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Show L . w "Ji' M 1 v f ..j'-.r v ' 4'' 'vvv!i Will i ' I ' J .f -" A j By ELMO SCOTT WATSON CfjTQ NE of the tenderer-it love stories in f?.Vy'M American literature and one of 'i iW'iff-)) America's best-loved poets, who ?jt$L maJe thnt love story immortal, are -."SC to have nn enduring memorial in JOpCC the form of a national park of 1,000 acres, If present plans are i carried forward to a successful con- (iiisi.m. That story is the story of the quest of KvonjrcIIne, the Acadian maiden, for her lover, poet ia Henry Wadsworth LoiiKfellow, who v.-1'nlo her epic of love and devotion, and the project is the establishment of a national reservation reserva-tion near St. Martinville, La., to be known as l"iifrilow-Evangeline National Memorial park. Down In Louisiana the descendants of Evan-Hlne's Evan-Hlne's people, the Aoadians, have formed a Long-f Long-f llmv-Kvansielhie National Tark association, the inrpose of which is stated by its officers as follows; fol-lows; To build a great national memorial to the Ac,k1;.h!S ; to erect a splendid bronze statue, rep-''scnling rep-''scnling Longfellow and ttie heroine of his poem. "I'viinwllae," the Acadian maiden of Grand Pre; to preserve the Evangeline Oak, a tree more than 'i-nr hundred years old, al.so the ancient trees iinwi!' St. Martinsville, the s-ene of the poem; In iire-erve the ancient brick building which i-i'ils near the oak and which was the trailing l't of the Attakapas Indians, and to build a ''i'im In which will be kept the records and iinilqisps used by the early Acndians and French ''niisrnnts into Louisiana, as well as a record of ilonor, so that the lives of these people, whom I wjri'i'llnw Immortalized, may be studied by this l-'i'iiiTiitJon and generations to come. In tK'cordanee with this plan the association is I'nllsiiiii; (lie Hld of every citizen of Louisiana to Imve (lie first national park in the South located I" Hie Pelican state. It has already secured '"I 'oprintlon of $10,000 hy the state legislature 'lil'-h has made possible the purchase of a tract of nt least 230 acres and It is asking the federal c-i'viutient for an appropriation of SI 00,000 In '"'1'T that more land as much as 1.000 acres, if l''-'s!hle may be bought. The project Is more ttmn one to foster local pride, since by It the ""iiiral beauties of that section may be made ll;"i-e apparent and made accessible to the ttmus-iTulsi Pf tourists from all parts of the country '" drive through the Acadian country every I'"'". For that reason the park has a national siilllrunne. Tt also has an international sig-nilinu,,.,, sig-nilinu,,.,, i,i that French Canadians will be Invited sharp In thus honoring the memory of those of ,,!"lr people who. so many years ago. were forced '" li'nve thnlr homes and go Into exile. '"''hided in the plans for the park are those for S'-'ilpturecl group of Longfellow and his two fm" characters. Kvangeline and Gabriel. This ll'0'i will he place,! as nearly as possible to the "I"" v''l'"i'c tradition says Kvnngellne kept her 'r-"t with the lover of her youth. Near It will be h,1;Jt a wading pool and about this will stand the ''"'inured symbolic figures of Youth, dullness, "' and Despair, ns exemplified In the poem. "' nvr all this nrtltlcial beauty will tower tin' tf'iy inoss-luuig oaks and cypress trees which are : a prominent feature of the Louisiana :':;t!'"'pe. One of the beauty spots in the park ' :i I'e an old-fusblonod garden in which will be i ',,:i"l llnwers sucli as Kvangeline tended In her I r'!'; '" hy ti,( Hasln of Minas and tlirough which ''' rn shaded walks, winriing around quiet pools " n' place of ancient beauty whose only modern !' Mill bo the drtvow.-ys for motorists, the ihat mark the entrance and the lighting wliU-h will make possible the use of the '''lr'; night. Ah'iougi, tlie park Is situated In the Acadian ''""! ry ;ui,l will be a memorial to the Aoadians, . n w'" "o less a memorial to Longfellow, 'he K ,ct- It has already i-n the support of many ' tyv,i interests. Tlie trades unions of America '1 prect tliere n monument symbolical of Long-'''1( Long-'''1( w's poer.i, "The l'.uilder." The iron-workers 0 li'ila and the milled States are uuhing to erect a statuary g.up depicting "The Village Blacksmith." "Hiawatha" will be Immortalized in bronze by contributions from the Indians of the two countries and an effort will be made to Interest the school children of America in giving penny contributions which will make possible a statue appropriate to "The Children's Hour." Although they were characters of fiction, there once did live a "Gabriel" and nn "Evangeline" whose love story Inspired Longfellow's poem. The name of the real "Evangeline" was Emmerline Lablche, the faithless "Gabriel" was Louis Arce-neaux, Arce-neaux, and their life story is a part of the tragic tale of the simple .. folk of Acadia who were deported by British soldiery from their homes away back In 1755. The Acadlans were French colonists who had settled In what Is now Nova Scotia In 1607, and who lived a happy, contented existence in their homes In the New world until caught In the maelstrom of world politics, stirred up by the contest between England and France to decide which nation was to dominate the North American continent. In the series of wars between the two countries which began in 1CS0 Acadia was a pawn on the International chess-board, now held by the French and now by the British. As for the Acadlans themselves, they were in the main neutral. In fact they were often referred to in the official papers of the time as the "Neutral "Neu-tral French." While the sympathies of most of them no doubt leaned toward their own country-men country-men and some of them supported the French cause, for the most part they wished to be left alone In their peaceful pursuits as farmers and fishermen. The question of their allegiance was never definitely settled after any of the treaties of peace, tut In 1755, with France and England girding for the final decisive struggle, the Acadlans found themselves caught between the upper and nether millstones of British and French demands for their loyalty. In that year the British, who then held Acadia, decided thnt the Acadlans were "an enemy encamped en-camped In the heart of the province" and determined deter-mined to force a show-down. They reiterated a demand that had been made many years before, but which bad never been Insisted upon that the Acadlans nke an oath of allegiance to the British crown upon pain of forfeiture of their rights and lands. What followed Is well-described by George M. Wrong in "Tlie Conquest of New France" in the Vale University Chronicles of America as follows ; The thine wns d'-tne In the pummr find autumn of 17K5. Colonel Hobc-rt Mnnckton, a repular officer, sm nf an Irish peer, who always phnwed an la-t'tTablo la-t'tTablo superiority to provincial orTirors serving under him. waa placed In chnrrro of the work. He ordered the male lnhn tilt a nts of the nelphhorhond of Beausejour to meet him there on the tenth of August. I'nty atiout one-third of them came some four hundred. He told them that the covernment at Halifax row declared them rebels. Their land? and all th.Mr pood? were forfeited: they themselves them-selves ivere to be hept in prison. Not yet. however, how-ever, waa made known to them the decision that thev' were to be treated as traitors of whom the province trust he rid. No at ten-, p' was made anywhere any-where to distinguish loyal from disloyal Acadlans. Major Lawrence, British jrcvernor at Ji-.llfax. rave orders to the military c facers to clear the country of a'.l Acadiars, to pet them by any necessary means on hoard the transports v hirh wr jid carry them Mv, and to burn th.-ir hen-es and erops eo that th-te not rr.:;.'M ir.le.ht perish or be forced to surrtnder !ur!ns the comin wt;V.r. At the moment, the harvest had Jjst been reaped or was riperlns: , M'hen the stern work was dor.e r; Crand Pre. lit r:slou!d. row V.'tndsor. at Arr.ar-ntis. tv.cre were harrowin seen.-:.. It eomm.-.r.d o' -he w.rk at Grsnd I've v s Colonel Wlretcw. an o-.':.-rr from Mos8Cll'-fl0tts somo of whose relatives t-.venty-flve yerrs later w. re to be drivn, leeaus of t!. Sr loyaltv to the Pritlth k.r.p. from :h.-'r ov-r hon es In Poster, to this very larol of Acadtt. V ms.r.w Issued a sumr-.or.s In Vr.r.rh to til th r. a r 1r.-habi.ar.ts. 1r.-habi.ar.ts. down to ;.! of ten. to co-re ,o te church nt Ornr.d Vr on rrlr.jv. H e fl.'li o, S-n-,,rVr. to l.;.-n ti-.e or.'.rrs l.c had I -. c :--.-u n " Those who d'-l cot ppear were to forfe.t t ..- Bloods. Nil donht manv of the Acndtnna otld nol goods. No doubt many of the Acadlans did nol understand the summons. Few of them could read, and it hardly mattered to them that on one occasion occa-sion a notice on the church door waa posted upside down. Some four hundred anxious peasants appeared. ap-peared. Winslow read to them a proclamation to the effect that their houses and lands were forfeited for-feited and that they themselves and their families were to be deported. Five vessels from Boston lay at Grand Pre. In time more ships arrived, but chill Octoher had come before Winslow was finally ready. By this tll.ne the Acadlans realized what was to happen. The men were Joined by their families. As far as possible the people of the same village were kept together. They were forced to march to the. transports, a sorrow-laden company, women carrying babes In their arms, old and decrepit people borne In carts, young and strong men dragging drag-ging what belongings they could gather. Wlnslow's task, as he says, lay heavy on his heart and hands: . "It hurts me to hear their weeping and wailing and .gnashing of teeth." By the first of November ho had embarked 1,500 unhappy people. His last shipload ship-load he sent off on the thirteenth of December. The suffering from cold must have been terrible. In all from Grand Pre and other places more than 6,000 Acadians were deported. They were scattered in the English colonies from Maine to Georgia and In both France and England. Many died: many, helpless In new surroundings, sank into decrepit pauperism. Some reached people of their own blood In the French colony of Louisiana and Canada. Among those who came to Louisiana was young Louis Arceneaux who had become separated from his sweetheart, Emmerline Lnbiche, and who set-1 set-1 tied on Bayou Teche, a stream which winds In and out like a snake, hence Its name, which ls the Indian term for snake. Here, too, ten years later came Emmerline Lnbiche, who had been mourning the loss of her lover. And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and the fireflies, Wandered alone and she cried, "O, Gabriel. O, my beloved! Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot behold thee? Ah, how often thy foet have trod this path' to th prairie!" At last Emmerline found her lover, and tradition says thnt the meeting took place beneath the his. torfc Evangeline Oak on the Bayou Teche, -where she learned that her faithless lover had married another. It was the story of Emmerline Lablche and Louis Arceneaux, told to Longfellow when he was an Instructor at Harvard by a student from Louisiana, later Judge Henry Simon, which the poet wove Into bis famous poem. ' if you visit St. Martinsville, La., today they wIP I point out to you the house where "Gabriel" (Louif Arceneaux) once lived and they will take you tc the spot near the left wing of the old St. Mnrlir I Catholic church, established In 17G5 by Fnthei ! Jean Francois, a Capuchin missionary, where ! sleeps "Evangeline" (Emmerline Lablche). It is j not strictly true, as Longfellow has written It. that j Side by sMe In their nameless craves, the lovers are sleeping. Cndor the humble walls of the little Catholic l churchyard. In tee heart nf the city, they lie. unttnown snd j unnotl'-erl. I Dally the tides of life go ebbing snd flowing he- . side them. j I But If you go there yn'i will still hrar the soft accents of i'io Acadian tongue cml you tuny learn that upon occasion j Mald'-s still Tvenr their Norman caps ar.d their klrtles of horrep-;n. And tv the evcuir.p r.re repeat Evank'ellr.e-s story. ; i For the !' ccend.ir,t s of the r-ilc; Acad'.tns nre i pro'.o'. of li.eir nn.'i s'.ry w'.tb, its Ir-ritag" of sorrow, j ct:.l in this cnr.trT of p-irrtive N.v.'y ).'- I!ve s:i:7.:y. yft cxtrrOirg : iv: y-i a b'.r.:t t'.I'v to t'i" J Jirarc-T tl.;.t warir.s ti.e he-r.rt. It :n In Iwnw of j tl s!;v.; 'e-. i'ir Y.y .rr- lo who "ii.'ive l- 't the'r f,.-cc f-tl p'TM-c.'.Kfy. tie 'g:ry pr.if.'.t' ':r:-zH of , bnr..-ty and er.r!j;h!r. -. pi. :y tti.-l pi-::;!":.! power ! !r. tt h r!i!l reco;-,;.s t!:ri;':;i.; t , I'to'od Ml.-.;-, j tie coi:i!ry :Vv have ! tic si rt.'i' h to 'o'.'.p.", , t!.::t ti.e I.e ii"'"'-'.':"-vv-E-.-.noi;no ,":,: o.:: ' ! M- ir.o. : rltil pi;rk N to be c.,;L ,i.-!.cd for tl.f il .; t.-icnt i f uil Americans. j |
