Show I the Jr it Grand GraM Pre t Iv I- I y n v Il 3 Ia r a t tG p C c 61 LI er OAR YOU He Heo p M MO o 0 SCOTT V ATSON HE HE HE other day dllY several thousand people gathered In the little town of St. St La to parI participate par par- I In a ceremony which whIch rolled back the pages of history to events that took place more than years ago The ceremony cere- cere mon mony ny was the unveiling of or and when it stood revealed recalled once more a great AmerIcan colonial history jf the love stories i fan i an n literature the story of or of ot Evangeline for her lover in a poem noera by ds Longfellow For the the thes s a size life Image of the aid of ot Grand Pre and most who vho had gathered there to too o Door onor or were her own people people- Descendants descendants of the thc Eight- Eight ury and a eral r l hundred from Grand rand Pre Montreal and n adlan fInn iIan cities and towns who I grImage to this shrine for forIon Ion foil 1 and who were also remit re- re relit lit mit made b. b by the Louisiana fiT to Canada last year ear Ehe tiie statue over oyer the spot eft ert wing of the old St. St Mar Mar- fc Mar Mar- church in St. St Martinville real eal Evangeline lies burled buried t the le e steps In the tiie project of ig Ig a national reservation le I known as the Longfellow Longfellow- Longfellow Longfellow- National Memorial park a creation center which will wille e the memory of the Amer- Amer and the Acadian girl In jand and nd the Acadians their theIr romance and their general r ine r ot of the real Evangeline erline LabIche the faithless was vas Louis Arceneaux and story Is a part of the tragic e sImple folk of Acadia who I by b British soldiery f from rora l les es aWa away back in 1755 The rhe pere re Fret French colonists who d ilp djin in what Js is now Nova Scon 7 n and who lived a happy existence In la their homes in world until caught in the thet t 1 of world politics stirred e contest between England Ice ce to decide which nation mInate the North American fin I In the series of wars be- be b VO countries which began Acadia was a pawn on the tn nal al l chess-board chess now held ouch ch and now b by y the British the Acadians themselves e In the main neutral In Inere ere often referred to In the pers of the time as the Nets Ken While the sympathies c 01 f them no doubt leaned to- to it own countrymen and some supported supported the French cause lost host st part they wished to be beIn beylin ein In their peaceful pursuits rs and fishermen tJ ear the British who then dla Idla decided that the Aca- Aca re re an ail enemy encamped IntI in int t tI of the province and deter- deter I get et rid of ot them According According- was ras done by methods which have r-have have been unnecessarily 7 responsibility for tor this o on n th the lieutenant-governor lieutenant of ot atia Ua Charles Oharles Lawrence who whong l In ng g governor until the lords In n London should pick a n suc- suc Gov Peregrine Hopson who ned ed mst west est time in 1755 the the Acadians began begun when Mo acting under Law Law- I instructions gathered In 9 00 Habitants of ot ChIgnecto Colo Colo- v will live in history officer sent to the little vII Brind Pre on the shore of th the e pf Minns ow ow iw arrived at Grande Crande Pre a or n 19 9 September 2 Colonel Win led a proclamation Informing g pl le that the U oYer a. a ft r f V 7 v vy y fy o f. f 5 if 6 i vc a WE ELJ EL J tT lUne l nor had a communication to impart to them The men were ordered therefore therefore therefore there there- fore to appear In the church at GrandPre Grand GrandPre GrandPre Pre at 3 o'clock In the afternoon of Friday September 5 On that fateful Friday a stran strange e sight greeted the men as they filed tiled slowly into the church that had been familiar to them from their youth Stern-faced Stern soldiers with gleaming gleaming gleam gleam- ing bayonets and red coats guarded the door and In the middle of the church a n table had been placed and around it other armed soldiers were drawn up As Colonel WInslow entered attended attended attended at at- tended by his staff starr a deep hush fell feU upon the people Without any preliminaries preliminaries pre pre- he proceeded to deliver dellver his address in English Immediately afterward lift aft ft- ft erward it was Interpreted to the assemblage assemblage assemblage as as- In French With the pronouncement of the terrIble terrible terrible ter ter- words That your our lands and tenements cattle of all kinds and live ifie stock of ot all sorts are arc forfeited to the crown with all aU your other effects saving your mone money and household goods and that you ou yourselves are tobe to tobe tobe be removed from this his majesty's province a murmur of anguish escaped escaped escaped es es- the dumfounded Until aroused by the sharp command corn com mand wand of an officer the bewildered inhabitants Inhabitants Inhabitants In In- habitants sat mute and staring as though thought unable to comprehend the sIgnificance significance significance sig sIg- of the fate they were consigned consIgned consigned con con- signed to Recovering from the shock of ot Winslows Winslow's words the AcadIans AcadIans' first thou thoughts were of their families with whom they had no means of communIcation communication communication com com- and who would not understand understand understand under under- stand the reason for their detention After a lengthy conference Colonel WInslow permitted the prisoners to choose 26 20 of ot their number to break the news to the families and to bring hrinsIn in food for the prisoners They were wore to be held accountable for the behavIor behavior behavior be be- havior and safe return of ot the 20 An effort was made to keep families intact But ut a lack of transports the natural confusion and terror that necessarIly necessarily necessarily followed Winslows Winslow's fears that his force greatly really outnumbered by the might bo be overpowered overpowered overpowered ered and the barrier of ot language all aU contributed to the separations that made the sufferings of ot the exiled Acadians so tragic Three ships the first to sail left the Basin of Minas 1 October 13 bound for tor Maryland Virginia and Pennsyl vania vanla The fhe last ship to leave Acadia sailed southward December 20 To o prevent any stragglers that escaped to the forests from finding a place of ot refuge squads of ot soldiers attended attend attend- ed to the work of or burning every house barn or building that would in anyway any anyway anyway way furnish shelter In all from Grand Pre and other places more than Acadians were deported They were scattered Inthe in inthe inthe the English colonies from Maine to Georgia and in both hoth France and Eng Eng- land Many died many helpless in new surroundings sank into decrepit pauperism Some reached people of their own blood in the tIle French colony of ot Louisiana and Canada Among those who came to Louisiana Louisi LouisI- ana was young Louis Arceneaux who had become separated from his sweetheart sweetheart sweetheart sweet sweet- heart LabIche and who settled on Bayou a stream which rInds In and out like a snake r r Y Q y K Y rilE REAL AL YA tJ G hence its name which is the Indian term for snake Here too ten years later came camo LabIche who had been mourning the loss boss of ot her lover At last Emmerline found him and tradition says that the meeting took place beneath the historic Evangeline Oak on the Bayou where she learned that her faithless lover had married another There is some variation in the accounts accounts accounts ac ac- ac- ac counts of ot how Longfellow came to write the story of Evangeline According According Ac Ac- cording to one story It was Nathaniel Hawthorne who first gave the poet the hint of the romance which he wove Into his poem Under the date of ot October 24 1838 1833 we find the following following following fol fol- fol- fol lowing memorandum in Hawthorne's Am American rican Note Books H II L. L C. C C.- C. heard from a French Canadian a story of fa a n young couple in On 1 1 of their marriage day all men lUCli ui VI t uie ie province were summoned to assemble in the church to h hear ar a proclamation When they assembled they were seized and shipped off to be distributed through New En England land among them the bridegroom Ills his bride set of off In search of him wandered about New England all her lifetime and at last when she was old she found her bridegroom on his deathbed The shock was so great that It killed her likewise II H. L. L C. C was vac Horace Lorenzo Conolly Conol Conol- ly then a neighbor of ot Hawthorne at fit Salem He lie had been rector of ot St. St Matthews Matthew's Protestant Episcopal church churchIn In South Boston But Dut Hawthorne was probably in error In stating that Conolly Con- Con oily olly obtained the story directly from froma a French Canadian At any rate some time later Hawthorne Haw thorne took Conolly to dine with Longfellow Longfellow Long Long- fellow at Cambridge During the dinner din din- ner ncr the clergyman told Lon Longfellow fellow that he had been trying trIng tr Ing In vain to get Hawthorne to write a story based on an Incident told him by Mrs George M. M Haliburton a n former who had formerly lived in Nova tia Conolly then related the story briefly Longfellow said to Hawthorne Hawthorne Haw Ilaw- thorne If you ou really do not want this Incident let me have haye it for a poem His friend willingly ly consented consented consented con con- and Evangeline was the result The other account and account and this Is the theone theone theone one whIch you will hear In the Acadian Acadian AcadIan Acad Acad- ian country of Louisiana LouisIana-Is is that Longfellow while he was an Instructor tor at Harvard was told the story by bya a handsome young oun Acadian then a n student at Harvard Edward Simon later a Judge in Louisiana who had bad learned It from his friend Judge Felix VoorhIes Judge Voorhies had been told the story by his grandmother Madame Anne who I brought Evangeline to the coun coun- I try Madame died In 1830 I at the age of ot It was Madame who told gold of ot how Labiche sprang forward with a glad cry when she I met her former lover and of ot how the I faithless lover lo told her that he hud had married another and was happy On the lands land of or the ancient Duke Blanc Louis Arceneaux settled settled set set- tIel with his bride and there man many of ot his descendants live today The heartbroken girl Madame told her bel grandson lost her reason und and until death came to her she wandered wandered wan wan- dered about the banks of til the tho gathering the water hyacinths and weaving wea brides bride's wreaths of ot them l by Western N w Union |