Grand Pré

“ In order to catch its romantic spirit, the time to see Grand Pré church is in the evening, when there is just a wee flare of daylight and a soft mist arises from the waters of Minas, shedding itself like a diaphanous veil over the land, as one strolls up the country-road that comes through the village from the North, under willows and poplars, to the door of the old church and then rambles off to the South between clover fields and stacks of hay ”

“ Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a village. In each one
Far o'er the gable projected a roof of thatch; and a staircase,
Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous cornloft.
There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and innocent inmates 100
Murmuring ever of love; while above in the variant breezes
Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation.
Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer of Grand-Pre
Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his household. ”

“ I knew that if, by any fortune of war, English troops should come to be quartered in Grand Pré, they would be careful for the property of the villagers; but the house and goods of an enemy under arms, such would belike fare ill. I collected, also, certain moneys due me in the village, for I knew that the people were prosperous, and I did not know how long their prosperity might continue. This done, Marc and I set out for my own estate beside the yellow Canard. ”

“ The orchards of Normandy apple-trees were weighted with fruit. In the door-ways of the cottages that filed over the hill toward the church, closed now for want of a priest, sat the women of Grand Pré in kirtle and bonnet, busy with distaff and needle. On their breasts were folded white kerchiefs; their ornaments were silver crosses and hearts. The men, vigorous, uneducated peasants, strongly religious but undemonstrative, [3] were in the fields mending the dykes or cutting hay, or in some near-by woodland loading ox-wains with fuel for the hearth. ”

“ No one knows better than he how to plan the innumerable walks and drives that reveal the beauties of the Minas country with Wolfville as a base; and no one has laboured more efficiently than he to keep intact the meagre relics of French Grand Pré. ”

“ Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her lamp and her shadow. 375
Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeling of sadness
Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in the moonlight
Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a moment.
And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely the moon pass
Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow her footsteps, 380
As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered with Hagar.
SECTION IV. Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the village of Grand-Pre. ”

“ They are certainly very stationary; so much so, indeed, that some acute observers declare that they have not advanced so much as their kindred in France. They say that our Aca-dians are more like the French peasantry of a hundred years ago than the French themselves are at the present day. This is particularly the case in the more remote districts, such as the Bay de Chaleur. I have often been there myself, and every time I visit one of their villages in that district, I recall some of the descriptions of the Grand Pré Acadians in Longfellow’s Evangeline. ”

“ When a happier season Brings us again to our homes from the unknown land of our exile, Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in the churchyard.” Such were the words of the priest. And there in haste by the sea-side,655 Having the glare of the burning village for funeral torches, But without bell or book, they buried the farmer of Grand-Pré. [Pg 53] And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of sorrow, Lo! ”

“ Yet all the time, through all the seasons, while field and flood, river and mountain, sea and forest, are thus changing their aspect, there hangs over all an atmosphere which brings changes more wonderful than these. The fog is forever struggling for an entrance here. The air in an instant may bring forth its hidden watery vapors. High over Blomidon the mist banks are piled, and roll and writhe at the blast of the winds from the sea. ”

“ Here the mirage comes, and the eye sees the solid land uplifted into the air; here is the haze, soft and mysterious as that of Southern Italy, which diffuses through all the scene an unutterable sweetness and tenderness. Here, in an instant, a change of wind may whirl all the accumulated mists down from the crest of Blomidon into the vale of Cornwallis, and force vast masses of fog-banks far up into the Basin of Minas, till mountain and valley, and river and plain, and sea and sky, are all alike snatched from view, and lost in the indistinguishable gray of one general fog. ”

“ The titles given indeed to the superiors of the different nations or provinces into which the order of the Temple was divided, are numerous and somewhat perplexing. In the East, these officers were known only, in the first instance, by the title of Prior, as Prior of England, Prior of France, Prior of Portugal, &c., and afterwards Preceptor of England, preceptor of France, &c.; but in Europe they were called Grand Priors and Grand Preceptors, to distinguish them from the Sub-priors and Sub-preceptors, and also Masters of the Temple. ”

“ Turning the house, the fresh wind came upon them, driving against them the dense fog clouds, and hiding everything before them from view. But through that gloom there swept upon their hearing a recurrence of the solemn boom of the surf which had startled them a few moments before, when they first paused to look at the cottage. There it came, the sound of the gathering waters, rising gradually, breaking, and flinging the roar of the falling waters far away along the shore. ”

“ Here may be found that which would fill the soul of the poet or artist—the dreamy haze, the soft and voluptuous calm, the glory of the sunlit sky, the terror of the storm, the majesty of giant cloud masses piled up confusedly, the rainbow tints cast by the rising or setting sun over innumerable clouds. ”

“ Captain Corbet nervous, and idle, and fearful; Solomon trembling from head to foot, and overcome with a thousand wild and superstitious fancies,—when suddenly, close beside them, outside of the row of lights, just as their spades struck the metallic substance before mentioned,—suddenly, instantaneously, and without the slightest warning, there arose a sharp, a fearful, a terrible uproar; something midway between a shriek and a peal of thunder; a roar, in fact, so hideous, so wild, so unparalleled in its horrid accompaniments, that it shook the boldest heart in that small but bold company. ”

“ It rose on high; it seemed to fill all the air; and its awful echoes prolonged themselves afar through the darkness of the midnight scene.
The boys started back from the hole; their spades dropped from their hands. They saw about half of the lights extinguished, and amid the gloom they could perceive two figures rushing in mad haste away from the spot. A panic seized upon them. Before a panic the stoutest heart is as weak as water. ”

“ What a horror it brings to the heart of a boy! Fresh from the green fields, from the blue sky, from the fragrant woods, the babbling brook, the sounding shore, the lofty precipice, the bounding wave,—from all these he enters into the gloom, and darkness, and confinement of the school-room. Can there be any wonder that the fresh, young, boyish heart should quail, and his bounding young life droop, and his uproarious spirits flag on that dreary first day? ”

“ I DOUBT not but you are curious, as many others are, to know the secret of monsieur Prior an English gentleman's late journey from London to Paris. Perhaps living retired as you do, you may not have heard of this person, though some years ago he was very much distinguished at Paris, and in good esteem even with our august monarch. I must let you so far into his character, as to tell you, that monsieur Prior has signalized himself, both as an eminent poet, and man of business; was very much valued by the late king William, who employed him in important affairs, both in England and Holland. ”

“ The priest looked, and then looked again into the duke's eyes, and ten years of weariness fell from his face also, and a great joy returned.
"Thank God! we are saved," the duke and the priest exclaimed together, and fell laughing upon each other's shoulders. For the arms floating from the tower of the palace were the arms of the usurper, and the king that cared not to be a king had lost his kingdom.
And, while they were still rejoicing together, there came the sound of many horsemen from the direction of the city, a cavalcade of many glittering spears. ”

“ O lord my son Dimitry, by the divine will Grand Duke, the Grand Duke, thy father, hath shewn thee favour, and blessed thee with the grand dukedom; do thou also, O lord my son, have the fear of God in thy heart. Love justice and just judgment; obey the grand duke thy grandfather, and interest thyself with all thy heart about all the truly faithful. We bless thee also, O lord my son, and pray God for thy welfare. Then the metropolitan and the grand dukes arose, and the metropolitan praying, blessed the grand duke and his sons with the cross ”

“ While they are talking comes no less a person than the Prior of the monastery, Friar Juan Perez, bustling round, good-natured busybody that he is, to see what is all this talk at the door. The Prior, as is the habit of monks, begins by asking questions. What is the stranger’s name? Where does he come from? Where is he going to? What is his business? Is the little boy his son? ”

“ You ask, what of the child—the little duke, whose birth this noble woman unselfishly rejoiced over, because it made Napoleon so happy? Ah! it is of him I would now tell you. This little duke, the child of so many hopes, did he, after all, sit upon the throne of France? God is just. We shall see.
The Emperor of Austria was the little duke’s maternal grandfather. It was to his palace the little, pale child was taken. It was the wish of this grandfather, who, notwithstanding all the stories told to the contrary, dearly loved the boy, to make a German prince of him. ”

“ The great chief then sent men to put the stranger to death if he remained in the tower. When they came nigh the girl, she cried: "By the god, if you slay my chosen one, I will die also. I will not live a single hour if he is taken from me."
The girl's words were repeated to her father, and he, the great chief, said: "Let the young man, this stranger, be brought into my presence."
Then was the prince taken before the great chief. He was stricken with fear, but the girl's father embraced him and kissed him, saying: "You are indeed a noble youth. ”

“ When the land was brightened, and the new day began, four men came with a summons for me; and the four men went to lead me to the palace. I saluted with both my hands on the ground; the royal children stood at the courtyard to conduct me: the courtiers who were to lead me to the hall brought me on the way to the royal chamber. I found his Majesty on the great throne in the hall of pale gold. Then I threw myself on my belly; this god, in whose presence I was, knew me not. ”

“ And farther in back in the hall sat the King himself on his throne, with his counsellors standing in a circle around him.
"Good day, Your Grace!" said Per and bowed, as nicely as he could. "I'll give you Death and the Devil. You won't get fat off my grace!" said the Princess. Poor Per was gobsmacked by this retort and no longer knew what he should say. So he was done for, he was led out through the other door and strung up on the gallows. ”

“ The Kaiser returns the greeting graciously, and the monk lifts with great solemnity some object from the ground, again bows low before the monarch, and retires slowly to the door, seizes the hand of the astonished miner, who has gazed as in a dream at the splendour of the enchanted chamber, leads him to the green circle, which begins at once to rise, and soon reaches the summit of the mountain. ”

“ The ideal of every peasant was to have a son in the Church—a son who might become abbot, bishop, chancellor, cardinal. It was their one great chance of rising in the world. But in the kingdom of the Mind, many are called, few chosen. Of the dozen or so boys who went to every village school (each with a dim idea that perhaps by-and-by he might become a parish priest, or enter some religious order) a fair proportion grew up as stewards or labourers. ”

“ Subsequently the custom spread throughout Italy, and afterward Germany and the Netherlands. The presepii vary in size and expensiveness from the rude wooden figures of the Alpine goat-herd, cut out with his own hands during the long winter evenings, to the pretentious representation of the wealthy burgher, with its exquisite carving and gilding, velvet drapery and cloth of gold, costing thousands of crowns. In many churches the whole parish contribute to the expense of fitting up the presepio, while moribund misers do not forget to endow it with a legacy in their last will and testament. ”

“ At length the prince arrived, with all his generals, staff-officers, and suite accompanying him. These, and the multitude of people coming to visit or do business with him, made the castle like a beehive on the point of swarming. All pressed forward to behold a man no less distinguished by his rank than by his great qualities, and all admired his urbanity and condescension: all were astonished at finding the hero and the leader of armies also the most accomplished and attractive courtier. ”