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Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain; and away to the northward

Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the mountains

30 Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantic

Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their station descended.

There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian village.

Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and of hemlock,

Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries.

35 Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and gables projecting

Over the basement below protected and shaded the

doorway.

There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when brightly the sunset

Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on the

chimneys,

Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in

kirtles

40 Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the golden

Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles within doors

Mingled their sounds with the whir of the wheels and the songs of the maidens.

Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and the children

33 hemlock] chestnut A. sounds] sound A.

36 doorway] door-way A. 42

Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to bless them.

Reverend walked he among them; and up rose matrons 45 and maidens,

Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate welcome.

Then came the laborers home from the field, and serenely the sun sank

Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from the belfry

Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the roofs of the

village

Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense 50 ascending,

Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and

contentment.

Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian

farmers,

Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were they free from

Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice of republics.

Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their 55 windows;

But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners;

There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance.

Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the
Basin of Minas,

Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of

Grand-Pré,

Dwelt on his goodly acres; and with him, directing his 60

household,

Longfellow-Sieper, Evangeline.

Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of the

village.

Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy winters;

Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with snow-flakes;

White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks as brown as the oak-leaves.

65 Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen

summers.

Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside,

Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses!

Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows.

When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at noontide

70 Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was the maiden.

Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell from its turret

Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with his hyssop

Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon

them,

Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of beads and her missal,

75 Wearing her Norman cap, and her kirtle of blue, and the ear-rings,

Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as an heirloom,

66 wayside] way-side A.

Handed down from mother to child, through long generations.

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But a celestial brightness - a more ethereal beauty Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after confession,

Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction 80 upon her.

When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of exquisite music.

Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer

Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and a

shady

Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it.

Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and 85 a footpath

Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the meadow.

Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a penthouse,

Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the roadside,

Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of

Mary.

Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well 90 with its moss-grown

Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for the

horses.

79 Komma fehlt nach when A.

82 Kein neuer Absatz A.

88 roadside] road-side A.

Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were the barns and the farm-yard,

There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique ploughs and the harrows;

There were the folds for the sheep; and there, in his feathered seraglio,

95 Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with the selfsame

Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent
Peter.

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 corn

loft.

100 There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and innocent inmates

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-Pré

Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his household.

105 Many a youth, as he knelt in church and opened his

missal,

Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his deepest

devotion;

105 in church ] in the church A.

106 Komma nach her A.

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