Evangeline 
we cannot see the old willows and the straight 
poplars planted by the hands of the early 
French settlers without emotion. 
We cannot gaze upon the broad meadows 
before the door of Grand Pre without remem- 
bering the hands that first held back the sea. 
Nor would we if we could. 
Suppose the real Acadians were not the folk 
of the poet's fancy ; suppose the emotion 
expended upon their sad history does not 
wholly belong to them, — still, even had it been 
deserved, their fate was terrible, and their suf- 
ferings were such as will ever appeal to the 
heart of humanity. 
Their history was at least the rough material 
out of which a divine form was fashioned by 
the poet. 
79 
