jovial face gleams
Round and red as the harvest moon through the mist of the marshes. ' '
Then, with a smile of content, thus answered Basil the blacksmith,
Taking with easy air the accustomed .«-eat by the fire-side: —
"Benedict Bellefontaine, thou hast ever thy jest and thy ballad!
Ever in cheerfulest mood art thou, when others are filled with
Gloomy forebodings of ill, and see only ruin before them.
Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked up a horseshoe."
Pausing a moment, to take the pipe that Evangeline brought him,
And with a coal from the embers had lighted, he slowly continued: —
"Four days now are passed since the English ships at their anchors
Ride in the Gaspereau's mouth, with their cannon pointed against us.
26 EVANGEUNE.
What their design may be is unknown ; but all are commanded
240 On the morrow to meet in the church, where his Majesty's mandate
Will be proclaimed as law in the land. Alas ! in the mean time
Many surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the people."
Then made answer the farmer:— "Perhaps some friendlier purpose
Brings these ships to our shore. Perhaps the harvests in England
245 By untimely rains or untimelier heat have been blighted,
And from our bursting barns they would feed their cattle and chil-
dren."
"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.
250 Many already have fled to the forest, and lurk on its outskirts,
Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of tomorrow.
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 : —
2 55 "Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our flocks and our cornfields,
Safer within these peaceful dikes besieged by the ocean,
Than our fathers in forts, besieged by the enemy's cannon.
Fear no evil, my friend, and to-night may no shadow of sorrow
Fall on this house and hearth ; for this is the night of the contract.
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.
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?"
265 As apart by the window she stood, with her hand in her lover's,
Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father had spoken,
And, as they died on his lips, the worthy notary entered.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Settle, — Anglo-Saxon setl, a seat. A long bench with a high
back. Jovial, — merry, sanguine; literally, born under the lucky
planet Jupiter, — Jove-like. Look up its opposite, saturnine. Compare jovial
and mercurial, ballad, — a popular narrative told in verse, adapted for sing-
ing or recitation. From Latin ballare, to dance. A simple dance song, mood,
— Anglo-Saxon mod, mind. Disposition of mind, mode, — Latin modus,
manner, forebodings, — presentiments before of evil to come; fore, before;
bode, a presentiment, an omen; ing, an Anglo-Saxon suffix used here to form
a verbal noun. Compare foreboding and anxiety, embers, — ashes, mandate, —
a command. Literally, to put into one's hand. Latin, manus, hand; dare, to
give, surmise, — an imagination, a guess made on slight evidence. Latin,
super, over, above ; mitto, to send, dubious, — doubtful. Latin, dubius, doubt-
ful, moving in two directions ; derived from Latin duo, two. scythe (th as in
thine). — an Anglo-Saxon word, the name of an instrument consisting of a
EVANGEUNE. 27
long curved blade attached to a handle (snath), for cutting grass, etc. glebe,
— turf, soil; Latin gleba, clod, notary, — old French notaire, derived from
Latin nota, a note. An officer commissioned by law to affix his official certifi-
cate and seal to certain documents as deeds, etc., thus making them legal.
Beau Sejour (bo sa-zoor'). Rene Leblanc (ru-na' lu-blanhk'). Gaspereau
(gas-pu-ro')-
SUGGESTIONS lm Dmcl e this selection into its principal parts, with
FOR SPECIAL suitable headings. 2. Make a list of Basil's reasons
WORK for fear; also of Benedict's reasons for confidence. 3.
Illustrate by penciled picture, the simile in lines 227-
228, — "face . . . as . . . moon." 4. Look up the historical references
to places mentioned in line 249. 5. Why would they be safer among their
flocks and cornfields than their fathers in forts? 6. Make a map of Nova
Scotia, locating the places mentioned in this selection. 7. Complete your
outline with sub-headings, to reproduce orally.
NOTES 2 3 4- ^ n °^ superstition makes finding a horse-shoe a sign of
good-luck. In order to obtain the good fortune, according to
authorities on the subject, it must be picked up and tossed away over the
left shoulder, or nailed over the door-way with its ends turned outward, or
better, sold for a trifle.
239-242. What was to be done was carefully kept secret from the Aca-
dians. "His Majesty's mandate" read as follows: "We order and strictly
enjoin all the inhabitants, both old men and young men, as well as all lads
of ten years of age, to attend at the church at Grand-Pre, the fifth instant, at
3 o'clock in the afternoon, that we may impart to them what we are ordered
to communicate to them."
249. During the early wars between England and France, expeditions
were sent from New England, capturing Louisburg twice, the last time in
1757, and Port Royal repeatedly and finally in 1710. Beau Sejour had just
been taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow, then in command of the New
England troops, which troops were about to assist in the removal of the
Acadians from their homes.
260-262. Abbe Raynal tells us that "real misery was wholly unknown
among the Acadians. Every misfortune was relieved before it could be felt.
Theirs was, in short, a society of brethren, every individual of which was
ready to give and to receive what he thought the common right of manhood."
An illustration of this trait is found in the custom of building a house for
the young man and woman about to wed, furnishing it with provisions and
other necessaries, and preparing the ground about it for cultivation. Thus
the whole community assisted in the home-making.
SELECTION IX
Lines 268 to 381
THE NOTARY AND A PLEASANT EVENING
III.
Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of the ocean,
Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the notary public ;
70 Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the maize, hung
Over his shoulders ; his forehead was high ; and glasses with horn
bows
Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom supernal.
Father of twenty children was he, and more than a hundred
Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his great watch tick.
28 EVANGELINE.
275 Four long years in the times of the war had he languished a captive,
Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend of the English.
Now, though warier grown, without all guile or suspicion,
Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and childlike.
He was beloved by all, and most of all by the children ;
280 For he told them tales of the Loup-garou in the forest,
And of the goblin that came in the night to water the horses,
And of the white Letiche, the ghost of a child who unchristened
Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers of children;
And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the stable,
285 And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in a nutshell,
And of the marvellous powers of four-leaved clover and horseshoes,
With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the village.
Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the blacksmith,
Knocked from his pipe the ashes, and slowly extending his right
hand,
290 "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 no better than others.
295 Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil intention
Brings them here, for we are at peace ; and why then molest us ?"
"God's name !" shouted the hasty and somewhat irascible blacksmith ;
"Must we in all things look for the how, and the why, and the
wherefore ?
Daily injustice is done, and might is the right of the strongest !"
300 But, without heeding his warmth, continued the notary public, —
"Man is unjust, but God is just; and finally justice
Triumphs ; and well I remember a story, that often consoled me,
When as a captive I lay in the old French fort at Port Royal."
This was the old man's favorite tale, and he loved to repeat it
305 When his neighbors complained that any injustice was done them.
"Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer remember,
Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statue of Justice
Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in its left hand,
And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice presided
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 sunshine above them.
But in the course of time the laws of the land were corrupted ;
Might took the place of right, and the weak were oppressed, and
the mighty
315 Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a nobleman's palace
That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a suspicion
EVANGELINE. 29
Fell on an orphan girl who lived as a 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.
.20 As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit ascended,
Lo ! o'er the city a tempest rose ; and the bolts of the thunder
Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath from its left hand
Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of the balance,
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a magpie,
)2S Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was inwoven."
Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was ended, the black-
smith
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.
330 Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the table,
Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with home-brewed
Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the village of
Grand-Pre ;
While from his pocket the notary drew his papers and inkhorn,
Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the parties,
335 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;
34° And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and 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,
i Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the old men
Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuvre,
Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was made in the
king-row.
Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure,
Sat the lovers and whispered together, beholding the moon rise
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 forget-me-nots of the angels.
Thus was the evening passed. Anon the bell from the belfry
Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew, and straightway
355 Rose the guests and departed ; and silence reigned in the household.
Many a farewell word and sweet good-night on the door-step
Lingered long in Evangeline's heart, and filled it with gladness.
30 EVANGELINE.
Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed on the hearth-
stone,
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 cham-
ber.
Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white, and its clothes-
press
365 Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves were carefully folded
Linen and woollen stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline woven.
This was the precious dower she would bring to her husband in
marriage,
Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of her skill as a house-
wife.
Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and radiant moon-
light
,-q 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.
As ! 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,
375 Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her lamp and her
shadow.
Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeling of sadness
Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in the moonlight
Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a moment.
And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely the moon
pass
j8o Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow her footsteps,
As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered with Hagar.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Surf, — define. Compare with surged and sough; also with sigh
and sob. supernal, — Latin supemus, from super, above ; al,
relating to. Relating to things above, languished, — note derivation, defini-
tion and form of verb, warier, — comparative degree of wary. Define, loup-
garou (166 garoo'). French loup, a wolf, from Latin lupus, a wolf. A" wer-
wolf, or werewolf, means man-wolf, wehr meaning man. In old superstition,
a human being, voluntarily or by witchcraft, turned into a wolf, yet retaining
human intelligence, garou is a French corruption of wehr-wolf, so that loup-
garou might be called an example of tautology, goblin, — (see notes). Letiche
(la-tesh'), — see notes. Rene Leblanc (ru-na' lu-blanhk). Analyze and define:
unchristened (cris-n), resounded, extinguished. Define: Jiaunt, doomed,
EVANGELINE. 3 1
lore, perchance, demeanor, irascible brazen, bronze, congeal, dower (lines
335 and 367), draught-board, contention, serenely, tremulous, manoeuvre,
embrasure, pallid, infinite, spacious . curfezv, — see notes. Ishmael, Hagar;—
see notes.
SUGGESTIONS
FOR SPECIAL
WORK.
I. What is your opinion of the following as an outline
for this selection:
1. The notary:
a. description.
b. what he told the children.
2. The discussion.
a. the mission of the ships.
b. the notary's story; its effect
3. The drawing of the contract.
4. The social evening.
a. spent by old folks.
b. spent by Evangeline and Gabriel.
5. The guests' departure.
6. Evangeline alone.
2. Write a description and character sketch of the notary as portrayed
in this selection. 3. Write your opinion of the wisdom of .the notary, giving
your reasons. 4. Note Basil's manner and words in lines 297-299; compare
manner and words of notary in answer. 5. Keen in mind the notary's story.
6. Did not justice arrive too late in the case of the servant maid? 7. See
the "luminous space in the darkness." 8. Describe the dower Evangeline
had prepared. 9. Did the moon really affect Evangeline as stated in lines
369-371? Explain carefully. 10. Prepare to reproduce each part of this
selection orally. 11. Select one or more parts for_reproduction in an illus-
trated paper. (Your oral reproduction is to be made from the above outline
or from your own, if you have made a better one.) 12. Commit to memory
lines 348-352, and such other portions as you may wish.
NOTES. 275. The character of the notary seems more real upon reading
the lines relating to him in the petition which the Acadians
addressed to the King of England, which runs as ( follows : "Rene Leblanc
(our public notary) was taken prisoner by the Indians when actually travel-
ing in your Majesty's service, his house pillaged, and himself carried to the
French fort, from whence he did not recover his liberty, but with great diffi-
culty, after four years' captivity."
281. A goblin was thought to be an industrious little spirit, of a kindly
disposition, but very shy. It was said to be especially fond of horses, and
busied itself at work among them in the night.
282. It is thought that the milk-white ermine, gliding swiftly about at
night, caused the French peasants to imagine that the soul of some unchrist-
ened child appeared at night.
284. The Norman and English peasants believed that the animals, at
midnight of Christmas eve, fell upon their knees in worship of God.
308-309. Justice is represented usually as holding a pair of scales in one
hand to carefully weigh all evidence for and against the accused, and an up-
lifted sword in the other to visit swift punishment upon the offender.
381. The reference here is to the account given in Genesis, 21 : 14.
32 EVANGEUNE.
SELECTION X
I,ines 382 to 523
THE EVENT OF A DAY
IV.
Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the village of Grand-Pre.
Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the Basin of Minas,
Where the ships, with their wavering shadows, were riding at anchor.
3 8 5 Life had long been astir in the village, and clamorous labor
Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gates of the morning.
Now from the country around, from the farms and neighboring
hamlets,
Came in their holiday dresses the blithe Acadian peasants.
Many a glad good-morrow and jocund laugh from the young folk
™ Made the bright air brighter, as up from the numerous meadows,
Where no path could be seen but the track of wheels in the green-
sward,
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
395 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 p or Evangeline stood among the guests of her father;
Bright was her face with smiles, and words of welcome and gladness
Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as she gave it.
Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the orchard,
Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the feast of betrothal.
4°5 There in the shade of the porch were the priest and the notary seated ;
There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the blacksmith.
Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press and the beehives,
Michael the fiddler was placed, with the gayest of hearts and of
waistcoats.
Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played on his snow-
white
4 10 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 riddle,
Tons les Bourgeois de Chartres, and he Carillon de Dunkerque,
And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to the music.
415 Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying dances
Under the orchard-trees and down the path to the meadows ;
EVANGELINE. 33
Old folk and young together, and children mingled among them.
Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, Benedict's daughter !
Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the blacksmith.
420 So passed the morning away. And lo! with a summons so-
norous
Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat.
Thronged ere long was the church with men. Without, in the
churchyard,
Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on the
headstones
Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from the forest.
425 Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly among
them
Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant clangor
Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and case-
ment, —
Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous portal
Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of the soldiers.
43° Then uprose their commander, and spake from the steps of the altar,
Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal commission.
"You are convened this day," he said, "by his Majesty's orders.
Clement and kind has he been ; but how you have answered his kind-
ness
Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural make and my temper
435 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 prov-
ince
Be transported to other lands. God grant you may dwell there
440 Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable people !
Prisoners now I declare you, for such is his Majesty's pleasure!"
As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of summer,
Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the hailstones
Beats down the farmer's corn in the field, and shatters his windows,
445 Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch from the
house-roofs,
Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their enclosures ;
So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker.
Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then rose
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger.
45° And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to the door-way.
Vain was the hope of escape ; and cries and fierce imprecations
Rang through the house of prayer ; and high o'er the heads of the
others
Rose, with his arms uplifted, the figure of Basil the blacksmith,
34 EVANGEUNE.
As, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the billows.
455 Flushed was his face and distorted with passion ; and wildly he
shouted, —
"Down with the tyrants of England! we never have sworn them
allegiance !
Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our homes and our
harvests !"
More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand of a soldier
Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged him down to the pave-
ment.
4^0 j n the midst of the strife and tumult and of angry contention,
Lo ! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician
Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of the altar.
Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into silence
All that clamorous throng ; and thus he spake to his people ;
4"5 Deep were his tones and solemn ; in accents measured and mournful
Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the clock strikes.
"What is this that ye do, my children? what madness has seized
you?
Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and taught you,
Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another !
47° Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers and priva-
tions ?
Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and forgiveness ?
This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would you profane it
Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with hatred ?
Lo ! where the crucified Christ from His cross is gazing upon you !
475 See ! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy compassion !
Hark! how those lips still repeat the prayer, 'O Father, forgive
them !'
Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked assail us,
Let us repeat it now, and say, 'O Father, forgive them !' "
Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts of his people
480 Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the passionate outbreak,
While they repeated his prayer, and said, "O Father, forgive them !"
Then came the evening service. The tapers gleamed from the
altar ;
Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and the people re-
sponded,
Not with their lips alone, but their hearts ; and the Ave Maria
485 Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their souls, with devotion
translated,
Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah ascending to heaven.
EVANGEUNE. 35
Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidings of ill, and on
all sides
Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women and children.
Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with her right hand
490 Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, that, descending,
Lighted the village street with mysterious splendor, and roofed each
Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and emblazoned its windows.
Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on the table ;
There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant with wild
flowers ;
495 There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh brought from
the dairy;
And at the head of the board the great arm-chair of the farmer.
Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as the sunset
Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad ambrosial meadows.
Ah ! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had fallen,
500 And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial ascended, —
Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, and patience !
Then, all forgetful of self, she wandered into the village,
Cheering with looks and words the mournful hearts of the women,
As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they departed,
505 Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet of their children.
Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glimmering vapors
Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descending from Sinai.
Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus sounded.
Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evangeline lingered.
510 All was silent within; and in vain at the door and the windows
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.
Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house of her father.
515 Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board was 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 disconsolate rain fall
Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore-tree by the window.
5 2 ° Keenly the lightning flashed ; and the voice of the echoing thunder
Told her that God was in heaven, and governed the world He
created !
Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the justice of Heaven ;
Soothed was her troubled soul, and she peacefully slumbered till
morning.
36 EVANGELINE.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. "^ nc * out a ^ you can a b° ut tne derivations, definitions, etc., of
the following words : clamorous, hamlets, blithe, hospitality,
odorous, betrothal, alternately, vibrant (compare with vibrate), dizzying, son-
orous, dissonant, portal, convened, clement, forfeited, peaceable, solstice,
enclosures, imprecations, allegiance, chancel, mien, tocsin's, profane contrition,
passionate, translated, ardor, mysterious, splendor, emblazoned, ambrosial,
phantoms, disconsolate, echoing.
SUGGESTIONS
FOR SPECIAL i. Outline:
WORK.
i. The Betrothal Feast.
2. The Evening at the Church.
a. the gathering.
b. the reading of the orders.
c. the effect of orders on the people.
d. words of Father Felician; their effect.
e. the evening service.
3. The Evening in the Home.
2. What "gleamed"? 3. What caused the shadows to waver? 4. Ex-
plain how "clamorous labor knocked." 5. Explain the figure in lines 389-390.
6. Referring to lines 396-398, compare customs with those of early times of
Virginia and Plymouth, where all things were held in common; compare with
customs of present time; which method is best? Why? 7. Note figure in
lines 410-41 1. 8. Study the picture of the fiddler, lines 407-414, and describe
is as though it were a painting on the wall before you. 9. Picture the assem-
bling at the church, lines 420-429. 10. See the remarkable picture in the
simile of the commander's words and the hailstorm, 442-459. 11. Write a
descriptive comparison, using as a basis the words : "When the air is serene
. . . suddenly gathers a storm." 12. Note description of Basil, his actions
and words. 13. Compare effect of the commander's words with that of the
words of Father Felician, and state reason for difference if you can. (Notice
that the commander's manner was very mild and kind.) 14. Give meaning
of line 484. 15. What power could produce in people, situated as they were,
the spirit of that evening service? 16. To what is the allusion made in line
507? 17. Compare carefully the account of Evangeline alone in her room this
evening, with that of the evening before, lines 360-381 with lines 514-528.
18. Commit to memory lines 509-523.
NOTES ^' ^is figure will appeal more forcibly to those who have
heard the bustle of life as all nature seems awakening early on
a bright morning in the country.
404. This public betrothal, though not the final and legal act of mar-
riage, was considered, in honor, binding upon both parties.
413. Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres ("All the good folks of Chartres")
and Le Carillon de Dunkerque ("Chimes of Dunkirk," — the Dunkirk chimes
played this particular tune; hence the name), were the names of two popular
French tunes, (too le boor-zhwa' du shartr) and (lu kar-e-yonh' du doon-
kurk').
456. France and England were not neighborly at home, and their children
everywhere had much the same ill feeling towards each other. When the
Acadians became English subjects, against their will, they refused to take
the oath of allegiance except they be exempt from taking up arms against
their countrymen. This refusal to renounce entirely their own nation caused
them to be looked upon with suspicion by the English.
476. "Father, forgive them." Read Luke, 23 : 34.
486. "Like Elijah ascending to heaven." Read II Kings, 2: n.
507. "Like the Prophet descending from Sinai." Read Exodus 34 : 29-35.
EVANGEUNE. 37
SELECTION XI
Lines 524 to 584
THE GATHERING AT THE SHORE
Four times the sun had risen and set ; and now on the fifth day
525 Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the farm-house.
Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful procession,
Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the Acadian women,
Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to the sea-shore,
Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their dwellings,
53c Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road and the wood-
land.
Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on the oxen,
While in their little hands they clasped some fragments of playthings.
Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth they hurried; and there on the
sea-beach
Piled in confusion lay the household goods of the peasants.
535 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,
Echoed far o'er the fields came the roll of drums from the church-
yard.
Thither the women and children thronged. On a sudden the church-
doors
540 Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in gloomy pro-
cession
Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian farmers.
Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes and their
country,
Sing as they go, and in singing forget they are weary and wayworn,
So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants descended
545 Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives and their
daughters.
Foremost the young men came ; and, raising together their voices,
Sang with tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic Missions : —
"Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible fountain!
Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission and patience!"
550 Then the old men, as they marched, and the women that stood by
the wayside
Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sunshine above them
Mingled their notes therewith, like the 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, —
38 EVANGEUNE.
Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her,
And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion.
Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to meet him,
Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his shoulder, and whis-
pered, —
"Gabriel! be of good cheer! for if we love one another
Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances may happen! ' '
Smiling she spake these words; then suddenly paused, for her father
Saw she, slowly advancing. Alas! how changed was his aspect!
Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the fire from his eye, and
his footstep
Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy heart in his bosom.
But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his neck and embraced him.
Speaking words of endearment where words of comfort availed not.
Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth moved on that mournful procession.
There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir of embarking.
Busily plied the freighted boats; and in the confusion
Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, too late, saw
their children
Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest entreaties.
So unto separate ships were Basil and Gabriel carried,
While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with her father.
Half the task was not done when the sun went down, and the twi-
light
Deepened and darkened around; and in haste the refluent ocean
Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the sand-beach
Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp and the slippery sea- weed.
Farther back in the midst of the household goods and the wagons,
Like to a gypsy camp, or a leaguer after a battle,
All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near them,
Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian farmers.
Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellowing ocean,
Dragging adown the beach the rattling pebbles, and leaving
Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of the sailors.
FOR STUDY
WORDS Study the following words: ponderous, select synonyms. Look
up derivation and meaning for ply, for prevailed and for tumult.
Look up Gaspereau's. Define inexhaustible \ mischances and freighted. Note
the following: refluent, ebbing, receding; leaguer, — an army camp; nether-
most, — lowest, deepest; waifs, — things without an owner, uncared-for bits
tossed out by the sea; kelp, — a sea-weed of several kinds. It has various uses.
Look them up. Pronounce: Gaspereau (gas-pu-ro'j.
SUGGESTIONS *' See the P athetic picture in lines 526-532. Write a
FOR special" description of it. 2. Line 541, who "followed?" 3. De-
WORK.
scribe the march to the shore. 4. Describe the singing
of the song and notice what they sang. 5. In line s
559-560 what did Evangeline mean? This is an important statement i n
EVANGELINE. 39
this poem. Study it. 6. Note and list figures of speech in lines 542, 548, 552,
564, 570. 575, 579, 582. 7. Make a topical outline. 8. Compile several reasons
for reproduction work, — oral and written, — setting forth the benefits to be
obtained from its practice. These opinions should be sifted in class and
arranged in order of worth for the benefit of all. 9. Reproduce orally from
your outline. 10. Commit to memory lines 542-552.
An outline: Add sub-topics.
1. Duration of imprisonment.
2. The transfer from homes to shore.
3. Appearances on shore during day.
4. Release of prisoners from church.
5. Kvangeline and Gabriel.
6. Kvangeline and her father.
7. Incidents of the embarcation.
8. Arrangements for the night.
NOTES 5 6 9*573- Some years later in a petition to the King of England,
from some of the exiled Acadians, the following statement is
made: "Parents were separated from children, and husbands from wives,
some of whom have not to this day met again; and we were so crowded in
the transport vessels that we had not even room to lie down, and consequently
were prevented from carrying with us proper necessaries, especially for the
support and comfort of the aged and weak, many of whom quickly ended
their lives."
SELECTION XII
Lines 585 to 665
THE NIGHT ON THE SHORE
585 Then , as the night descended, the herds returned from their pastures ;
Sweet was the moist still air with the odor of milk from their udders ;
Lowing they waited , and long, at the well-known bars of the farm-
yard, —
Waited and looked in vain for the voice and the hand of the milk-
maid.
Silence reigned in the streets; from the church no Angelus sounded,
590 Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights from the
windows.
But on the shores meanwhile the evening fires had been kindled,
Built of the drift-wood thrown on the sands from wrecks in the
tempest.
Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces were gathered,
Voices of women were heard, and of men, and the crying of children.
595 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 seashore.
Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat with her father,
And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old man,
600 Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either thought or emo-
tion,
40 EVANGEUNE.
E'en as the face of a clock from which the hands have been taken.
Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to cheer him,
Vainly offered him food ; yet he moved not, he looked not, he spake
not,
But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the flickering fire-light.
605 "Benedicite!" murmured the priest, in tones of compassion.
More he fain would have said, but his heart was full, and his accents
Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child on a threshold,
Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the awful presence of sorrow.
Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of the maiden,
610 Raising his tearful eyes to the silent stars that above them
Moved on their way, unperturbed by the wrongs and sorrows of
mortals.
Then sat he down at her side, and they wept together in silence.
Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in autumn the blood-red
Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o'er the horizon
615 Titan-like stretches its hundred hands upon mountain and meadow,
Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling huge shadows together.
Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the roofs of the village,
Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the ships that lay in the road-
stead.
Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes of flame were
620 Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the quivering hands
of a martyr.
Then as the wind seized the gleeds and the burning thatch, and,
uplifting,
Whirled them aloft through the air, at once from a hundred house-
tops
Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame intermingled.
These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the shore and on
shipboard.
625 Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in their anguish,
"We shall behold no more our homes in the village of Grand-Pre !"
Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the farm-yards,
Thinking the day had dawned ; and anon the lowing of cattle
Came on the evening breeze, by the barking of dogs interrupted.
630 Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the sleeping encamp-
ments
Far in the western prairies of forests that skirt the Nebraska,
When the wild horses affrighted sweep by with the speed of the
whirlwind,
Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the river.
Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the herds and the
horses
EVANGELINE. 4 1
6 35 Broke through their folds and fences, and madly rushed o'er the
meadows.
Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the priest and the
maiden
Gazed on the scene of terror that reddened and widened before them ;
And as they turned at length to speak to their silent companion,
Lo! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched abroad on the sea-
shore
64- Motionless lay his form, from which the soul had departed.
Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the maiden
Knelt at her father's side, and wailed aloud in her terror.
Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her head on his bosom.
Through the long night she lay in deep, oblivious slumber;
^45 And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a multitude near
her.
Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully gazing upon her,
Pallid, with tearful eyes, and looks of saddest compassion.
Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the landscape,
Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on the faces around her,
6 5° And like the day of doom it seemed to her wavering senses.
Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to the people, —
"Let us bury him here by the sea. When a happier season
Brings us again to our homes from the unknown land of our exile,
Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in the churchyard. "
"55 Such were the words of the priest. And there in haste by the sea-
side,
Having the glare of the burning village for funeral torches,
But without bell or book, they buried the farmer of Grand-Pre.
And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of sorrow,
Lo ! with a mournful sound like the voice of a vast congregation,
660 Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar with the dirges.
'T was the returning tide, that afar from the waste of the ocean,
With the first dawn of the day, came heaving and hurrying land-
ward.
Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of embarking ;
And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of the harbor,
665 Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, and the village in ruins.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Define: multitude., horizon, anguish, swoon, oblivious, pallid.
Look up the words crystal, road-stead, prairies, buffaloes, trance.
Analyze and define: consoling, unperturbed, exile (ek'sil). Notice: bene-
dicite (ben-e-dis'i-te), — an invocation of a blessing; gleeds, — glowing coals,
flames; martyr,— one who in the face of persecution bears testimony to his
faith, even to suffering death or great loss on behalf of it.
42 EVANGEUNE.
SUGGESTIONS h Make a topical outline for this selection. 2. Write
FOR SPECIAL an accoun t of the incident in Paul's voyage referred to
WORK. * n ^ nes 595~597» an d ma ke as many comparisons as you
can between this and that. 3. Contrast the description
of Benedict in lines 62-64 and those of him in lines 561-564, 600-604. and
638-640. 4. Study and describe the scene as pictured in the figure in lines
613-616, and that of lines 619-620. 5. In line 620, "folds" of what? 6. What
does the clause in lines 621-622 modify? Diagram or otherwise analyze the
sentence. 7. State the use in the sentence of "pallid," "with tearful eyes,"
and "looks" in line 647. Diagram or otherwise analyze the sentence. 8. Name
the verbs, predicate of "blaze," in line 648. 9. Make a description of all that
you might have seen from the deck of one of the English vessels that night.
Describe it as though it were a painting before you, your subject, — "A Burn-
ing Village," time, — night. Make no statements, however, which you do not
find authority for in the poem. 10. Make a character sketch of Benedict, tak-
ing note of every reference to him in preceding pages. 11. Prepare for mak-
ing an oral reproduction of this selection from your outline.
An outline:
1. The deserted village.
2. Appearance on shore after nightfall.
3. The priest, Evangeline, and Benedict.
4. The burning village.
5. Effect of the burning village, —
a. on people, b. on animals, c. on Benedict.
6. Evangeline's unconsciousness and awakening.
7. The burial of Benedict.
8. The departure.
NOTES 597* "^ or accoun t °f Paul's shipwreck see the twenty-seventh and
first part of the twenty-eighth chapters of Acts. Melita (meT-
i-ta), the ancient name of Malta, an island south of Sicily in the Mediter-
ranean. It possesses one of the finest harbors in the world.
615. The Titans were a family of giant gods in Greek mythology who
were defeated in their war against Saturn by Jupiter and the Olympian
deities and driven into the under-world, Jupiter, the son of Saturn, hurling
thunder-bolts after them. The parents of the Titans were Caelus and Terra
(Heaven and Earth). Braireus (bri'ah-re-us) was a giant of the same par-
entage, having a hundred hands and fifty heads, who aided the giants in their
war.
626. The English Governor had instructed Colonel Winslow in the fol-
lowing words : "You must proceed by the most vigorous measures possible,
not only in compelling them to embark, but in depriving those who shall
escape of all means of shelter or support by burning their houses, and by
destroying everything that may afford them the means of subsistence in the
country."
657. The burial of Benedict was without the more formal rites of the
Roman Catholic church, — the tolling of the usual funeral bell, and without
the book used in burial services.
660. Dirges. Mournful songs or tunes. The word is derived from the
opening words of the funeral service in Latin, — Dirige, Domine nos, "Direct
us, O Lord." This word would seem particularly appropriate to use just
here.
EVANGELINE. 43
SELECTION XIII
Lines 666 to 740
PRELUDE TO EVANGELINE'S WANDERINGS
Part the Second
Many a weary year had passed since the burning of Grand-Pre,
When on the falling tide the freighted vessels departed,
Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile,
Exile without an end, and without an example in story.
5 70 Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians landed;
Scattered were they, like flakes of snow, when the wind from
the northeast
Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks of Newfound-
land.
Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from city to city,
From the cold lakes of the North to sultry Southern savannas, —
675 From the bleak shores of the sea to the lands where the Father of
Waters
Seizes the hills in his hands, and drags them down to the ocean,
Deep in their sands to bury the scattered bones of the mammoth.
Friends they sought and homes ; and many, despairing, heart-broken,
Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer a friend nor a fireside.
680 Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the churchyards.
Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and wandered,
Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently suffering all things.
Fair was she and young ; but, alas ! before her extended,
Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its pathway
685 Marked by the graves of those who had sorrowed and suffered before
her,
Passions long extinguished, and hopes long dead and abandoned,
As the emigrant's way o'er the Western desert is marked by
Camp-fired long consumed, and bones that bleach in the sunshine.
Something there was in her life incomplete, imperfect, unfinished ;
690 As if a morning of June, with all its music and sunshine,
Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, slowly descended
Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen.
Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the fever within her,
Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and thirst of the spirit,
695 She would commence again her endless search and endeavor;
Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the crosses and
tombstones,
Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that perhaps in its bosom
He was already at rest, and she longed to slumber beside him.
44 EVANGELINE.
Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whisper,
700 Came with its airy hand to point and beckon her forward.
Sometimes she spake with those who had seen her beloved and known
him,
But it was long ago, in some far-off place or forgotten.
"Gabriel Lajeunesse!" they said; "Oh, yes! we have seen him.
He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have gone to the
prairies ;
705 Coureurs-des-bois are they, and famous hunters and trappers."
"Gabriel Lajeunesse!" said others; "Oh, yes! we have seen him.
He is a voyageur in the lowlands of Louisiana."
Then would they say, "Dear child! why dream and wait for him
longer ?
Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel ? others
710 Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as loyal?
Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has loved thee
Many a tedious year ; come, give him thy hand and be happy !
Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine's tresses."
Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, "I cannot !
715 Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, and not else-
where.
For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and illumines the path-
way,
Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in darkness."
Thereupon the priest, her friend and father confessor,
Said, with a smile, "O daughter ! thy God thus speaketh within thee !
720 Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted ;
If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning
Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refresh-
ment ;
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain.
Patience ; accomplish thy labor ; accomplish thy work of affection !
725 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,
730 But with its sound there was mingled a voice that whispered, "De-
spair not!"
Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheerless discomfort.
Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and thorns of existence.
Let me essay, O Muse! to follow the wanderer's footsteps; —
Not through each devious path, each changeful year of existence ;
735 But as a traveller follows a streamlet's course through the valley :
Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam of its water
Here and there, in some open space, and at intervals only ;
EVANGELINE. 45
Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan glooms that con-
ceal it,
Though he behold it not, he can hear its continuous murmur;
40 Happy, at length, if he find a spot where it reaches an outlet.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. L°°k: up derivations and define: sultry, mammoth. Analyze and
define : inarticulate, devious, sylvan. Define : savannas, hearsay.
Notice: essay, — try; shards, — broken bits of crockery or other brittle sub-
stances; coureurs-des-bois (koo-rur-da-bwa'), — see note, 705; voyageur (vwa-
ya-zhur, — see note 707.
SUGGESTIONS lm Locate and describe the banks of Newfoundland;
FOR SPECIAL te ^ °* their fogs, — causes, etc., and make in your own
WORK words the application made by the author. 2. What were
their household gods? 3. In line 673 why are the first
three words arranged as they are? What is such an arrangement called?
Scan this line. 4. Write out the meaning of the figure after line 675. 5. Ex-
plain the metaphor in lines 683-688. 6. Explain simile in lines 689-692. 7.
Note language introductory to "airy hand." 8. Explain how affection never
is wasted. 9. Give the priest's opinion as to the value of sorrow and silence,
and patient endurance. 10. How can sorrow and silence be strong? 11.
Study lines 720-725, together with lines 559-560, and write what you would
infer from them to be the lesson of the poem. 12. Why use the words
"bleeding, barefooted"? 13. May line 381 have any application in this selec-
tion? If so, how? 14. Trace the parallel between our following her wander-
ings and the traveler following the stream. 15. Commit to memory lines
666-680, 689-692, 720-727. 16. Prepare for an oral reproduction of this selec-
tion from an outline, your own, or the following properly filled out with
suitable sub-headings :
An outline:
1. The exiled and scattered nation.
2. The wandering maiden and her pathway.
3. Her life as an unfinished June morning.
4. How she searched.
i Advice of friends, — her answer.
67 Father Felician's opinion.
7. How we follow her.
NOTES ^- ^ ^-reading of the bit of history, "The Acadian Tragedy,"
on page 9, will perhaps be a proper review at this point.
675. The term, "Father of Waters," refers to the Mississippi river, —
Mississippi being an Indian word meaning "great waters" or "father of
waters."
678-679. The petition of the exiled Acadians to the King says: "We
have already seen in this province of Pennsylvania, two hundred and fifty
of our people, which is more than half the number that were landed here,
perish through misery and various diseases."
705. The coureur-des-bois were French and Canadian hunters and trad-
ers who rendered service in traversing the thick forest regions. The name
means, literally, "runners of the forests." Although they themselves were
quite lawless, like the Indians with whom they associated, yet they rendered
much valuable service to the settlers during the Indian wars.
707. Kingsford, in his history of Canada speaks of the term "voyageur"
as having (about 1727) come into use to take the place of the term "coureurs-
des-bois," which term had become disreputable on account of the character
of those who bore it. The voyageurs were generally French and Canadian
4 6
EVANGELINE.
employees of the Hudson Bay and other fur-trading companies, who were
in the early days, engaged in carrying men and supplies, furs etc., by ^ canoes
upon the lakes and rivers between the various trading-posts of the Northwest.
7H St Catherine of Alexandria was one of the patron saints of virgins,
and it was a' common saying among the French, of one who remained unmar-
ried that she was one of St. Catherine's attendants, or one to dress the tresses
of St. Catherine,
SELECTION XIV
I,ines 741 to 887
THE VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI
II.
It was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful River,
Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wabash,
Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mississippi,
Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Acadian boatmen.
7 ,c It was a band of exiles : a raft, as it were from the shipwrecked
Nation scattered along the coast, now floating together,
Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a common misfortune;
Men and women and children, who, guided by hope or by hearsay
Sought for their kith and their kin among the few-acred farmers
„ cn On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair Opelousas
75 With them Evangeline went, and her guide, the Father Fehcian.
Onward^'fr sunken sands, through a wilderness sombre with
forests,
Dav after day they glided adown the turbulent river;
Nkht after Xht, by their blazing fires, encamped on its borders
755 Now through S rushing chutes, among green islands, where plumel.ke
7 Cotton-tree! nodded their shadowy crests, they swept with the cur-
Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery sand-bars
£ay inThe Stream, and along the wimpling waves of their margin,
SWn ng with snow-white plumes, large flocks of pelicans waded.
7 6o Sel The landscape grew, and along the shores of the river,
Shaded by china-trees, in the midst of luxuriant gardens
Stood the houses of planters, with negro cabins and dove-cots.
Th°y were approaching the region where reigns perpetual summer
Whe^through the Golden Coast, and groves of orange and citron
,6, Sweeps with majestic curve the river away to the eastward
75 TheJ too, swerled from their course; and, entering the Bayou oij
Plaquemine, ¦ .
Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious waters
Which, like a network of steel, extended in every direction
Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of the cypres.
,,o Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses m mid-air
77 Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals.
EVANGEUNE. 47
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.
75 Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed on the water,
Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sustaining the arches,
Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through chinks in a
ruin.
Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were all things around them;
And o'er their spirits there came a feeling of wonder and sadness,—
80 Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be compassed.
As, at the tramp of a horse's hoof on the turf of the prairies,
Far in advance are closed the leaves of the shrinking mimosa,
So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad forebodings of evil,
Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom has attained it.
85 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.
90 Then in his place, at the prow of the boat, rose one of the oars-
men,
And, as a signal sound, if others like them peradventure
Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew a blast on his
bugle.
Wild through the dark colonnades and corridors leafy the blast rang,
Breaking the seal of silence and giving tongues to the forest.
95 Soundless above them the banners of moss just stirred to the music.
Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance,
" Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverberant branches ;
But not a voice replied ; no answer came from the darkness ;
And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain was the silence,
too Then Evangeline slept; but the boatmen rowed through the mid-
night,
Silent at times, then singing familiar Canadian boat-songs,
Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers.
While through the night were heard the mysterious sounds of the
desert,
05 Far off, — indistinct, — as of wave or wind in the forest, I
Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of the grim alligator
Thus ere another noon they emerged from the shades ; and be-
fore them
Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya.
Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations
Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, the lotus
810 Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen.
48 EVANGELINE.
Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia blossoms,
And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan islands,
Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses,
Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to slumber.
815 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 green-
sward,
Tired with their midnight toil, the weary travellers slumbered.
Over them vast and high extended the cope of a cedar.
820 Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and the grapevine
Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of Jacob,
On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, descending,
Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blossom to blossom.
Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered beneath it.
825 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, 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.
83° Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the bison and beaver.
At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thoughtful and careworn,
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,
835 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 ;
All undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and unseen, were the
sleepers ;
840 Angel of God was there none to awaken the slumbering maiden.
Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud on the prairie.
After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died in the distance,
As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the maiden
Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, "O Father Felician !
845 Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel wanders.
Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague superstition ?
Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my spirit?"
Then, with a blush, she added, "Alas for my credulous fancy !
Unto ears like thine such words as these have no meaning."
850 But made answer the reverend man, and he smiled as he answered, —
"Daughter, thy words are not idle; nor are they to me without
meaning,
Feeling is deep and still ; and the word that floats on the surface
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor is hidden.
EVANGEUNE. 49
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world calls illusions.
855 Gabriel truly is near" thee ; for not far away to the southward,
On the banks of the Teche, are the towns of St. Maur and St.
Martin.
There the long-wandering bride shall be given again to her bride-
groom,
There the long absent pastor regain his flock and his sheepfold.
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit-trees ;
860 Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of heavens
Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of the forest.
They who dwell there have named it the Eden of Louisiana."
"With these words of cheer they arose and continued their jour-
ney.
Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon
865 Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the landscape ;
Twinkling vapors arose ; and sky and water and forest
Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together.
Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of silver,
Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the motionless water.
870 Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexpressible sweetness.
Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of feeling
Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters around her.
Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, wildest of
singers,
Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the water,
875 Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music,
That the whole air and the woods and the waves seemed silent to
listen.
Plaintive at first were the tones and sad ; then soaring to madness
Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied Bacchantes.
Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamentation;
880 Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in derision,
As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the tree-tops
Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on the branches.
With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed with emotion,
Slowly they entered the Teche, where it flows through the green
Opelousas,
885 And, through the amber air, above the crest of the woodland,
Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neighboring dwelling ; —
Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing of cattle.
FOR STUDY
WORDS Look up derivations and define: somber ; tenebrous, mimosa,
colonnade, corridor, myriad, magnolia, credulous, wimpling. Ana-
lyze and define : resplendent, cumbrous, prelude, delirious. Define : kith,
kin, chutes, lagoons, pelican, heron, crane, alligator, bison, demoniac, perad-
venture, lotus, cope, tholes, frenzied (G. phren, brain, mind).
50 EVANGEUNE.
SUGGESTIONS I * -Does "wimpling" refer to the form or the sound of
FOR SPECIAL ^ e wave ? 2 - Rewrite in your own words, giving
WORK. meaning of "hanging between two skies," "a cloud with
edges of silver," in connection with the lines in which
they occur. 3. Write explanation of line 840. 4. Diagram or otherwise ana-
lyze the statement in lines 820-823. 5. Select figures of speech in this selec-
tion (perhaps forty). 6. Make a list of the lines which give a tinge of sad-
ness to the otherwise brightly pictured journey. 7. Make sub-headings for
the following outline, giving special attention to the river scenes :
1. The voyagers.
2. Shifting river scenes.
3. Night on the river.
4. Evangeline's dream and presentiment.
5. The priest's opinion.
6. Description of evening.
7. Description of the mocking-bird's song.
8. The journey's ending.
8. Commit to memory 781-784, 864-882. 9. Study to reproduce this selec-
tion in your own words.
NOTES. 74 1, ^ e "beautiful river" was the Ohio, named thus by the
Indians.
750. The banks of the Mississippi near its mouth were known as the
Acadian Coast on account of settlements of Acadians there. Opelousas is a
town in St. Landry parish, fifty miles west of Baton Rouge, and the fertile
grazing and farming lands about it and stretching back from the river are
here spoken of as the prairies of fair Opelousas (6p-e-l66'sas).
761. The mention here of the "China-tree" may have reference to the
Cinchona or Peruvian-bark tree, or to some ornamental tree growing there.
764. The "Golden Coast" refers to the banks of the river north of Baton
Rouge.
766. The Bayou of Plaquemine (bi'66, plak-meen) is a bayou about one
hundred miles from the Gulf, flowing from the Mississippi river westward
into Atchafalaya bayou.
807. Atchafalaya Bayou (ach-a-fa-li'yah) is a Red River outlet flowing
into the Gulf of Mexico, through Atchafalaya bay. It is navigable about
two hundred fifty miles.
808. The flower here called a lotus is a beautiful swamp lily, with great
leaves several feet in diameter floating upon the surface of the sluggish bayous
of the South. Two foot-stocks, bearing two large leaves, three feet or more
in height, rise above the floating discs. From between these leaves the flower-
stem rises still higher, bearing its golden cup-shaped lily to wave in the
breezes and fill the air with its fragrance.
821. For the Bible account here referred to, read Genesis 28 : 12.
856. The Teche (tash) is a bayou of St. Landry parish, which, after a
navigable course to the south-east for two hundred miles, flows into Atcha-
falaya bayou. Note St. Maur (sanh mor').
878. Bacchus (bak'us), in Greek mythology, was the god of the vine-
yard, or of wine. The Bacchantes (bak-kan'tez) were priestesses or devotees
of Bacchus. At the festivals to that god, under the influence of wine and
excitement, they carried their revels to a high pitch and committed great
excesses.
EVANGELINE. 5 1
SELECTION XV
Lines 888 to 925
THE HERDSMAN AND HIS HOME
III.
Near to the bank of the river, o'ershadowed by oaks from whose
branches
Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic mistletoe flaunted,
8 9° Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at Yule-tide,
Stood, secluded and still, the house of the herdsman. A garden
Girded it round about with a belt of luxuriant blossoms,
Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself was of timbers
Hewn from the cypress-tree, and carefully fitted together.
^95 Large and low was the roof ; and on slender columns supported,
Rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and spacious veranda,
Haunt of the huming-bird and the bee, extended around it.
At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the garden,
Stationed the dove-cots were, as love's perpetual symbol,
9°o Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentions of rivals.
Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of shadow and sunshine
Ran near the tops of the trees ; but the house itself was in shadow,
And from its chimney-top, ascending and slowly expanding
Into the evening air, a thin blue column of smoke rose.
9°5 In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a pathway
Through the great groves of oak to the skirts of the limitless prairie,
Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly descending.
Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy canvas
Hanging loose from their spars in a motionless calm in the tropics,
910 Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of grapevines.
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
9 J 5 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
920 Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast that resounded
Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air of the evening.
Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the cattle
Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse currents of ocean.
Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed o'er the prairie,
925 And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the distance.
52 EVANGEUNE.
WORDS. Find derivations, analyze and define: mystic {myst), luxuriant
{lux), vapory {vapor). Define: mistletoe, Yule-tide, cordage,
doublet, sombrero.
SUGGESTIONS lm ^ ee ^ ie tw0 pi ctures m this selection: a. The house
FOR SPECIAL anc * * ts surroundings; b. The prairie. Note in the first
V^ORK picture: the house, garden, dove-cots, line of shadow
and sunshine, smoke, pathway. Note in the second :
the limitless prairie, setting sun, cluster of trees, herdsman, cattle. Describe
these pictures as though on canvas before you. 2. Draw a picture of the clus-
ter of trees. 3. Write explanation of line 890. 4. Give part of speech and
use in sentence of each of these words : o'ershadowed, secluded, still, filling,
hewn, fitted, supported, rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, ascending, expanding
(903), mounted, arrayed, lifting, expanding (919), bellowing. 5. Analyze
or diagram sentence contained in first four lines. 6. Analyze or diagram
sentence beginning with line 895.
NOTES. ^9' Geiger gives the following description of Spanish moss,
which, like the mistletoe, is a parasite: "It is a tangle of pale-
green tendrils, in thickness like ordinary string, and while one end is closely
woven around a branch of the tree, the remainder droops in long straight
festoons. Its popular name heno (hay) conveys the best possible description
of the effect it produces on the view."
889-890. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant which grows upon the trunk and
branches of trees, especially the oak. The Druids regarded the oak as a
sacred tree, and the mistletoe, if found upon the sacred tree, was considered
a gift from the gods, to be used by them in the secret, mystic rites of their
religion, and the ceremony o'f taking it from the oak was elaborate. The
priest, clad in white robes, cut it with a golden knife, or hatchet, and then,
beneath the tree, offered two milk-white bulls, a sacrifice to the gods.
Christmas-time is known as Yule-tide from the ancient custom in Eng-
land of burning a great yule-log on Christmas day.
SELECTION XVI
Lines 926 to 958
THE MEETING WITH BASIL
Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, through the gates of
the garden
Saw he the forms of the priest and the maiden advancing to meet
him.
Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in amazement, and for-
ward
Pushed with extended arms and exclamations of wonder;
93o When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the blacksmith,
Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the garden.
There in an arbor of roses with endless question and answer
Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their friendly embraces,
X,aughing and weeping by turns, or sitting silent and thoughtful.
935 Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not ; and now dark doubts and mis-
givings
Stole o'er the maiden's heart; and Basil, somewhat embarrassed,
Broke the silence and said, " If you come by the Atchafalaya,
EVANGEUNE. 53
How have you nowhere encountered my Gabriel's boat on the
bayous ?"
Over Evangeline's face at the words of Basil a shade passed.
240 Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a tremulous accent,
"Gone? is Gabriel gone?" and, concealing her face on his shoulder,
All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and she wept and lamented.
Then the good Basil said, — and his voice grew blithe as he said it, —
"Be of good cheer, my child ; it is only to-day he departed.
945 Foolish boy ! he has left me alone with my herds and my horses.
Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, his spirit
Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet existence.
Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful ever,
Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troubles,
95° He at length had become so tedious to men and to maidens,
Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me, and sent him
Unto the town of Adayes to trade for mules with the Spaniards.
Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the Ozark Mountains,
Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers trapping the beaver.
955 Therefore be of good cheer ; we will follow the fugitive lover ;
He is not far on his way, and the Fates and the streams are against
him.
Up and away to-morrow, and through the red dew of the morning,
We will follow him fast, and bring him back to his prison."
FOR STUDY
WORDS L°ok up derivations, analyze and define: ardor, (ard; ars —
burn) ,vent (vent — wind), tedious (tedi — irksomeness), fugi-
tive (fug — flee). Define: amazement, embarrassed, bayous, accent, blithe,
moody.
SUGGESTIONS I " Make a topical outline for this. 2. Prepare for an
FOR SPECIAL ora * re P r °duction. 3. Write a description, based upon
W0RK statements in this and the preceding selection, for each
Evangeline and Gabriel, comparing them in appearance
and character as here portrayed.
NOTES. 9$ 2 ' A'dayes (a-da-yes), a town in the northern part of Texas,
in territory settled early by the Spanish.
953. The Indian trails to the various hunting-grounds were the only
ways for western travel in those early days. The Ozark mountain range is a
range in the northern part of Arkansas, extending into Missouri.
956. The Fates were three goddesses in Grecian mythology, who were
supposed to preside over human life and its destinies. Their names were
Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis. They are sometimes represented as spinning
the thread of life, Clotho holding the distaff, Lachesis turning the wheel, and
Atropos, with shears in hand, ready to cut the thread.
54 EVANGELINE.
SELECTION XVII
Lines 959 to 1058
THE EVENING WITH BASIL
Then glad voices were heard, and up from the banks of the river,
9 6 ° Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came Michael the fiddler.
Long under Basil's roof had he lived, like a god on Olympus,
Having no other care than dispensing music to mortals.
Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his fiddle.
"Long live Michael," they cried, "our brave Acadian minstrel !"
965 As they bore him aloft in triumphal procession ; and straightway
Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, greeting the old man
Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while Basil, enraptured,
Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions and gossips,
Laughing loud and long, and embracing mothers and daughters.
97° Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the ci-devant blacksmith,
All his domains and his herds, and his patriarchal demeanor ;
Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the soil and the climate,
And of the prairies, whose numberless herds were his who would
take them;
Each one thought in his heart, that he, too, would go and do likewise.
975 Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the breezy 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,
980 Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars ; but within doors,
Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the glimmering
lamplight.
Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, the herdsman
Poured forth his heart and his wine together in endless profusion.
Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet Natchitoches tobacco,
985 Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled as they list-
ened : —
"Welcome once more, my friends, who long have been friendless and
homeless,
Welcome once more to a home, that is better perchance than the
old one!
Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the rivers ;
Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer ;
990 Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a keel through
the water.
All the year round the orange-groves are in blossom; and grass
grows
More in a single night than a whole Canadian summer.
EVANGEUNE. 55
Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed in the prairies ;
Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber
55 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 home-
steads,
Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing your farms and your
cattle."
Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from his nostrils,
00 While his huge, brown hand came thundering down on the table,
So that the guests all started ; and Father Felician, astounded,
Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff 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 !
05 For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate,
Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck in a nutshell !"
Then there were voices heard at the door, and footsteps approaching
Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy veranda.
It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian planters,
10 Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil the herdsman.
Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and neighbors :
Friend clasped friend in his arms; and they who "before were as
strangers,
Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to each other,
Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country together.
>i5 But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, proceeding
From the accordant strings of Michael's melodious fiddle,
Broke up all further speech. Away, like children delighted,
All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves to the maddening
Whirl of the dizzy dance, as it swept and swayed to the music,
Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of fluttering garments.
320
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 on entranced, for within her
Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst of the music
025 Heard she the sound of the sea, and an irrepressible sadness
Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into the garden.
Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall of the forest,
Tipping its summit with silver, arose the moon. On the river
Fell here and there through the branches a tremulous gleam of the
moonlight,
030 Like the sweet thought of love on a darkened and devious spirit.
Nearer and round about her, the manifold flowers of the garder
5^ EVANGEUNE.
Poured out their souls in odors, that were their prayers and con-
fessions
Unto the night, as it went its way, like a silent Carthusian.
Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with shadows and night-
dews,
1035 Hung the heart of the maiden. The calm and the magical moon-
light
Seemed to inundate her soul with indefinable longings,
As, through the garden gate, and beneath the shade of the oak-trees,
Passed she along the path to the edge of the measureless prairie.
Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and fire-flies
1040 Gleamed and floated away in mingled and infinite numbers.
Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the heavens,
Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to marvel and worship,
Save when a blazing comet was seen on the walls of that temple,
As if a hand had appeared and written upon them, "Upharsin. ,,
1045 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 !
1050 Ah ! how often thine eyes have looked on the woodlands around me !
Ah ! how often beneath this oak, returning from labor,
Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me in thy slumbers !
When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded about thee?"
Loud and sudden and near the note of a whippoorwill sounded
io 55 Like a flute in the woods ; and anon, through the neighboring thick-
ets,
Farther and farther away it floated and dropped into silence.
"Patience I" whispered the oaks from oracular caverns of darkness ;
And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh responded, "To-morrow !"
FOR STUDY
WORDS L°ok up derivations, analyze and define: comrades (earner—
chamber), mortal (mort — death), hilarious (hilar — cheerful),
patriarchal (L. pater, pair — father, and G. arch — rule, govern), demeanor,
myriad, congeal (gel — frost), ancient, accordant, devious, inundate, indefin-
able, (fin — end, limit). Study to define: borne, renowned, veranda, illuming,
myriad, glimmering, entranced, irrepressible, manifold, oracular. Notice the
following: See notes for Olympus, Creoles, Carthusian, Upharsin, oracular,
cidevant (se-de-vonh') , — former; F. ci (ici), — here; devant — before.
SUGGESTIONS Im Who were those who bore Michael on their shoul-
FOR SPECIAL ders? Cite several lines to prove their identity. 2.
WORK Describe the tableau seen in the four lines beginning
with 999. Compare Basil here with Basil in lines 297-
299, and 452-457. 3. What figure in line 999? 4. Make a topical outline for
this selection. 5. Commit to memory lines 1027- 1033. 6. Prepare for repro-
duction in your own words.
Much opportunity is afforded in this selection, (as in others), especially
from line 1021 to the end, for careful thought and class discussion.
EVANGEUNE. 57
NOTES. Thessaly, near ancient Macedonia. Its altitude is nearly 10,000
961. Olympus (6-lim'pus) is a famous mountain of Greece, in
feet. It was regarded by the ancient people of Greece as the abode of the
gods, and as crowned by the throne of Jupiter.
984. Natchitoches (nach-i-toch'ez, or nak-i-tosh') is a parish in the
northwestern part of Louisiana, with the Red River for its eastern boundary.
It has fertile farming lands, and Natchitoches is its chief city.
1009. A Creole (kre'ol), in Louisiana, is a person born there, but of
French and Spanish ancestry.
1033. The Carthusians (kar-thu-zhans) — an order of monks, founded
in 1086, who took their name from the monastery of Chartreuse, near Gren-
oble, France. Their rules were very austere, and forbade them, among other
things, to leave their cells, or to speak to any one without permission from
their superior.
1044. For the force and meaning of the word "Upharsin" read the ac-
count of Belshazzar's feast in the fifth chapter of Daniel.
1057. Oracular means pertaining to the oracles. An oracle was a pre-
tended revelation of future events by a priest or priestess. Among the most
famous oracles were those of Apollo, at Delphi. Darkness and ambiguity
in the responses to inquiries were made to cover the mistakes which otherwise
would have exposed the imposture, (from L. oraculum, — divine announce-
ment; L. orare, — to pray; L. os, oris, — the mouth.)
SELECTION XVIII
I,ines 1059 to 1077
THE JOURNEY TO ADAYES
Bright rose the sun next day ; and all the flowers of the garden
I0 6o Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and anointed his tresses
With the delicious balm that they bore in their vases of crystal.
"Farewell !" said the priest, as he stood at the shadowy threshold ;
"See that you bring us the Prodigal Son from his fasting and famine,
And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the bridegroom was
coming."
65 "Farewell!" answered the maiden, and, smiling, with Basil de-
scended
Down to the river's brink, where the boatmen already were waiting.
Thus beginning their journey with morning, and sunshine, and glad-
ness,
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.
1070 Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that succeeded,
Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or river,
Nor, after many days, had they found him ; but vague and uncertain
Rumors alone were their guides through a wild and desolate country ;
Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of Adayes,
io 75 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.
5§ EVANGELINE.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Look up derivations, analyze and define: delicious {delict — de-
light, pleasure), crystal (G. crystall,— ice), succeeded (ced, cess,
— go, yield), vague (vag, — wander), garrulous {garr, — chatter).
SUGGESTIONS i. Write out an explanation of the first three lines of
FOR SPECIAL *-k* s se ^ ect i° n - 2 - Write explanation of reference in
WORK ** ne I0 ^ 3 ' also °* t ^ iat * n I0 ^4' gi^g tne connection of
each in this story. 3. Describe the conditions surround-
ing the beginning of the journey and compare with its ending. 4. Write
explanation of the simile in line 1069 and compare it with another in this
poem, similar to it, made with reference to a nation. 5. What figure in line
1073? 6. Commit to memory lines 1059-1061. 7. Prepare to'reproduce orally.
1059-1061. For a study of the allusion contained in these lines
read Luke 7 : 37, 38.
1063. The story of the Prodigal Son will be found in Luke, the fifteenth
chapter.
1064. For the account of the Foolish Virgins read Matthew 25 : 1-13.
NOTES.
SELECTION XIX
Lines 1078 to 1105
THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND GREAT PLAINS
IV.
Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains
Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits.
1080 Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the gorge, like a gate-
way,
Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the emigrant's wagon,
Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and Owyhee.
Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind-river Mountains,
Through the Sweet- water Valley precipitate leaps the Nebraska ;
1085 And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout and the Spanish sierras,
Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the wind of the desert,
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend to the ocean,
Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn vibrations.
Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, beautiful
prairies,
1090 Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine,
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas.
Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck ;
Over them wandered the wolves, and herds of riderless horses ;
Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel ;
1095 Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's children,
Staining the desert with blood ; and above their terrible war-trails
Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vulture,
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle,
By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens.
EVANGEUNE. 59
| I0 ° Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these savage ma-
rauders ;
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 brook-side,
And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven,
105 Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. L°°k up derivations, analyze and define: luminous, ravine (rav —
bear away), emigrant's (migr — wander), devious (vi — way,
road), precipitate (precipic, precipit, — headlong; from L. prae — before, and
caput, capitis, the head), descend,, vibrations {vibr — swing), scaling (seal —
ladder), crystalline. Define: perpetual, jagged, gorge, fretted, chords, prai-
ries, billowy, luxuriant, pinions, implacable, marauders, taciturn, anchorite.
SUGGESTIONS *¦ Make a topical outline. 2. Rewrite in good prose
FOR SPECIAL ^ nes IQ 87-io88, changing the simile to a metaphor. 3.
WORK Why should the sky seem as the protecting hand of
God? 4. Get a complete view of this superb word pic-
ture. Describe it as though the land lay before you, and you were actually
looking at the things mentioned in Longfellow's description.
NOTES. I0 ^- ^he poet k ere opens a description of the great west, includ-
ing the Rocky Mountain region, and the great .plains extending
eastward to the Ozark Mountains.
1082. The Oregon, now the Columbia river, flows westward from the
Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. The Ouyhee (6-wy'hee), in southeastern
Oregon, flows into the Snake river, a southern tributary of the Columbia.
The Walleway (woU'e-wa) is a small stream in the northeastern part of the
same state.
1083-1084. The Wind River Mountains is an outlying range of the Rocky
Mountains in Wyoming, culminating in Fremont's Peak, at an altitude of
about 13,000 feet.
The Sweet-water Valley affords an outlet from the Wind River range
to the eastward. A tributary of the North Piatt, a branch of the Nebraska,
flows through this valley.
1085. Fontaine-qui-bout (fonh-tan-ke-boo), French word meaning "boil-
ing spring," is supposed to refer to springs in southeastern Colorado.
The Spanish Sierras are mountains extending southward from Utah to
Mexico. Sierra is a Spanish word meaning "a saw."
1091. The Amorpha is a plant bearing a dark-blue flower. It is thus
named on account of the irregularity in form of the flower. From the Greek
words a — without, and morphe — form.
1095. The Bedouins, or true Arabs, are the traditional descendants of
Ishmael. They wander with their herds, and live in tents. They subsist
partly by plunder, and this characteristic may have prompted the comparison
of the Indians to "Ishmael's children." Read Genesis 21 : 9-21, and Genesis
25 : 12-16. There is no reason for supposing that the American Indians are
the descendants of these people, although fancy sometimes pictures them as
such.
60 EVANGELINE.
SELECTION XX
Unes 1106 to 1115
THE PURSUIT UPON THE PLAINS
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.
i no Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the smoke of his camp-fire
Rise in the morning air from the distant plain ; but at nightfall,
When they had reached the place, they found only embers and ashes.
And, though their hearts were sad at times and their bodies were
weary,
Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata Morgana
1 115 Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and vanished before
them.
FOR STUDY
SUGGESTIONS I * ^ an a P erson see as f ar as indicated in lines 1110-
FOR SPECIAL 1 1 12? If so, under what conditions? If not, account
W0RK for the statement. 2. What is the figure in line 1109?
3. Rewrite lines 1114-1115, explaining "Fata Morgana"
and "lakes of light," and connect them with the thought here. 4. Find a
quotation or two with reference to "hope," from some other author, which
would apply here.
NOTE IIT 4* ^ ie "^ ata Morgana (fa'tah-mor-gah'nah), Italian for the
fairy Morgana, is a marine mirage seen on the seacoast, espe-
cially about Reggio, Italy, in the Straits of Messina. There, multiplied re-
flections of objects on the surrounding coasts are seen in the air, or upon
the surface of the water. Supposed to be the work of the fairy Morgana.
This phenomenon is also produced by the sun shining upon the sandy deserts
of the west in this country. The sand and lower stratum of air are heated,
producing the appearance of lakes in the distance.
SELECTION XXI
Unes 1116 to 1164
THE SHAWNEE WOMAN
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,
1 1 20 From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel Camanches,
Where her Canadian husband, a coureur-des-bois, had been mur-
dered.
Touched were their hearts at her story, and warmest and friendliest
welcome
Gave they, with words of cheer, and she sat and feasted among them
EVANGELINE. 6 1
On the buffalo-meat and the venison cooked on the embers.
1 125 But when their meal was done, and Basil and all his companions,
Worn with the long day's march and the chase of the deer and the
bison,
Stretched themselves on the ground, and slept where the quivering
fire-light
Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms wrapped up in
their blankets,
Then at the door of Evangeline's tent she sat and repeated
1 1 30 Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm of her Indian accent,
All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, and pains, and reverses.
Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know that another
Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been disappointed.
Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and woman's compassion,
1 135 Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had suffered was near her,
She in turn related her love and all its disasters.
Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she had ended
Still was mute ; but at length, as if a mysterious horror
Passed through her brain, she spake, and repeated the tale of the
Mowis ;
1 1 40 Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded a maiden,
But, when the morning came, arose and passed from the wigwam,
Fading and melting away and dissolving into the sunshine,
Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far into the forest.
Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation,
1 145 Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, who was wooed by a phantom,
That, through the pines o'er her father's lodge, in the hush of the
twilight,
Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love to the maiden,
Till she followed his green and waving plume through the forest,
And nevermore returned, nor was seen again by her people.
1 1 50 Silent with wonder and strange surprise, Evangeline listened
To the soft flow of her magical words, till the region around her
Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy guest the en-
chantress.
Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the moon rose,
Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious splendor
1 155 Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing and filling the woodland.
With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and the branches
Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely audible whispers.
Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline's heart, but a secret,
Subtle sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror,
1 160 As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of the swallow.
It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region of spirits
Seemed to float in the air of night ; and she felt for a moment
62 EVANGELINE.
That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing a phantom.
With this thought she slept, and the fear and the phantom had van-
ished.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. L°°k U P derivations, analyze and define: reverses (vert^vers —
turn), disaster (G. aster, astr — star), dissolving (solv, solut —
loosen), incantation {cant — sing), enchantress {chant — sing). Both these
stems are from the Latin word cantare, but chant comes to us through the
French word chanter, audible (aud — hear, listen), indefinite (fin — end, limit).
Define: venison, embers, swarthy, hapless, wooed, phantom, sombre.
SUGGESTIONS *• L° cate tne Indian tribes mentioned in this selection.
FOR SPECIAL 2 - D escr i De the Shawnee woman and tell of her recep-
WORK. t * orL 3' ^ n w ^ at was her experience similar to Evan-
geline's? Compare the taking off of her Husband with
that of Evangeline's. 4. Briefly write out the Indian legends which she told.
5. Was the telling of these stories intended to comfort Evangeline t In what
way could comfort come to her from them? 6. What was the effect upon
Evangeline? Note the vivid simile used in lines 11 59-1 160. 7. Scan lines
1150-1152, and notice the difference in making the two-syllable feet trochees
or spondees.
NOTES. III 9; ^he Shawnee (shaw'ne) Indians belong to the Olgonquin
family, and their early home was upon the Wabash river in Ohio.
1 120. The Comanches were the most numerous and warlike of all the
tribes of American Indians. Their habitat extended from the Gulf of Mexico
to the Rocky Mountains, principally along the rivers in that territory tribu-
tary to the Rio Grande. They were fine horsemen, fierce, predatory, and rich
in property gathered in their many raids.
1130. Tne tale of Mowis (mowes) runs as follows: A wasting sick-
ness had been brought upon an Indian l^rave through a spell cast over him
by an Indian maiden. He appealed to the great Indian spirit, Manito, who
agreed to punish the maiden. Following the great spirit's directions he made
a figure of bones and refuse, binding the whole together with snow. The
great spirit then breathed life into it and introduced it to the maiden as
Mowis, to whom she, falling in love, was married. Soon after the marriage
the bridegroom prepared for a long journey, and the maiden, after much
persuasion was allowed to accompany him though much against nls will.
She followed him on through the forest, but could not keep pace with his
hurrying footsteps. The hot sun began to melt the snow. The bones ap-
peared. The refuse fell apart, and Mowis disappeared from her view. She
was overcome with grief for her lost lover, and died there alone in the
forest.
1 145. The story of Lilinau (le'-li-no) is also an Indian story as weird
as that of Mowis, and well illustrates the workings of the Indian mind. It
also has its own peculiar application in the story of Evangeline.
EVANGELINE. 63
SELECTION XXII
I,ines 1165 to 1206
THE JESUIT MISSION
H65 Early upon the morrow the march was resumed, and the
Shawnee
Said, as they journeyed along, — "On the western slope of these
mountains
Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of the Mission.
Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary and Jesus ;
Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep with pain, as they hear
him."
1 1 70 Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evangeline answered,
"Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings await us !"
Thither they turned their steeds; and behind a spur of the moun-
tains,
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,
1 175 Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission.
Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the village,
Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A crucifix fastened
High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed by grapevines,
Looked with its agonized face on the multitude kneeling beneath it.
1 180 This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the intricate arches
Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers,
Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.
Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer approaching,
Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the evening devotions.
1 185 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 expres-
sion,
Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother-tongue in the forest, • •
1 1 90 And, with words of kindness, conducted them into his wigwam.
There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on cakes of the maize-
ear
Feasted and slaked their thirst from the water-gourd of the teacher.
Soon was their story told; and the priest with solemnity answered:
" Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, seated
1 195 On this mat by my side, where now the maiden reposes,
Told me this same sad tale; then arose and continued his journey!"
Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with an accent of
kindness;
But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter the snow-
flakes
64 EVANGEUNE.
Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have departed.
1 200 "F ar to the north he has gone," continued the priest; "but in autumn,
When the chase is done, will return again to the Mission."
Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and submissive,
"Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and afflicted."
So seemed it wise and well unto all ; and betimes on the morrow,
I2 °5 Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides and companions,
Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed at the Mission.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. L°°k U P derivations, analyze and define: crucifix (cruc — cross
and fix — fixed, fastened), agonized (G. agon — contest, struggle),
aerial (aer — air), vesper (vesper — the evening star), benediction, benignant
(benign — mild). Define: spur, intricate, chant, susurus, aivarded, reverend,
bade, maize-ear, slaked, betimes.
SUGGESTIONS I * Note picture of the company, in lines 1175-1179, and
FOR SPECIAL compare with that in lines 1095-1099. 2. Notice the
WORK. figure in lines 1185-1186 and compare it with a similar
• one used earlier in the poem. 3. Compare the figure in
lines 1 198- 1 199 with one similar to it, used to show an effect of the Shawnee
woman's stories. 4. Write a character sketch of Basil, using references to
him in preceding pages. 5. Make an outline for this selection (about ten
headings) and prepare for oral reproduction.
NOTES. 1 175. The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, a religious order in the
Roman Catholic Church, was founded by St. Ignatius Loyola,
about 1540, and soon became a very powerful organization. Its priests have
no special costume, but dress in black, similar to the usual dress of Catholic
priests.
SELECTION XIII
I,ines 1207 to 1238
UFE 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
about her,
I2IO Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, and forming
Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries pillaged by squirrels.
Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, and the maidens
Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover,
But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the corn-field.
I2 i s Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover.
"Patience!" the priest would say; "have faith, and thy prayer will
be answered!
Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from the meadow,
See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true as the magnet ; %
EVANGELINE. 65
This is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has planted
1220 Here in the houseless wild, to direct the traveller's journey
Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert.
Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of passion,
Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of fragrance,
But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their odor is deadly.
1225 Only this humble plant can guide us here, and hereafter
Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with the dews of
nepenthe."
So came the autumn, and passed, and the winter — yet Gabriel
came not;
Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes of the robin and blue-
bird
Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood, yet Gabriel came not.
1230 But on the breath of the summer winds a rumor was wafted
Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odor of blossom.
Far to the north and east, it said, in the Michigan forests,
Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the Saginaw River.
And, with returning guides, that sought the lakes of St. Lawrence,
1235 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 !
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Look up derivatives, analyze and define: mendicant (mendic-~
beg), granary (gran — grain). Define: interlacing, cloisters, pil-
laged, luxuriant, beguile, autumn, wold, hue.
enrrccTmw<i r - Analyze,— or show analysis by a diagram, — the first
FOR SPECIAL five lineS ° f this se l ection - 2 - Wh y use here the eX "
WORK pression "cloisters for mendicant crows"? 3. In what
ways is the .compass-flower, as described here, like
faith? 4. What are the blossoms of passion, and why are they called gay,
luxuriant, fragrant flowers? 5. In connection with preceding lines, rewrite
lines 1225-1226 in your own words. 6. What figure in 1236? 7. Commit to
memory lines 1216-1226.
NOTES I2I9> ^he compass-flower is a plant growing usually several
feet in height. After the poem had first been published, Mr.
Longfellow, on seeing the plant, rewrote his description of it. As first pub-
lished the lines ran :
"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 that the finger of God has suspended
Here on its fragile stock, to direct the traveler's journey."
1226. The asphodels are a genus of perennial plants, of the order
Liliaceae. They are stately plants, growing about three feet high, and hav-
ing beautiful yellow or white flowers arranged upon a long spike. The
ancients imagined these flowers as growing in great profusion upon the
elysian fields of Paradise.
Nepenthe is the name of a drug for allaying pain. Nepenthe was a
drink which the ancients believed would release one from sorrow.
66 EVANGELINE.
SELECTION XXIV
Lines 1239 to 1251
THE SUMMARY OF EVANGELINE'S WANDERINGS
Thus did the long sad years glide on, and in seasons and places
1240 Divers and distant far was seen the wandering maiden;—
Now in the Tents of Grace of the meek Moravian Missions,
Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields of the army,
Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and populous cities.
Like a phantom she came, and passed away unremembered.
I2 45 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 fore-
head,
1250 Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her earthly horizon,
As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks of the morning.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Study: perilous, attained, lodge, divers.
SUGGESTIONS I * What battle-fields were these, referred to in line
FOR SPECIAL 1242? 2. Note the beauty of the metaphor in last three
^qd|/ lines. Is there anything up to this point to indicate
that the "dawn" here means more than the "gray o'er
her forehead," or has any reference to her aside from her personal appear-
ance? 3. Write out your method of studying any selection, showing what
steps you would take to get all its meaning. 4. Study this for reproduction.
NOTES. I241- ^^ e Moravians are a Christian sect which began in Mora-
via and Bohemia in 1457. They seem to have been practicing
the doctrines of the Reformation in Bohemia when Luther began to preach.
They are very strong in missionary work.
SELECTION XXV
Lines 1252 to 1297
EVANGELINE FINDS HERSELF
V.
In that delightful land which is washed by the Delaware's
waters,
Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the apostle,
Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city he founded.
1255 There all the air is balm, and the peach is the emblem of beauty,
And the streets still reecho the names of the trees of the forest,
As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose haunts they mo-
lested.
There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, an exile,
EVANGELINE. 67
Finding among the children of Penn a home and a country.
1260 There old Rene Leblanc had died; and when he departed,
Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descendants.
Something at least there was in the friendly streets of the city,
Something that spake to her heart, and m^oe her no longer a
stranger ;
And her ear was pleased with the Thee and Thou of the Quakers,
1265 For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country,
Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and sisters.
So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed endeavor,
Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncomplaining,
Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her thoughts and her
footsteps.
1270 As from a mountain's top the rainy mists of the morning
Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below us,
Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and hamlets,
So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the world far below her,
Dark no longer, but all illumined with love ; and the pathway
1275 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.
1280 Over him years had no power ; he was not changed, but transfigured ;
He had become to her heart as one who is dead, and not absent ;
Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion to others,
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had taught her.
So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous spices,
1285 Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with aroma.
Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to follow,
Meekly with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her Saviour.
Thus many years she lived as a Sister of Mercy ; frequenting
Lonely and wretched roofs in the crowded lanes of the city,
1290 Where distress and want concealed themselves from the sunlight,
Where disease and sorrow in garrets languished neglected.
Night after night when the world was asleep, as the watchman re-
peated
Loud, through the gusty streets, that all was well in the city,
High at some lonely window he saw the light of her taper.
1295 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.
68 EVANGELINE.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Derivatives for analysis and defining: sylvan {silv — forest),
abnegation (negat — deny), frequenting (frequ — crowd, press),
languished {langu — be weak), suburbs {urb — city). Define: reecho, ap-
pease, molested, exile, descendants, endeavor, diffused, odorous, aroma, (com-
pare aroma and odor) wretched, concealed, plodded.
SUGGESTIONS lm What guards the name of Penn? 2. Write a de-
FOR SPECIAL scription of the city and surroundings from statements
WORK in the first six lines. 3. Write explaining line 1258.
4. Who are the children of Penn? 5. Write your
thoughts on reading carefully lines 1260-1261. 6. Why did this seem a home-
like place to Evangeline? 7. Had Evangeline's life up to this time been an
unselfish one? 8. What now becomes her supreme desire? 9. Quote lines
which indicate a training for this higher life. 10. State how her past life
appears to her now, as shown in lines 1270-1275. n. Give a short statement
of what she does here, and in what spirit it is done.
NOTES I2 5 2 - The Delaware river is the eastern boundary of Pennsyl-
vania, and flows into Delaware Bay.
1253. The life of William Penn is interesting as an illustration of the
power of a high resolve in the accomplishment of a good purpose under great
difficulties. He established the State of Pennsylvania, and the spirit in which
it was done is read in the name of the city he founded, — Philadelphia —
"brotherly love."
1256. A number of the streets of Philadelphia bear the names of trees
of that section.
1257. The Dryads (Gr. dryas, from drus — an oak-tree) were in Grecian
mythology, the goddesses of woods and trees in general. They differed from
the Hemadryads, who were born in the tree, lived in it, and died when the
tree died.
1264. The Quakers, or Society of Friends, use the old style of address,
— thee and thou, for you, etc.
1288. Sisters of Mercy, or Charity, is an order of women in the Catholic
Church, who devote their lives and whole time to acts of charity and help-
fulness.
SELECTION XXVI
Lines 1298 to 1319
THE PESTILENCE
Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell on the city,
Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks of wild pigeons,
1300 Darkening the sun in their flight, with naught in their craws but an
acorn.
And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of September,
Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake in the meadow,
So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural margin,
Spread to a brackish lake the silver stream of existence.
1305 Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, the oppressor;
But all perished alike beneath the scourge of his anger ; —
Only, alas ! the poor, who had neither friends nor attendants,
Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the homeless.
EVANGELINE. 69
Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and wood-
lands ; —
l 3 l ° Now the city surrounds it; but still, with its gateway and wicket
Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls seem to echo
Softly the words of the Lord : — "The poor ye always have with you."
Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of Mercy. The dying
Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed t to behold there
I 3 I 5 Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead with splendor,
Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of saints and apostles,
Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at a distance.
Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city celestial,
Into whose shining gates ere long their spirits would enter.
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Study: presaged, brackish, scourge.
SUGGESTIONS l - What is a pestilence? 2. Notice the comparison of
FOR SPECIAL *^ e anc ^ s il ver stream, to death and life, in lines 1300-
WORK . 1304. Write this comparison in your own best prose
statements. 3. Has life's "natural margin" been deter-
mined ? Discuss in this connection, mortality statistics, and "Expectation of
life" tables. 4. Write your thoughts, as suggested by lines 1305-1308. 5.
What, in your opinion, could be a greater compensation than that which
came to her as described in the last seven lines of this selection?
NOTES I S°3- The mortality statistics of modern cities show a large de-
crease in the death rate on account of improved sanitary condi-
tions. Thus life's "natural margin" has been very much extended. Mortal-
ity statistics and life insurance tables of "expectation of life" vary according
to the healthfulness of the locality considered.
1308. The old Friends' Almshouse is the one referred to by Longfellow,
who saw it on his visit to Philadelphia in 1826 (see the biography). It has
since been removed.
1312. For this saying of Christ's see Mark 14 : 7.
SELECTION XXVII
Lines 1320 to 1380
GABRIEL FOUND
1320 Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, deserted and
silent,
Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the almshouse.
Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers in the garden,
And she paused on her way to gather the fairest among them,
That the dying once more might rejoice in their fragrance and
beauty.
1325 Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, cooled by the east-
wind.
70 EVANGELINE.
Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of Christ
Church,
While, intermingled with these, across the meadows were wafted
Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in their church at
Wicaco.
Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on her spirit;
133° Something within her said, " At length thy trials are ended;"
And, with light in her looks, she entered the chambers of sickness.
Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful attendants,
Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, and in silence
Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and concealing their faces,
: 335 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,
134° Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever.
Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night time;
Vacant their places were, or filled already by strangers.
Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of wonder,
Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a shudder
1345 Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flowerets dropped from
her fingers,
And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom of the morning.
Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such terrible anguish,
That the dying heard it, and started up from their pillows.
On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an old man .
1350 Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded his temples;
But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a moment
Seemed to assume once more the forms of its earlier manhood;
So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are dying.
Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the fever,
1355 As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had besprinkled its portals,
That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and pass over.
Motionless, senseless, dying he lay, and his spirit exhausted
Seemed to be sinking down through infinite depths in the darkness,
Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and sinking.
1360 Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied reverberations,
Heard he that cry of pain, an 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;
1365 Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among them,
Village, and mountain, and woodlands; and, walking under their
shadow,
EVANGELINE. 71
As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his vision.
Tears came into his eyes ; and as slowly he lifted his eyelids,
Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knelt by his bedside.
I 37° Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the accents unuttered
Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what his tongue would
have spoken.
Vainly he strove to rise ; and Evangeline, kneeling beside him,
Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her bosom.
Sweet was the light of his eyes ; but it suddenly sank into darkness,
1375 As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a casement.
All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow,
All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing,
All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience!
And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her bosom,
x 38o Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, "Father, I thank thee!"
FOR STUDY
WORDS. Study: wending, psalms, Swedes, assiduous, pallets, languid,
consoler, reverberations, casement.
SUGGESTIONS Im Write a comparison between Evangeline on this
FOR SPECIAL Sunday morning, and on that other Sunday morn de-
WORK. scribed in lines 71-81. 2. Would you place the climax
of this story in this selection or in some other? 3.
Write an account of Evangeline's finding Gabriel, his vision, his recognition
of her, and his death. 4. Why did she say, "Father, I thank thee"? 5. Com-
pile what you have previously written, adding whatever else you can find,
for a completed character sketch of Evangeline. 6. Do the same for a final
sketch of Gabriel.
NOTES I S 2 ^- Christ's Church is the Episcopal church in which Franklin
lies buried.
1328. The Swede's church at Wicaco (we-ka'ko) still stands, the oldest
in the city, founded in 1698. Wicaco was a village on the banks of the Dela-
ware, but now is a part of the city.
1355. The reference here is to the event in memory of which the Hebrew
feast of the Passover was kept. Read Exodus, 12 : 7, 12-13, 22-23.
SELECTION XXVIII
Unes 1381 to 1399
FINIS
Still stands the forest primeval ; but far away from its shadow,
Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.
Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard,
In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and tmnoticed.
385 Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them,
Thousands ot throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever,
Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy,
72 EVANGELINE.
Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their
labors,
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed their journey !
^o Still stands the forest primeval; but under the shade of its
branches
Dwells another race, with other customs and language.
Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic
Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile
Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom.
J 395 In the fisherman's cot the wheel and the loom are still busy;
Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun,
And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story,
While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
FOR STUDY
FOR SPECIAL I - Write at least three comparisons between the pic-
WORK. tures presented in lines 379-381, and events portrayed
SUGGESTIONS * n ^ e P oem - 2 - Write the comparison between the
living and these dead contained in lines 1381-1389. 3.
Why does the author recall the Acadian land for a closing piece? 4. Write a
synopsis of this story.
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