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 
