Evangeline 
same rushing tide of feeling that overwhelmed 
the victims. Our indignation blazes with theirs 
and our tears flow with them, as we go from 
house to house and see the misery that has in 
a moment overtaken our Acadia, our Isles of 
the Blessed. 
We execrate the terrible decree in spite of 
the excuses history presents, for here we are 
not in the realm of history. We are in the 
poet's land of Acadia, and these cherished peo- 
ple are being wantonly scattered and destroyed, 
driven forth without cause and without right of 
appeal. 
Over there, where we can see the shining 
mouth of the Gaspereaux, the English ships 
are waiting. Cruel hands guard the men in 
the chapel while the women bear their house- 
hold goods to the shore. 
And now Evangeline begins the fulfilment 
of that sacred promise of her future. She does 
not wait to weep, nor does she fall in despair. 
Over her seventeen summers of gracious youth 
is suddenly dropped the mantle of life's tragedy, 
which she never more will cast aside. 
The past held a delusion, although she does 
not know it yet ; her womanhood must be per- 
75 
