POVERTY AND BLINDNESS.

A blind man is a poor man, and blind a poor man is; For the former seeth no man, and the latter no man

sees.

LAW OF LIFE.

Live I, so live I,

To my lord heartily,

To my prince faithfully,

To my neighbour honestly.
Die I, so die I.

CREEDS.

Lutheran, Popish, Calvinistic, all these creeds and doctrines three

Extant are; but still the doubt is, where Christianity may be.

THE RESTLESS HEART.

A millstone and the human heart are driven ever

round;

If they have nothing else to grind, they must themselves be ground.

CHRISTIAN LOVE.

Whilom love was like a fire, and warmth and comfort it bespoke;

But, alas! it now is quenched, and only bites us, like the smoke.

ART AND TACT.

Intelligence and courtesy not always are combined; Often in a wooden house a golden room we find.

RETRIBUTION.

Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;

Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all.

TRUTH.

When by night the frogs are croaking, kindle but a torch's fire,

Ha! how soon they all are silent! Thus truth si

lences the liar.

N N

RHYMES.

If perhaps these rhymes of mine should sound not well in strangers' ears,

They have only to bethink them that it happens so with theirs ;

For so long as words, like mortals, call a fatherland

their own,

They will be most highly valued where they are best and longest known.

NOTES.

NOTE 1. Acadie, home of the happy.-page 4.

So much of the charm of the poem of Evangeline is derived from the very foundation of the narrative, the simple dignity and earnestness of the characters, and the deep religious tone of the interest, that it may be acceptable to the reader to give the historical fact which has inspired so exquisite an ideal picture. There are many, doubtless, who have never read the cruel story, and such will be glad to see it in a few words, condensed from the best authority on the subject. The historical accuracy of the poem enhances its beauty. The fact, as given by Haliburton in his History of Nova Scotia, is, in brief, as follows:

Some dispute existing between the English and the French governments respecting the territorial limits of either, to settle the matter, the region about Hudson's Bay, and the province of Acadie, since called Nova Scotia, were, in 1713, ceded to Great Britain.

Acadie was inhabited by an excellent French population. When these good people found their country yielded to England, and themselves no longer subjects of the French king, they were grieved to be forced to acknowledge another master. They knew that the French and English were hostile to each other, and they dreaded to be compelled, some time or other, to take up arms against Frenchmen: they therefore entreated the English that they might never be forced to so painful a service, and might be excused from taking the oath of allegiance.

This request received no special attention, but, for a time,

a kind forbearance was exercised towards them. After a period of forty years, the English government came to the conclusion that these neutral French, as they were called, might become dangerous to its interests, by taking part with the Canadian French, its active enemies. On account of this presumed danger, without the least alleged provocation, or the least show of justice, the English government took upon itself to drive out of their possessions this peaceable, prosperous, and unoffending people.

The Acadians had no warning of their fate. At harvesttime they were ordered to assemble in a certain district, and being collected, were informed they were prisoners,—that their lands, cattle, and movables were no longer their own, but were confiscated by government, that they might take what they could convey away, but must immediately quit the province.

In one single district, two hundred and fifty-five houses, as many barns, eleven mills, and one church, were destroyed. Ships were in readiness to convey the persecuted Acadians to different parts of the continent,-to Louisiana, to French Guiana in South America, and to distant places in the then British provinces on the Atlantic.

These people had been remarkable for their industry, their skilful husbandry, their pure morals, and their exemplary piety. Their lands produced wheat and corn, potatoes and flax, abundantly. Their houses were convenient, and furnished with all things necessary to comfort. Their numerous flocks afforded the wool which was manufactured in the family for their clothing: they had no paper money, and little silver or gold, and lived by simple exchange of commodities. So little contention arose among them, that courts and lawyers were needless the wise and experienced decided their small differences. They were Catholics; the priests drew up their public acts, wrote their wills, and kept possession of the documents until death called for the execution of them. To requite these services, the inhabitants allowed them one-twenty-seventh of the harvest for their subsistence.

In September, 1775, Colonel Winslow, an officer usually resident at Marshfield, Plymouth County, Massachussetts, was