AN ACADIAN VILLAGE 



pecially busy day in this community ; agricul- 

 tural operations in the little house plots were 

 in full progress, and the farmers were generally 

 of the female gender, although boys as well as 

 girls assisted their mothers, who, in short, 

 woollen skirts, with bright handkerchiefs about 

 their necks or on their heads, were labouring 

 with mattocks to complete the work. The 

 men were busy painting their houses or boats, 

 which, drawn up on the beach out of the reach 

 of the storms, had weathered the long winter 

 under thatches of balsam boughs. New 

 rigging was being installed, new spars were 

 trimmed, nets and sails were spread out to 

 mend, and the whole place showed an air of 

 great bustle and activity. From time to time 

 the men would leave their own work to gather 

 in numbers to assist a neighbour to launch his 

 boat. 



One very enterprising man had already been 

 out to fish, and had brought back the first 

 cod of the season, his small boat half filled 

 with them. A group of men surrounded the 

 boat on the beach to talk over the exciting 

 event after the long winter. It was all good 

 fun. Our friend the Yankee, and Yankees 



71 



