Nature in Acadie. 



CHAPTER I. 



Have the elder races halted ? 

 Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas? 

 We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson, 



Pioneers ! O pioneers ! — Whitman. 



H for a larger field — the solitude of the 

 forest, or the silence of the prairie, 

 where one can roam at will and lose 

 the rush of life ! Such was the hope 

 that found me on the deck of an out- 

 ward bound liner in the docks at 

 Liverpool on this 29th day of Sep- 

 tember, buoyed with the hope of the 

 newer world across the Atlantic. Long years had I 

 thirsted for the vast solitary woods, the clear sparkling 

 lakes and silent hills of that great new land, and now at 

 last came the moment of departure. 



Clamour and confusion reign supreme. The deck of 

 the great steamer is crowded with passengers taking a 

 last view of the old country, which they are leaving, 

 perhaps, for many years, possibly for ever ! Before we 

 are clear of the docks night succeeds to the calm glory 



