American Selections of ENTIRE Essays, Sketches, and Stories from the works of HAWTHORNE, IRVING, LONGFELLOW, WHITTIER, HOLMES, LOWELL, THOREAU, and EMERSON. Edited by HORACE E. SCUDDER. With In- troductions and Notes. i6mo, 424 pages, $1.00, net. The selections comprised in this book are as follows : HAWTHORNE: The Snow-Image; The Great Stone Face; Browne's Wooden Image; Howe's Masquerade. IRVING: Rip Van Winkle ; Little Britain. LONGFELLOW : The Valley of the Loire ; Journey into Spain. WHITTIER: Yankee Gypsies ; The Boy Captives. HOLMES: The Gambrel-Roofed House. LOWELL : My Garden Acquaintance. THOREAU: Sounds; Brute Neighbors; The Highland Light. EMERSON: Behavior; Books. Any person familiar with these essays and stories will recognize their great and varied interest, as well as their unquestionable literary excellence and charm. It is little wonder, in view of the kind of " readers " that have so long been in use in our schools, that there is so little interest either in reading or in literature. The present volume is one of several recently published which point to a much-needed reform in this particular, and a reform which will, if we are not greatly mistaken, yield the most beneficent results. Exam- iner and Chronicle ( New York). The volume has this double value, it is an excellent reader for schools, and a real introduction to general American literature. Boston Advertiser. The notes and introductions are very judicious, and furnish just the infor- mation about the authors and books which the young reader needs. New York School Journal. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, 4 PARK STREET, BOSTON. AMERICAN POEMS. LONGFELLOW: WHITTIER: BRYANT HOLMES: LOWELL: EMERSON. WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND NOTES BY HORACE E. SCUDDER. THIRTY-FOURTH EDITION. BOSTON: HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, 11 EAST SEVENTEENTH STREET, NEW STORK. Clje JU&erSite $r?s'S, Copyright 1858 and 1866, BT HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW Copyright, 1850, 1866, 1858, I860, 1861, 1864, 1866, 1868, 1876, and 1878 Br JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. Copyright, 1864, BT WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT Copyright, 1875 and 1878, BT OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Copyright, 1848, 1868, 1874, 1875, and 1876 BT JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Copyright, 1862 and 1867, BT RALPH WALDO EMERSON Copyright, 1879, By HOUGHTON, OSGOOD * 00 All rights reterved. The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Printed by II. 0. Uoughton & Company. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. THE general use which has followed the first publication of American Poems confirms the editor in his belief that such a book has a real place in our educational system, and he is gratified by the wide and cordial recognition which it has received. The few criticisms which have been offered seem mainly to have sprung from a hasty consideration of its intention. It does not profess to be a repre- sentative volume of American poetry, nor, in a comprehensive way, of the poets whose works are included in it, but, because the poems are of them- selves worthy and the group is American in origin and tone, the book has a significance which justifies its title. The brief sketches of the authors con- tained in it were necessarily limited to the main facts of their literary life, but the editor, in review- ing his work under the more favorable conditions of a completed book and lapse of time, perceives with renewed and stronger feeling how pure and admirable is the spirit in which these American poets have wrought, how high an ideal has been before them, and with what grace and beauty their lives have reinforced their poems! Surely, the 2056499 IT PREFACE. poets have given America no greater gift than their own characters and lofty lives. Scarcely any attempt at criticism was made of our writers in this volume ; in the companion vol- ume of American Prose, where all hut one of the poets appear again, the opportunity has been taken to call attention more specifically to the art, as here to the biographic details. The two volumes will be found to complement each other. JANUAET, 1880. PREFACE. THIS volume of American Poems has been pre- pared with special reference to the interests of young people, both at school and at home. Read- ing-books and popular collections of poetry contain many of the shorter and well-known poems of the authors represented hi this book, but the scope of such collections does not generally permit the introduction of the longer poems. It is these i>oems, and, with a slight exception, these only, that make up this volume. The power to read and enjoy poetry is one of the finest results of educa* tion, but it cannot be attained by exclusive at- PREFACE. v tention to short poems; there is involved in this power the capacity for sustained attention, the re- maining with the poet upon a long flight of imag- ination, the exercise of the mind in bolder sweep of thought. Moreover, the familiarity with long poems produces greater power of appreciation when the shorter ones are taken up. It is much to take deep breaths of the upper air, to fill the lungs with a good draught of poetry, and unless one ac- companies the poet in his longer reaches, he fails to know what poetry can give him. In making the selection for this volume a very simple principle has been followed. It was desired to make the book an agreeable introduction to the pleasures of poetry, and, by confining it to Ameri- can poetry of the highest order, to give young peo- ple in America the most natural acquaintance with literature. These poets are our interpreters. All but one are still living, so that the poetry is con- temporaneous and appeals through familiar forms ; as far as possible narrative poems have been chosen, and, in the arrangement of authors, regard haa been had to degrees cf difficulty, the more involved and subtle forms of poetry following the simpler And more direct. Throughout, the book has been conceived in a spirit which welcomes poetry as a noble delight, not as a grammatical exercise or elocutionary task. Vl PREFACE. With the same intention the critical apparatus has been treated in a literary rather than in a ped- agogical way. The editor has imagined himseli reading aloud, and stopping now and then to explain a phrase, to clear an allusion, or to give a sugges- tion as to similar forms in literature. Since sev- eral of the poems are semi-historical in character, the historic basis has been carefully pointed out, and hints given for further pursuit of the subjects treated. "Words, though obsolete or archaic, are not explained when the dictionary account is suffi- cient. A brief sketch of the author precedes each section. It is strongly hoped that the book will be ac- cepted by schools as a contribution to that very important work in which teachers are engaged, of giving to their pupils an interest in the best litera- ture, a love for pure and engaging forms of art, If, witi all our drill and practice in reading dur- ing the years of school-life, children leave their schools with no taste for good reading, and no familiarity with those higher forms of literature that have grown out of the very life which they are living, it must be questioned whether the timt given to reading has been most wisely employed. 1879. CONTENTS. HENBY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. riu BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 1 EVANGELLVE : A TALE OF AcADIE . . 5 THK COURTSHIP OF MILES STANWSH . . 103 THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP . . . 172 JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 188 SNOW-BOUND : A WIHTEB IDTI. . . 191 AMONG THE HILLS 217 MABEL MARTIN 235 GOBBLES KEEZAR'S VISION .... 248 BABCLAT OF URT 255 THE Two RABBIS 261 THE GIFT OF TEITEMIUS . 264 THE BROTHER OF MERCT .... 266 THE PROPHECY OF SAMUEL SEWALL . 269 MAUD MULLBB 276 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 283 SELLA . 287 THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE SNOW . SOS riii CONTENTS. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. E1OORAFB1CAL SKETCH 118 GBANDMOTHEB'B STOBT .... 821 THE SCHOOL-BOT 333 TAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 348 THE VISION OF SIB LAUOTAL . . .352 UNDEB THE WILLOWS .... 365 UHDEB THE OLD ELM .... 378 AGASSIZ .... . 894 RALPH WALDO EMERSON. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 416 THE ADIRONDACS ..... 419 THE TITMOUSE 431 MONADNOC . ... . 431 iPPENDIX. Iv THB LABOKATOBY WITH AGASSIZ . 4H HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW was bora in Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807. He was a classmate of Hawthorne at Bowdoin College, graduating there in the class of 1825. He began the study of law in the office of his father, Hon. Stephen Longfellow ; but receiving shortly the appointment of professor of modern languages at Bowdoin, he devoted himself after that to litera- ture, and to teaching in connection with literature. Before beginning his work at Bowdoin he in- creased his qualifications by travel and study in Europe, where he stayed three years. Upon his re- turn he gave his lectures on modern languages and literature at the college, and wrote occasionally for the North American Review and other period- icals. The first volume which he published was an Essay on the Moral and Devotional Poetry of Spain, accompanied by translations from Spanish verse. This was issued in 1833, but has not been kept in print as a separate work. It appears aa a chapter in Outre-Mer, a reflection of his Euro- 1 2 LONGFELLOW. peaii life and travel, the first of his prose-writings. In 1835 he was invited to succeed Mr. George Ticknor as professor of modern languages and lit- erature at Harvard College, and again went tc Europe for preparatory study, giving especial at- tention to Switzerland and the Scandinavian coun- tries. He held his professorship until 1854, but continued to live in Cambridge until his death, March 24, 1882, occupying a house known from a former occupant as the Craigie House, and also as Washington's headquarters, that general having so used it while organizing the army that held Boston in siege at the beginning of the Revolution. Ever- ett, Sparks, and Worcester, the lexicographer, at one time or another lived in this house, and here Longfellow wrote most of his works. In 1839 appeared Hyperion, a Romance, which, with more narrative form than Outre-Mer, like that gave the results of a poet's entrance into the riches of the Old World life. In the same year was published Voices of the Night, a little volume containing chiefly poems and translations which had been printed separately in periodicals. The Psalm of Life, perhaps the best known of Longfellow's short poems, was in this volume, and here too were TJie Beleaguered City and Footsteps of Angels. Ballads and other Poems and Poems on Slavery appeared in 1842 ; The Spanish Student, a play in three acts, in 1843 ; The Belfry of Bruges and other Poems in 1846 ; JRvangetine in 1847 ; Kavanagh, A Tale, in prose, in 1849. Beside the various volumes com- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 3 prising short poems, the list of Mr. Longfellow's works includes The Golden Legend, The Song of Hiawatha, The Courtship of Miles Standish, Tales of a Wayside Inn, The New England Tragedies, and a translation of Dante's Divina Commedia. Mr. Longfellow's literary life begau in his college days, and he wrote poems almost to the day of hit death. A classification of his poems and longer works would be an interesting task, and would help to disclose the wide range of his sympathy and taste ; a collection of the metres which he has used would show the versatility of his art, and similar studies would lead one to discover the many coun- tries and ages to which he would go for subjects. It would not be difficult to gather from the volume of Longfellow's poems hints of personal experi- ence, that biography of the heart which is of more worth to us than any record, however full, of ex- ternal change and adventure. Such hints may be found, for example, in the early lines, To the River Charles, which may be compared with his recent Three Friends of Mine, iv., v. ; in A Gleam of Sun- shine, To a Child, The Day is Done, The Fire of Driftwood, Resignation, The Open Window, The Ladder of St. Augustine, My Lost Youth The Chil- dren's Hour, Weariness, and other poems , not that we are to take all sentiments and statements made in the first person as the poet's, for often the form of the poem is so far dramatic that the poet is as- suming a character not necessarily his own, but the -ecurrence of certain strains, joined with personal 4 LONGFELLO W. allusions, helps one to penetrate the slight veil with which the poet, here as elsewhere, half con- ceals and half reveals himself. The friendly as- sociations of the poet may also be discovered in several poems directly addressed to persons or dis- tinctly allusive of them, and the reader will find it pleasant to construct the companionship of the poet out of such poems as The Herons of Elm- wood, To William E. Channina, The Fiftieth Birth- day of Agassiz, To Charles Sumner, the Prelude to Tales of a Wayside Inn, Hawthorne, and other poems. An interesting study of Mr. Longfellow's writings will be found in a paper by W. D. How- oils, iu the North American Review, vol. civ. EVANGELINE : A TALE OF ACADIE. HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. [THE country now known as 'Nova Scotia, and called formerly Acadie by the French, was in the hands of the French and English by turns until the year 1713, when, by the Peace of Utrecht, it was ceded by France to Great Britain, and has ever since remained in the possession of the English. But in 1713 the inhabitants of the peninsula were mostly French farmers and fishermen, living about Minas Basin and on Annapolis River, and the Eng- lish government exercised only a nominal control over them. It was not until 1749 that the English themselves began to make settlements in the coun- try, and that year they laid the foundations of the town of Halifax. A jealousy soon sprang up be- tween the English and French settlers, which was deepened by the great conflict which was impend- ing between the two mother countries ; for the treaty of peace at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which confirmed the English title to Nova Scotia, was scarcely more than a truce between the two powers which had been struggling for ascendency since the beginning of the century. The French engaged in a long controversy with the English respecting the 6 LONGFELLOW. boundaries of Acadie, which had been defined by the treaties in somewhat general terms, and intrigues were carried on with the Indians, who were gen- erally in sympathy with the French, for the annoy- ance of the English settlers. The Acadians were allied to the French by blood and by religion, but they claimed to have the rights of neutrals, and that these rights had been granted to them by previous English officers of the crown. The one point of special dispute was the oath of allegiance demanded of the Acadians by the English. This they refused to take, except in a form modified to excuse them from bearing arms against the French. The de- mand was repeatedly made, and evaded with con- stant ingenuity and persistency. Most of the Aca- dians were probably simple-minded and peaceful people who desired only to live undisturbed upon their farms ; but there were some restless spirits, especially among the young men, who compromised the reputation of the community, and all were very much under the influence of their priests, some of whom made no secret of their bitter hostility to the English, and of their determination to use every means to be rid of them. As the English interests grew and the critical re- lations between the two countries approached open warfare, the question of how to deal with the Aca- dian problem became the commanding one of the colony. There were some who coveted the rich farms of the Acadians ; there were some who were inspired by religious hatred ; but the prevailing , VAN CELINE. 1 spirit was one of fear for themselves from the near presence of a community which, calling itself neu- tral, might at any time offer a convenient ground for hostile attack. Yet to require these people to withdraw to Canada or Louisburg would be to strengthen the hands of the French, and make these neutrals determined enemies. The colony finally resolved, without consulting the home gov- ernment, to remove the Acadians to other parts of North America, distributing them through the col- onies in such a way as to preclude any concert amongst the scattered families by which they should return to Acadia. To do this required quick and secret preparations. There were at the service of the English governor a number of New England troops, brought thither for the capture of the forts lying in the debatable land about the head of the Bay of Fundy. These were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow, ot Massachusetts, a great-grandson of Governor Ed- ward Winslow of Plymouth, and to this gentleman and Captain Alexander Murray was intrusted the task of removal. They were instructed to use etratagem, if possible, to bring together the various families, but to prevent any from escaping to the woods. On the 2d of September, 1755, Winslow issued a written order, addressed to the inhabitants of Grand-Pre, Minas, River Canard, etc., " as well ancient as young men and lads," a proclamation summoning all the males to attend him in the church at Grand-Pre on the 5th instant, to hear a 8 LONGFELLOW. communication which the governor had sent. AB there had been negotiations respecting the oath oi allegiance, and much discussion as to the with- drawal of the Acadians from the country, though none as to their removal and dispersal, it was un- derstood that this was an important meeting, and upon the day named four hundred and eighteen men and boys assembled in the church. Winslow, attended by his officers and men caused a guard to be placed round the church, and then announced to the people his majesty's decision that they were to be removed with their families out of the country. The church became at once a guard-house, and all the prisoners were under strict surveillance. At the same time similar plans had been carried out at Pisiquid under Captain Murray, and less success- fully at Chignecto. Meanwhile there were whispers of a rising among the prisoners, and although the transports which had been ordered from Boston had not yet arrived, it was determined to make use of the vessels which had conveyed the troops, and remove the men to these for safer keeping. This was done on the 10th of September, and the men remained on the vessels in the harbor until the arrival of the transports, when these were made nse of, and about three thousand souls sent out of the country to North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massa. chusetts. In the haste and confusion of sending them off, a haste which was increased by the anxiety of the officers to be rid of the distastefu. EVANGELINE. business, and a confusion which was greater from the difference of tongues, many families were separated, and some at least never came together again. The story of Evangeline is the story of such a separation. The removal of the Acadians was a blot upon the government of Nova Scotia and upon that of Great Britain, which never dis- owned the deed, although it was probably done without direct permission or command from Eng- land. It proved to be unnecessary, but it must also be remembered that to many men at that time the English power seemed trembling before France, and that the colony at Halifax regarded the act as one of self-preservation. The authorities for a historical inquiry into this subject are best seen in a volume published by the government of Nova Scotia at Halifax in 1869, entitled, Selections from the Public Documents of the Province of Nova Scotia; edited by Thomas B. Akins, D. C. L., Commissioner of Public Rec- ords ; and in a manuscript journal kept by Col- onel Winslow, now in the cabinet of the Massachu- setts Historical Society in Boston. At the State House in Boston are two volumes of records, en- titled French Neutrals, which contain voluminous papers relating to the treatment of the Acadians who were sent to Massachusetts. Probably the work used by the poet in writing Evangeline was An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia, by Thomas C. Haliburton, who is best known as the author of The Clock-Maker ; or Th* 10 LONGFELLO W. Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville* % book which, written apparently to prick the Nova Scotians into more enterprise, was for a long while the chief representative of Yankee smart? ness. Judge Haliburton's history was published in 1829. A later history, which takes advantage more freely of historical documents, is A History of Nora Scotia, or Acadie, by Beamish Murdock, Esq., Q. C., Halifax, 1866. Still more recent is a smaller, well written work, entitled TJie History of Acadia from its First Discovery to its Surrender to England by the Treaty of Paris, by James Han- nay, St. John, N. B., 1879. W. J. Anderson pub- lished a paper in the transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, New Series, part 7, 1870, entitled Evangeline and the Archives of Nova Scotia, in which he examines the poem by the light of the volume of Nova Scotia Archives, edited by T. B. Akins. The sketches of travellers in Nova Scotia, as Acadia, or a Month among th Blue Noses, by F. S. Cozzens, and Baddeck, by C. D Warner, give the present appearance of the country and inhabitants. The measure of Evangeline is what is commonly known as English dactylic hexameter. The hexam- eter is the measure used by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey, and by Virgil in the jfflneid, but the difference between the English language and the Latin or Greek is so great, especially when we consider that in English poetry every word mus EVANGELINE. 11 be accented according to its customary pronuncia- tion, while in scanning Greek and Latin verse ac- cent follows the quantity of the vowels, that in ap- plying this term of hexameter to Evangeline it must not be supposed by the reader that he is get ting the effect of Greek hexameters. It is the Greek hexameter translated into English use, and some have maintained that the verse of the Iliad ia better represented in the English by the trochaic measure of fifteen syllables, of which an excellent illustration is in Tennyson's Lock&ley Hall ; others have compared the Greek hexameter to the ballad metre of fourteen syllables, used notably by Chap- man in his translation of Homer's Iliad. The measure adopted by Mr. Longfellow has never be- come very popular in English poetry, but has re- peatedly been attempted by other poets. The reader will find the subject of hexameters dis- cussed by Matthew Arnold in his lectures On Translating Homer ; by James Spedding in Eng- lish Hexameters, in his recent volume, Reviews and Discussions, Literary, Political and Historical, not relating to Bacon ; and by John Stuart Blackie in Remarks on English Hexameters, contained in hia volume, Horce Hellenicce. The measure lends itself easily to the lingering melancholy which marks the greater part of the poem, and the poet's fine sense of harmony between subject and form is rarely better shown than in this poem. The fall of the verse at the end of the line and the sharp recovery at the beginning of the next will bo snares to the reader, who must beware of 12 LONGFELLOW. a jerking style of delivery. The voice naturally seeks a rest in the middle of the line, and this rest, or cassural pause, should be carefully regarded ; a little practice will enable one to acquire that habit of reading the hexameter, which we may liken, roughly, to the climbing of a hill, resting a moment on the summit, and then descending the other side. The charm in reading Evangeline aloud, after a clear understanding of the sense, which is the es- sential in all good reading, is found in this gentle labor of the former half of the line, and gentle ac- celeration of the latter half.] THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indis- tinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. 1. A primeval forest is, strictly speaking, one which has nevei been disturbed by the axe. 3. Druids were priests of the Celtic inhabitants of ancient Gaul and Britain. The name was probably of Celtic origin, but its form may have been determined by the Greek word drtit, an oak, since their places of worship were consecrated groves of oak. Perhaps the choice of the image was governed by the analogy of a religion and tribe that were to disappear before a itronger power. 4. A poetical description of an ancient harper will be found ir the Introduction to the Lay of the Lcut Minstrel, by Sir Walter Scott. EVANGEL1NE. 13 5 Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest. This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the wood- land the voice of the huntsman ? Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers, 10 Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven ? Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed 1 Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er the ocean. 15 Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful vil- lage of Grand-Pre. Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and en- dures, and is patient, Ye who belifive in the beauty and strength of woman's devotion, List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest ; List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. 8. Observe how the tragedy of the 6tory is anticipated by thij oicture of the startled roe. 19 . In the earliest records Acadie is called Cadie ; if after U LONGFELLOW. PART THE FIRST. 20 IK the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas, Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand- Pre Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward, Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks without number. Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant, wards was called Arcadia, Accadia or L'Acadie. The name is probably a French adaptation of a word common among the Micmac Indians living there, signifying place or region, and nsed as an affix to other words as indicating the place where various things, as cranberries, eels, seals, were found in abun- dance. The French turned this Indian term into Cadie or Acadie; the English into Quoddy, in which form it remains when applied to the Quoddy Indians, to Quoddy Head, the last point of the United States next to Acadia, and in the compound Passamaquoddy, or Pollock-Ground. 21. Compare, for effect, the first line of Goldsmith's The Traveller. Grand-Pre" will be found on the map as part of the township of Horton. 24. The people of Acadia are mainly the descendants of the colonists who were brought out to La Have and Port Royal by Isaac de Razilly and Charnisay between the years 1633 and 1638. These colonists came from Rochelle, Saintonge, and Poi- tou, so that they were drawn from a very limited area on the west coast of France, covered by the modern departments of Vende"e and Charente Infe"rieure. This circumstance had some fluence on their mode of settling the lands of Acadia, for they came from a country of marshes, where the sea was kept out by artificial dikes, and they found in Acadia similar marshes, which they dealt with in the same way that they had been accustomed to practice in France. Hannay'f History of Acadia, pp. 282 EVAN CELINE. 15 25 Shut out they Haliburton in his History of Nova Scotia, i. 166. 167. EVANGEL1NE. 43 Clement and kind has he been ; but Low you hare answered his kindness Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural make and my temper }35 Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be grievous. Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our monarch: Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle of all kinds Forfeited be to the crown; and that you your- selves from this province Be transported to other lands. God grant you may dwell there 440 Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable people ! Prisoners now I declare you, for such is his Majes- ty's pleasure! " As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice ot summer, Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling ot the hailstones Beats down the farmer's corn in the field, and shatters his windows, 44J Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch from the house-roofs, Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their enclosures ; So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker. Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then rose Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger, 450 And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed tn the door-way. 44 LONGFELLO W. Vain was thu hope of escape; and cries and fierce imprecations Rang through the house of prayer; and high o'er the In ads of the others Rose, with lis arms uplifted, the figure of Basil the blacksmith, As, on a slnrniy sea, a spar is tossed by the bil- lows. 155 Flushed was his face and distorted with passion, and mildly he shouted, "Down whh the tyrants of England! we never havr sworn them allegiance! Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our homes and our harvests! " More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand of a soldier Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged h. ; m down to the pavement. 4.60 In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry contention, Lo! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of the altar. Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into silence All that clamorous throng; and thus he spake to his people; (5 Deep were his tones and solemn; in accents meas- ured and mournful Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the clock strikes. " What is this that ye do, my children? what mad ness has seized you ? EVANGELINE. 45 Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and taught you, Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another! ipo Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers and privations? Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and forgiveness ? This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would you profane it Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with hatred? Lo ! where the crucified Christ from His cross is gazing upon you! See! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy compassion! Hark! how those lips still repeat the prayer, ' O Father, forgive them ! ' Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked assail us, Let us repeat it now, and say, ' O Father, forgive them!'" Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts of his people |8o Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the passionate outbreak, While they repeated his prayer, and said, " Father, forgive them! " Then came the evening service. The tapers gleamed from the altar ; Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and the people responded, Not with their lips alone, but their hearts ; and the Ave Maria 46 LONGFELLOW. 485 Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their souls, with devotion translated, Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah ascending to heaven. Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidingi of ill, and on all sides Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women and children. Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with her right hand 490 Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, that, descending, Lighted the village street with mysterious splendor, and roofed each Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and embla- zoned its windows. Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on the table; There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fra- grant with wild-flowers; 495 There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh brought from the dairy; And at the head of the board the great arm-chaii of the farmer. Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as the sunset Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad ambrosial meadows. Ah! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had fallen, 500 And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celes- tial ascended, 492. To emblazon is literally to adorn anything with eusigus armorial. It was often the custom to work these ensigns inti the design of painted windows. E VAN CELINE. 47 Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgive- ness, and patience! Then, all- forgetful of self, she wandered into the village, Cheering with looks and words the mournful hearts of the women, As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they departed, 505 Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet of their children. Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glimmering vapors Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet de- scending from Sinai. Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelui sounded. Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evangeline lingered. 510 All was silent within; and in vain at the door and the windows Stood she, and listened and looked, until, over- come by emotion, " Gabriel! " cried she aloud with tremulous voice ; but no answer Came from the graves of the dead, nor the gloom- ier grave of the living. Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house of her father. 515 Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board was the supper untasted, Empty and drear was each room, and haunted with phantoms of terror. Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the floor of her chamber. 48 LONGFELLOW. In the dead of the night she heard the disconso- late rain fall Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore-tre* by the window. 520 Keenly the lightning flashed; and the voice of the echoing thunder Told her that God was in heaven, and governed the world he created ! Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the justice of Heaven; Soothed was her troubled soul, and she peacefully slumbered till morning. v. Four times the sun had risen and set; and now on the fifth day 525 Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the farm-house. Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful procession. Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the Acadian women, Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to the sea- shore, Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their dwellings, 530 Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road and the woodland. Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on the oxen, Wbil in their little hands they clasped some frag- ments of playthings. Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth they hurried and there on the sea-beach EVANGELINE. 49 Piled in confusion lay the household goods of the peasants. 3; All day long between the shore and the ships did the boats ply; All day long the wains came laboring down from the village. Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near to his setting, Echoed far o'er the fields came the roll of drums from the churchyard. Thither the women and children thronged. On a sudden the church-doors 540 Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in gloomy procession Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Aca- dian farmers. Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes and their country, Sing as thsy go, and in singing forget they are weary and wayworn, So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants descended J45 Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives and their daughters. Foremost the young men came; and, raising to- gether their voices, Sang with tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic Missions : " Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible fountain! Fill our hearts this day with strength and submis- sion and patience ' 550 Then the old men, as they marched, and the women that stood by the wayside 4 50 LONGFELLO W. Joined iu the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sunshine above them Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spir- its departed. Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in silence, Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction, 55 Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession approached her, And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion. Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to meet him, Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his shoulder, and whispered, " Gabriel! be of good cheer I for if we love one another 560 Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mis- chances may happen! " Smiling she spake these words; then suddenly paused, for her father Saw she slowly advancing. Alas! ho^r changed was his aspect! Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the fire from his eye, and his footstep Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy heart in his bosom. 565 But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his neck and embraced him, Speaking words of endearment where words ol comfort availed not. Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth moved on tin mournful procession. EVANGELINE. 51 There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir of embarking. Busily plied the freighted boats; and in the con- fusion 570 Wives were torn from their husbands, and moth- ers, too late, saw their children Left on the land, extending their arms, with wild- est entreaties. So unto separate ships were Basil and Gabriel carried, While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with her father. Half the task was not done when the sun went down, and the twilight 575 Deepened and darkened around; and in haste the refluent ocean Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the sand-beach Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp and the slippery sea- weed. Farther back in the midst of the household goods and the wagons, Like to a gypsy camp, or a leaguer after a battle, 580 All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near them, Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian farmers. Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellow- ing ocean, Dragging adown the beach tne rattling pebbles, and leaving Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of the sailors. 585 Then, as the nigLt descended, the herds returned from their pastures; 52 LONGFELLOW. Sweet was the moist still air with the odor of milk from their udders; Lowing they waited, and long, at the well-known bars of the farm-yard, Waited and looked in vain for the voice apd the hand of the milkmaid. Silence reigned in the streets; from the church no Angelas sounded. 590 Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights from the windows. But on the shores meanwhile the evening firei had been kindled, Built of the drift-wood thrown on the sands from wrecks in the tempest. Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces were gathered, Voices of women were heard, and of men, and the crying of children. 595 Onward from tire to fire, as from hearth to hearth in his parish, Wandered the faithful priest, consoling and bless- ing and cheering, Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's desolate sea-shore. Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat with her father, And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old man, 600 Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either thought or emotion, E'en as the face of a clock from which the hands have been taken. Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caressed to cheer him. EVANGELINE 53 Vainly offered him food; yet he moved not, he looked not, he spake not, But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the flicker- ing fire-li^ht. 605 " Benedicite .' " murmured the priest, m tones of compassion. More he fain would have said, but his heart wa full, and his accents Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child on a threshold, Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the awful presence of sorrow. Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of the maiden, 610 Raising his tearful eyes to the silent stars that above them Moved on their way, unperturbed by the wrongs and sorrows of mortals. Then sat he down at her side, and they wept to- gether in silence. Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in au- tumn the blood-red Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o'er the horizon 615 Titan-like stretches its hundred hands upon mount- ain and meadow, Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling huge shadows together. 815. The Titans were giant deities in Greek mythology who Attempted to deprive Saturn of the sovereignty of heaven, and were driven down into Tartarus by Jupiter the son of Saturn, who hurled thunderbolts at them. Briareus, the hundred- aanded giwit, was in mythology of the same parentage as th# Titans, but was not classed with them. 64 LONGFELLO W. Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the roofi of the village, Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the ships that lay in the roadstead. Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes ct flame were 620 Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the quivering hands of a martyr. Then as the wind seized the gleeds and the burn- ing thatch, and, uplifting, ATiirled them aloft through the air, at once from a hundred house-tops Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame intermingled. These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the shore and on shipboard. $25 Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in their anguish, " We shall behold no more our homes in the vil- lage of Grand- Pre 1 " Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the farm-yards, Thinking the day had dawned; and anon the low- ing of cattle 821. Gleedt. Hot, burning coals; a Chaucerian word: : * And wafres piping hoot out of the gleede." Canterbury Tales, 1 837. The burning of the houses was in accordance with the instruc- tions of the Governor to Colonel Winslow, in case he should fail in collecting all the inhabitants: "You must proceed by the most vigorous measures possible, not only in compelling them to embark, but in depriving those who shall escape of all means of shelter or support by burning their houses, and by destroying everything that may afford them the means of subsistence ir the countrv." EVANGEL1NE. 55 Came on the evening breeze, by the barking of dogs interrupted. 630 Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the sleeping encampments Far in the western prairies of forests that skirt the Nebraska, When the wild horses affrighted sweep by with the speed of the whirlwind, Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the river. Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the herds and the horses 635 Broke through their folds and fences, and madly rushed o'er the meadows. Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the priest and the maiden Gazed on the scene of terror that reddened and widened before them; And as they turned at length to speak to the> silent companion, Lo! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched abroad on the sea-shore 640 Motionless lay his form, from which the soul hau departed. Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the maiden Knelt at her father's side, and wailed aloud id her terror. Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her head on his bosom. Through the long nignt she lay in deep, oblivioug slumber; 645 And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a multitude near her. 56 LONGFELLO W. Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully gazing upon her, Pallid, with tearful eyes, and looks of saddest compassion. Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the landscape, Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on the faces around her, 650 And like the day of doom it seemed to her waver- ing senses. Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to the people, " Let us bury him here by the sea. 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." 655 Such were the words of the priest. And there in haste by the sea-side, Having the glare of the burning village for funeral torches, Bat without bell or book, they buried the farmer of Grand-Pre'. And as the voice of the priest repeated the serr- ice of sorrow, Lo! with a mournful sound, like the voice of a vast congregation, 660 Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar with the dirges. 'Twas the returning tide, that afar from the waste of the ocean, 657. The bell was tolled to mark the passage of the soul into the other world; the book was the service book. The phrast " bell, book, or candle " was used in referring to excommunic* tion. EVANGELINE. 5? With the first dawn of the day, came heaving and hurrying landward. Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of embarking; And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of the harbor, 665 Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, and the village in ruins. PAUT THE SECOND. r. MANY a weary year had passed since the burning of Grand-Prd, When on the falling tide the freighted vessels de- parted, Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into exile, Exile without an end, and without an example in story. 670 Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians landed ; Scattered were they, like flakes of snow, when the wind from the northeast Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks of Newfoundland. Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from city to city, From the cold lakes of the Xorth to sultry South- ern savannas, 675 From the bleak shores of the. sea to the lanJg where the Father of Waters Seizes the hills in his han-ls, and drags them down to the ocean. 58 LONGFELLO W. Deep in their sands to bury the scattered bones ol the mammoth. Friends they sought and homes; and many, de- spairing, heart-broken, Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer friend nor a fireside. 680 Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the churchyards. Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and wandered, Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently suffering all things. Fair was she and young; but, alas! before her extended, Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its pathway 685 Marked by the graves of those who had sorrowed and suffered before her, Passions long extinguished, and hopes long dead and abandoned, As the emigrant's way o'er the Western desert ia marked by Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in the sunshine. Something there was in her life incomplete, im- perfect, unfinished; 690 As if a morning of June, with all its music and sunshine, Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, slowly descended 677. Bones of the mastodon, or mammoth, have been found scattered all over the territory of the United States and Canada, but the greatest number have been collected in the Salt Licki of Kentucky, ani in the States of Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Alabama. E VANGELINE. 59 Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen. Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the fever within her, Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and thirst of the spirit, 695 She would commence again her endless search and endeavor; Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the crosses and tombstones, Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that perhaps in its bosom He was already at rest, and she longed to slumber beside him. Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whisper, 700 Came with its airy hand to point and beckon her forward. Sometimes she spake with those who had seen her beloved and known him, But it was long ago, in some far-off place or for- gotten. " Gabriel Lajeunesse! " they said; " Oh, yes! we have seen him. He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have gone to the prairies ; 705 Coureurs-des-bois are they, and famous hunters and trappers." 899. Observe the diminution in this line, by which one ia led to the airy hand in the next. 705. The covreur-des-bvis formed a class of men very early in Canadian history, produced by the exigencies of the fur-trade They were French by birth, but by long affiliation with the Indians and adoption of the ; r customs had become half-civilized /agrants, whose chief vocatkm was conducting the canoes oi the traders along the lakes and rivers of the interior. Bush- 60 LONGFELLOW. " Gabriel Lajeunesse!" said others; "Oh, yes we have seen him. He is a Yoyageur in the lowlands of Louisiana." Then would they say, "Dear child! why dream and wait for him longer? Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel? others 710 Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as loyal? Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has loved thee Many a tedious year; come, give him thy hand and be happy! Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine's tresses." Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, " I cannot! 715 Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, and not elsewhere. For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and illumines the pathway, Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in darkness." Thereupon the priest, her friend and father-con- . fessor, rangers is the English equivalent. They played an important prt in the Indian wars, but were nearly as lawless as the Indians themselves. The reader will find them frequently referred to in Park man's histories, especially in The Conspiracy of Pontiac, Tke Discovery of the Great West, and Frontenac and Nete France under Louis XI V. 707. A voyageur is a river boatman, and is a term applied asuallv to Canadians. 713. St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Catherine of Siena (WTe both celebrated for their vows of virginity. Hence the saying to braid St. Catherine's trestes,oi one devoted to a single life. GVANGELINE. 61 Said, with a smile, "O daughter! thy God thai spe^keth within thee I 720 Talk not of wasted affection, affection never wa wasted ; If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment; That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain. Patience; accomplish thy labor; accomplish thy work of affection I 725 Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient en- durance is godlike. Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart is made godlike, Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more worthy of heaven! " Cheered by the good man's words, Evangeline labored and waited. Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the ocean, 730 But with its sound there was mingled a voice that whispered, " Despair not!" Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheer- less discomfort, Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and thorns of existence. Let me essay, O Muse! to follow ^he wanderer'i footsteps ; Not through each devious path, each changeful year of existence; 735 But as a traveller follows a streamlet's course through the valley: Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam of its water 62 LONGFELLOW. Here and there, in some open space, and at inter vals only ; Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan glooms that conceal it, Though he behold it not, he can hear its contin- uous murmur; 740 Happy, at length, if he find a spot where it reaches an outlet. ri. It was the month of May. Far down the Beauti- ful River, Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wabash, Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mississippi, Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Aca- dian boatmen. J" 745 It was a band of exiles: a raft, as it were, from the shipwrecked Nation, scattered along the coast, now floating to- gether, Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a common misfortune; Men and women and children, who, guided by hope or by hearsay, Sought for their kith and their kin among the few-acred farmers 750 On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair Opelousas. 741. The Iroquois gave to this river the name of Ohio, or th Beautiful River, and La Salle, who was the first European U discover it, preserved the name so that it very early was tran- ferred to maps. 750. Between the 1st of January and the 13th of May, 176& bout six hundred and fifty Acadians had arrived at New EVANGELINE. 63 With tftem Evangeline went, and her guide, the Father Felician. Onward o'er sunken sands, through a wilderness sombre with forests, Day after day they glided adown the turbulent river ; Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped on its borders. 755 Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, where plumelike Cotton-trees nodded their shadowy crests, they swept with the current, Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery sand-bars Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling waves of their margin, Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks of pelicans waded. 760 Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of the river, Shaded by china-trees, in the midst of luxuriant gardens, Stood the houses of planters, with negro cabint and dove-cots. They were approaching the region were reigns perpetual summer, Orleans. Louisiana had been ceded by France to Spain in 1762, bnt did not really pass under the control of the Spanish antil 1769. The existence of a French population attracted the wandering Acadians, and they were sent by the authorities to form settlements in Attakapas and Opelousas. They afterward formed settlements on both sides of the Mississippi from the German Coast up to Baton Rouge, and even as high as Point* Couple. Hence the name of Acadian Coast, which a portion of the banks of the river still bears. See Gayarre"'s Hittory ol Louisiana ; The French Dominion, vol. 5i. M LONGFELLOW. Where through the Golden Coast, and grovei of orange and citron^ 765 Sweeps with majestic curve the river away to the eastward. They, too, swerved from their course ; and, enter- ing the Bayou of Plaquemine, Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious waters, Which, like a network of steel, extended in every direction. Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of the cypress 770 Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid- air . Waved like banners that hang on the walls of an- cient cathedrals. Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by the herons Home to their roosts in the cedar-trees returning at sunset, Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with de- moniac laughter. 775 Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed on the water, Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sus- taining the arches, Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through chinks in a ruin. Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were all things around them; And o'er their spirits there came a feeling oi wonder and sadness, |8o Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be compassed. Ai, at the tramp of a horse's hoof on the turf oi the prairies, E VANGELINE. 65 Far in advance are closed the leaves of the shrink ing mimosa, So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad forebodings of evil, Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom has attained it. J%s But Evangeline's heart was sustained by a vision, that faintly Floated before her eyes, and beckoned her on through the moonlight. It was the thought of her brain that assumed the shape of a phantom. Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel wan- dered before her, And every stroke of the oar now brought him nearer and nearer. 790 Then in his place, at the prow of the boat, rose one of the oarsmen, And, as a signal sound, if others like them perad- venture Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew a blast on his bugle. Wild through the dark colonnades and corridori leafy the blast rang, Breaking the seal of silence and giving tongues to the forest. 795 Soundless above them the banners of moss jart stirred to the music. Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the dis- tance, Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverber- ant branches, But not a voice replied ; no answer came from the darkness ; I 66 LONGFELLOW. And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain was the silence. 800 Then Evangeliue slept; but the boatmen rowed through the midnight, Silent at times, then singing familiar Canadian boat-songs, Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers, While through the night were heard the mysteri- ous sounds of the desert, Far off, indistinct, as of wave or wind in the forest, 805 Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of the grim alligator. Thus ere another noon they emerged from the shades ; and before them Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atcha- falaya. Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight un- dulations Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, the lotus Bio Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen. Faint was the air with the odorous breath ol magnolia blossoms, And with the heat of noon ; and numberless syl- van islands, Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses, Near to whose hores they glided along, invited to elumber. 815 Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were iuspended. EVANGLL1NE. 67 Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by the margin, Safely their boat was moored ; and scattered about on the greensward, Tired with their midnight toil, the weary travel- lers slumbered. Over them vast and high extended the cope of a cedar. 820 Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and the grapevine Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of Jacob, On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, descending, Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blossom to blossom. Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slum- bered beneath it. 825 Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an opening heaven Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions celestial. Nearer, ever nearer, among the numberless isl- ands, Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o'er the water, Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters and trappers. 830 Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the bison and beaver. At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thought- ful and careworn. Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his brow, and a sadness 68 LONGFELLO W. Somewhat beyond his years on his face was legi- bly written. Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, anhappj and restless, 835 Sought in the Wester* wilds oblivion of self and of sorrow. Swiftly they glided along, close under the lee of the island, But by the opposite bank, and behind a screen of palmettos ; So that they saw not the "boat, where it lay con- cealed in the willows ; All undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and un- seen, were the sleepers ; 840 Angel of God was there none to awaken the slum- bering maiden. Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud on the prairie. After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died in the distance, As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the maiden Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, " O Father Felician ! 845 Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel wanders. Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague supersti- tion? Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my spirit?" Then, with a blush, she added, " Alas for my credulous fancy I Unto ears like thine such worda as these have no meaning." 850 But made answer the reverend man, and he smiled as he answered, EVAJMGELINE. 69 "Daughter, thy words are not idle; nor are they to me without meaning. Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on the surface Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the an- chor is hidden. Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what tha world calls illusions. 855 Gabriel truly is near thee; for not far away to th southward, On the bands of the Teche, are the towns of St Maur and St. Martin. There the long-wandering bride shall be given again to her bridegroom, There the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his sheepfold. Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit-trees ; 860 Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of heavens Bending above, and resting its dome on the wall of the forest. They who dwell there have named it the Eden ol Louisiana." With these words of cheer they arose and con- tinued their journey. Softly the evening came. The sun from the west- ern horizon 865 Like a magician extended his golden wand o*r the landscape ; Twinkling vapors arose ; and sky and water and forest Seemed all on fire at the touch, ami \neltcd and mingled together. 70 LONGFELLOW. Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of silver, Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the motionless water. 870 Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexpressible sweetness. Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of feeling Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters around her. Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, wildest of singers, Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the water, 875 Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music, That the whole air and the woods and the waves seemed silent to listen. Plaintive at first were the tones and sad ; then soaring to madness Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied Bacchantes. Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamentation ; 880 Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in derision, As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the tree-tops Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on the branches. With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed with emotion, 378. The Bacchantes were worshippers of the god Bacchus, ho in Greek mythology presided over the vine and its fruits. They gave themselves up to all manner of excess and theif longs and dances were to wild, intoxicating measure*. VAN CELINE. 71 Slowly they entered the Te"che, -where it flows through the green Opeiousas, 885 And, through the amber air, above the crest of the woodland, Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neigh- boring dwelling; Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant low- ing of cattle. in. Near to the bank of the river, o'ershadowed by oaks, from whose branches Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic mistletoe flaunted, 890 Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at Yule-tide, Stood, secluded and still, the house of the herds- man. A garden Girded it round about with a belt of luxuriant blossoms, Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself was of timbers Hewn from the cypress-tree, and carefully fitted together. 695 Large and low was the roof ; and on slender col- umns supported, Rose- wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and spa- cious veranda, Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, extended around it. At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the garden, Stationed the dove-cots were, as love's perpetual symbol, 72 LONGFELLOW. 900 Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentioni of rivals. Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of shadow and sunshine Ran near the tops of the trees; but the house itsell was in shadow, And from its chimney-top, ascending and elowlj expanding Into the evening air, a thin blue column of smoka rose. 905 In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a pathway Through the great groves of oak to the skirts of the limitless prairie, Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly de- scending. Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy canvas Hanging loose from their spars in a motionless calm in the tropics, pio Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of grapevines. Just where the woodlands met the flowery surf of the prairie, Mounted upon his horse, with Spanish saddle and stirrups, Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doublet of deerskin. Broad and brown was the face that from under the Spanish sombrero 915 Gazed on the peaceful scene, with the lordly look of its master. Bound about him were numberless herds of kine that were grazing EVANGELINu. 73 Quietly in the meadows, and breathing the vapory freshness That uprose from the river, and spread itself over the landscape. Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, and expanding puo Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast, that resounded Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air of the evening. Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the cattle Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse currents of ocean. Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed o'er the prairie, 925 And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the distance. Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, through the gate of the garden Saw he the forms of the priest and the maiden ad- vancing to meet him. Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in amaze- ment, and forward Rushed with extended arms and exclamations of wonder; 530 When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the blacksmith. Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the garden. There in an arbor of roses with endless question and answer Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their friendly embraces, Laughing and weeping by turns, or sitting and thoughtful. 74 LONGFELLOW. 935 Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not; and now dark doubts and misgivings Stole o'er the maiden's heart; and Basil, some- what embarrassed, Broke the silence and said, " If you came by the Atchafalaya, How have you nowhere encountered my Gabriel's boat on the bayous? " Over Evangeline's face at the words of Basil shade passed. 940 Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a tremulous accent, " Gone? is Gabriel gone?" and, concealing her face on his shoulder, All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and she wept and lamented. Then the good Basil said, and his voice grew blithe as he said it, " Be of good cheer, my child; it is only to-day he departed. 45 Foolish boy ! he has left me alone with my herdi and my horses. Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, his spirit Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet ex- istence. Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowftu ever, Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troub- les, P5o He at length had become so tedious tc men and to maidens, Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me. and sent him Unto the town of Adayea to trade for mules witk the Spaniards. EVANGELINE. 75 Thence he will follow the ludian trails to the Ozark Mountains, Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers trapping the beaver. 155 Therefore be of good cheer ; we will follow the fugitive lover; He is not far on his way, and the Fates and the streams are against him. Up and away to-morrow, and through the red dew of the morning, We will follow him fast, and bring him back to his prison." Then glad voices were heard, and up from the banks of the river, 960 Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came Mi- chael the fiddler. Long under Basil's roof had he lived like a god on Olympus, Having no other care than dispensing music to mortals. Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his fiddle. "Long live Michael," they cried, "our brave Aca- dian minstrel! " 965 As they bore him aloft in triumphal procession ; and straightway Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, greet- ing the old man Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while Basil, enraptured, Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions and gossips, Laughing loud and long, an 1 e-nbracing mothers and daughters. 76 LONGFELLOW. 970 Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the ci-devant blacksmith, All his domains and his herds, and his patriarchal demeanor ; Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the soil and the climate, And of the prairies, whose numberless herds were his who would take them ; Each one thought in his heart, that he, too, would go and do likewise. 975 Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the breezy veranda, Entered the hall of the house, where already the supper of Basil Waited his late return; and they rested and feasted together. Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness de_- scended. All was silent without, and, illuming the landscape with silver, $80 Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars ; but within doors, Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the glimmering lamplight. Th^n from his station aloft, at the head of the table, the herdsman Poared forth his heart and his wine together in endless profusion. Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet Nat- chitoches tobacco, 985 Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled as they listened: " Welcome once more, my friends, who long havg been friendless and homeless, EVANGELINE. 77 Welcome once more to a home, that is better per- chance than the old one! Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the rivers ; Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer ; 990 Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a keel through the water. All the year round the orange-groves are in blos- som; and grass grows More in a single night than a whole Canadian summer. Here, too, numberless herds run wild and un- claimed in the prairies ; Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber 995 With a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed into houses. After your houses are built, and your fields are yellow with harvests, No King George of England shall drive you away from your homesteads, Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing your farms and your cattle." Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from his nostrils, tooo While his huge, brown hand came thundering down on the table, So that the guests all started ; and Father Feli- cian, astounded, Suddenly paused., with a pinch of snuff half- war to his nostrils. But the. brave Basil resumed, and his words were milder and gayer, " Only beware of the fever, my friends, beware of the fever! JS LONGFELLO W. 1005 For it is not like that of our cold Acadian cli- mate, Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck in a nutshell! " Then there were voices heard at the door, and footsteps approaching Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy veranda. It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian planters, loro Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil the herdsman. Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and neighbors: Friend clasped friend in his arms ; and they who before were as strangers, Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to each other, Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country together. 1015 But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, proceeding From the accordant strings of Michael's melodi- ous fiddle, Broke up all further speech. Away, like chil- dren delighted, All things forgotten beside, they gave themselvei to the maddening Whirl of the dizzy dance, as it swept and swayed to the music, 1 020 Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of fluttering garments. Meanwhile, apart, at the head of the hall, UM priest and the herdsman EVANGELINE. 79 Sat, conversing together of past and present and future; While Evangeline stood like one entranced, for within her Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst ol the music 025 Heard she the sound of the sea, and an irrepress- ible sadness Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into the garden. Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall of the forest, Tipping its summit with silver, arose the moon. On the river Fell here and there through the branches a trem- ulous gleam of the moonlight, . 030 Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened and devious spirit. Nearer and round about her, the manifold flow- ers of the garden Poured out their souls in odors, that were their prayers and confessions Unto the night, as it went its way, like a silent Carthusian. Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with shadows and night-dews, 1035 Hung the heart of the maiden. The calm and the magical moonlight . 033. The Carthusians are a monastic order founded in the twelfth century, perhaps the most severe in its rules of all religious societies. Almost perpetual silence is one of the vows; the monks can talk together but once a week; the labor re- quired of them .s unremitting and the discipline exceedingly rigid. The first monastery was established at Chartreux near Grenoble in France, and the Latinized form of the name tuu given us the word Carthusian. BO LONGFELLOW. Seemed to inundate her soul with indefinable longings, As, through the garden gate, and beneath the shade of the oak-trees, Passed she along the path to the edge of the measureless prairie. Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and fire-flies ' 1040 Gleaming and floating away in mingled and in- finite numbers. Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the heavens, Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to marvel and worship, Save when a blazing comet was seen on the walls of that temple, As if a hand had appeared and written upon them, " Upharsin." 1045 And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and the fire-flies, Wandered alone, and she cried, " O Gabriel! O my beloved I Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot be- hold thee? Art thou so near unto me, ^ind yet thy voice does not reach me ? Ah! how often thy feet have trod this path to the prairie I 1050 Ah! how often thine eyes have looked on the woodlands around me! Ah! how often beneath this oak, returning from labor, Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me in thy slumbers! When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded about thee? " EVANGELINB. 81 Loud and sudden and near the note of a wliip- poorwill sounded 1055 Like a flute in the woods; and anon, through the neighboring thickets, Farther and farther away it floated and dropped into silence. "Patience!" whispered the oaks from oracular caverns of darkness ; And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh responded, " To-morrow 1 " Bright rose the sun next day; and all the flow- ers of the garden 1060 Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and anointed his tresses With the delicious balm that they bore in their vases of crystal. " Farewell I " said the priest, as he stood at the shadowy threshold; " See that you bring us the Prodigal Son from his fasting and famine, And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the bridegroom was coming." 1065 " Farewell 1 " answered the maiden, and, smiling, with Basil descended Down to the river's brink, where the boatmen al- ready were waiting. Thus beginning their journey with morning, and sunshine, ana gladness, Swiftly they followed the flight of him who was speeding before them, Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the desert. 1070 Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that succeeded, 82 LONGFELLO W. Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or river, Nor, after many days, had they found him ; but vague and uncertain Rumors alone wei-e their guides through a wild and desolate country ; Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of Ad ayes, 1075 Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned from the garrulous landlord, That on the day before, with horses and guidei and companions, Gabriel left the village, and took the road of the prairies. IV. Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and lu- minous summits. 1080 Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the gorge, like a gateway, Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the emi- grant's wagon, Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and Owyhee. Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind- river Mountains, Through the Sweet-water Valley precipitate leaps the Nebraska; 1085 And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout and the Spanish sierras, Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the wind of the desert, Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, de. cend to the ocean. EVANGELINE. 83 Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and sol- emn vibrations. Spreading between these streams are the won- drous, beautiful prairies, [090 Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine, Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and pur- ple amorphas. Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck; Over them wandered the wolves, and herds of riderless horses; Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel; 1095 Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishma- el's children, Staining the desert with blood; and above their terrible war-trails Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vulture, Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaugh- tered in battle, By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens. Uoo Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these savage marauders; Here and there rise groves from the margins of swift-running rivers; And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of the desert, Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by the brook-side, And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven, 1 1 05 Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them. 84 LONGFELLO W Into this wonderful land, at the base of th Ozark Mountains, Gabriel far had entered, with hunters and trap- pers behind him. Day after day, with their Indian guides, the maiden and Basil Followed his flying steps, and thought each day to o'ertake him. I no Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the smoke of his camp-fire Rise in the morning air from the distant plain , but at nightfall, When they had reached the place, they found only embers and ashes. And, though their hearts were sad at times and their bodies were weary, Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata Morgana III5 Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated" and vanished before them. Once, as they sat by their evening fire, there silently entered Into the little camp an Indian woman, whose features Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as great as her sorrow. 1114. The Italian name for a meteoric phenomenon nearly allied to a mirage, witnessed in the Straits of Messina, and lesi frequently elsewhere, and consisting in the appearance in the air over the sea of the objects which are upon the neighboring coasts. In the southwest of our own country, the mirage ii rery common, of lakes which stretch before the tired traveller ind the deception is so great that parties have sometime* beckoned to other travellers, who seemed to be wading knee- deep, to come over to them where drv land was. EVANGELINE. 85 She was a Shawnee woman returning borne to her people, 1120 From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel Camanches, Where her Canadian husband, a Coureur-des- Bois, had been murdered. Touched were their hearts at her story, and warmest and friendliest welcome Gave they, with words of cheer, and she sat and feasted among them On the buffalo-meat and the venison cooked on the embers. 1*25 But when their meal was done, and Basil and all his companions, Worn with the 4ong day's march and the chase of the deer and the bison, Stretched themselves on the ground, and slept where the quivering fire-light Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms wrapped up in their blankets, Then at the door of Evangeline's tent she sat and repeated 1130 Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm of her Indian accent, All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, ano pains, and reverses. Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know that another Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been disappointed. Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and woman's compassion, 135 Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had suf- fered was near her, She in tarn related her love and all its disasters. 86 LONGFELLO W. Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she had ended Still was mute; but at length, as if a mysterious horror Passed through her brain, she spake, and re- peated the tale of the Mowis; [ 140 Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded a maiden, But, when the morning came, arose and passed from the wigwam, Fading and melting away and dissolving into the sunshine, Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far into the forest. Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation, 1145 Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, who was wooed by a phantom, , That, through the pines o'er her father's lodge, in the hush of the twilight, Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love to the maiden, Till she followed his green and waving plume through the forest, And nevermore returned, nor was seen again bj her people. 1150 Silent with wonder and strange surprise, Evan- geline listened To the soft flow of her magical words, till the re- gion around her Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy guest the enchantress. Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the moon rose, 1145 The story of Lilinau and other Indian legend* will be fcuxd in II. R. Schoolcraft'a Alyic Researches. EVAN CELINE. 57 Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious splendor 1155 Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing and filling the woodland. With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and the branches Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely audible whispers. Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline'i heart, but a secret, Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite ter- ror, Ii6o As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of the swallow. It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region of spirits Seemed to float in the air of night ; and she felt for a moment That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing a phantom. With this thought she slept, and the fear and th phantom had vanished. 1165 Early upon the morrow the march was re- sumed; and the Shawnee Said, as they journeyed along, " On the west- ern slope of these mountains Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of the Mission. Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary and Jesus; Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep with pain, as they hear aim." 1170 Then, with a sudden and secret emotion. Evaiigo- line answered, 88 LONGFELLO W. " Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidingi await us! " Thither they turned their steeds ; and behind a spur of the mountains, Just as the sun went down, they heard a murmur of voices, And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a river, 175 Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit Mission. Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the village, Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A crucifix fastened High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed by grapevines, Looked with its agonized face on the multitude kneeling beneath it. : 1180 This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the intricate arches Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their ves- pers, Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of the branches. Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer approaching, Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the evening devotions. 1185 But when the service was done, and the benedic- tion had fallen Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the hands of the sower, Slowly the reverend man advanced to th strangers, and bade them Welcome; and when they replied, he smiled with benignant expression, EVAN CELINE. 89 Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother- tongue in the forest, , 190 And, with words of kindness, conducted them into his wigwam. There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on cakes of the maize-ear Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the water- gourd of the teacher. Soon was their story told; and the priest with solemnity answered: ' ' Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, seated 1195 On this mat by my side, where now the maiden reposes, Told me this same sad tale; then arose and con- tinued his journey! " Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with an accent of kindness; But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter the snow-flakes Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have departed. 12OO "Far to the north he has gone," continued the priest; " but in autumn, When the chase is done, will return again to the Mission." Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and submissive, "Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and afflicted." So seemed it wise and well unto all; and betimes on the morrow, 205 Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides and companions, Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed at the Mission. M) LONGFELLO W. Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other, Days and weeks and months ; and the fields of maize that were springing Green from the ground when a stranger she came, now waving above her, 12 ro Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves inter- lacing, and forming Cloisters for mendicant crow and granaries pillaged by squirrels. Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, and the maidens Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover, But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in the corn-field. 1215 Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her lover. " Patience! " the priest would say ; " have faith, and thy prayer will be answered I Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from the meadow, . See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true as the magnet ; L is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has planted I22O Hero in the houseless wild, to direct the trav- eller's journey Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert. Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of passion, 1219. Silphium laciniatum or compass-plant is found on th prairies of Michigan and Wisconsin and to the south and west and ia said to present the edges of the lower leaves due north an for a time. 96 LONGFELLO W So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural margin, Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of existence. 305 Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, the oppressor; But all perished aliko beneath the scourge of his anger; Only, alasl the poor, who had neither friends nor attendants, Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the homeless. Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows and woodlands ; 1310 Now the city surrounds it; but still, with its gate- way and wicket Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls seem to echo , Softly the words of the Lord: " The poor ye always have with you." Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of Mercy. The dying Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, to behold there 1315 Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead with splendor, Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of saints and apostles, Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at a distance. 1308. Pliiladelphians have identified the old Friends' alms- house on Walnut Street, now no longer standing, as that ia which Evangeline ministered to Gabriel, and so real was the story that some even ventured to point out the graves of the two lovers. See Westcott's The flutorie Mansion* of Philadelphia, pp. 101, 103. E VAN GE LINE. 97 Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city celestial, Into whose shining gates ere long their spirits would enter. 1320 Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, deserted and silent, Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the almshouse. Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flower* in the garden, And she paused on her way to gather the fairest among them, That the dying once more might rejoice in their fragrance and beauty. 1325 Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, cooled by the east-wind, Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of Christ Church, While, intermingled with these, across the mead- ows were wafted Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in then- church at Wicaco. Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on her spirit; 1330 Something within her said, " At length thy trials are ended; " 1328. The Swedes' church at AVicaco is still standing, the oldest in the city of Philadelphia, having been begun in 1698. Wicaco is within the city on the bauks of the Delaware River. An interesting account of the old church and its historic asso- ciations will be found in We.stcott's book just mentioned, pp. 56-67. Wilson the ornithologist lies buried m the churchyard adjoining the church. 1 98 LONGFELLOW. And, with light in her looks, she entered the chambers of sickness. Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful at- tendants, Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, and in silence Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and con- cealing their faces, 1335 Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts of snow by the roadside. Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline entered, Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed, for her presence Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on the walls of a prison. And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the consoler, [340 Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it forever. Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night time ; Vacant their places were, or filled already by strangers. Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of wonder, Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a shudder 1345 Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flow- erets dropped from her fingers, And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom of the morning. Then there escaped from her lips a cry of suck terrible anguish, EVANGELINE. 99 That the dying heard it, and started op from their pillows. On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an old man. 1350 Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded his temples; But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a moment Seemed to assume once more the forms of it earlier manhood; So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are dying. Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the fever, 1355 As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had be- sprinkled its portals, That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and pass over. Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit exhausted Seemed to be sinking down through infinite depths in the darkness, Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and sinking. 360 Then through those realms of shade, in multi- plied reverberations, Heard he that cry of pain, and through the hush that succeeded Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender and saint-like, "Gabriel! O my beloved!" and died away into silence. Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of his childhood: 100 LONGFELLOW. $ Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among then), Village, and mountain, and woodlands ; and x walking under their shadow, As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his vision. Tears came into his eyes; and as slowly he lifted his eyelids, Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knel* by his bedside. 1370 Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the ac- cents unuttered Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what his tongue would have spoken. V T ainly he strove to rise ; and Evangeline, kneel- ing beside him, Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her bosom. Sweet was the light of his eyes; but it suddenly sank into darkness, 1375 As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a casement. All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the sorrow, All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing, All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience ! And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her bosom, 1380 Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured. "Father, I thank theel" EVANGELINE. 101 Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from its shadow, Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping. Under the humble walls of the little Catholic churchyard, In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and unnoticed. 1385 Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing be- side them, Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest and forever, Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer are busy, Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased from their labors, Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have com- pleted their journey I 1390 Still stands the forest primeval ; but under the shade of its branches Dwells another race, with other customs and lan- guage. Only along the shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom. 1395 In the fisherman's cot the wheel and the loom are still busy ; Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun, And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline'i story i 102 LONGFELLOW. While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest. II. [Tnis poem, also written in hexameters, has yet a lighter, quicker movement, due to the more play- ful character of the narrative. A slight change of accent in the first line prepares one for this livelier pace, and the reader will find that the lights and shades of the story use whatever elasticity there is in the hexameter, crisp, varying lines alternating with the steady pulse of the dactyl. The poet has built upon a slight tradition which has come down to us from the days of the Plymouth settle- ment, a story which depicts in a succession of scenes the life of the Old Colony. In doing this he has not cared to follow explicitly the succes- sion of events, but has been true to the general history of the time and has in each picture copied faithfully the essential characteristics of the origi- nal. He has taken the somewhat dry and un-mug- inative chronicles of the time and touched them 1399. Observe the recurrence of the phrases with which the oem began. The effect is to impress upon the mind the miner tone of the story, leaving last upon the ear the key -not* firs! struck. COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. 1U3 mth a poetic light and warmth, and the reader of this poem who resumes such a book as Dr Young's "Chronicles of the Pilgrims," will find the simple story of the early settlers to have gained in beauty. The poem was published in 1858.] MILKS STAXDISH. IN the Old Colony days, in Plymouth the land of the Pilgrims, To and fro in a room of his simple and primitive dwelling, Clad in doublet and hose, and boots of Cordovan leather, Strode, with a martial air, Miles Standish the Puritan Captain. 5 Buried in thought he seemed, with his hands be- hind him, and pausing Ever and anon to behold his glittering weapons of warfare, Hanging in shining array along the walls of the chamber, 1. The Old Colony is the name which has long been applied to that part of Massachusetts which was occupied by the Plym- outh colonists whose first settlement was in 1G20. Massachu- setts Bay was the name by which was known the later collection of settlements made about Boston and Salem. 2. The first houses of the Pilgrims were of logs filled in with mortar anil covered with thatch. 3. Cordova in Spain was celebrated for a preparation of goat- skin which took the name of Cordovan. Hence came cord wain, or Spanish tanned goat-skin, and in England shoemakers ar still often called cordwainers. In France, too, the same word cave cordonnier. 104 LONGFELLO W. Cutlass and corselet of steel, and his trusty sword of Damascus, Curved at the point and inscribed with its mystical Arabic sentence, 10 While underneath, in a corner, were fowling-piece, musket, and matchlock. Short of stature he was, but strongly built and athletic, Broad in the shoulders, deep-chested, with muscles and sinews of iron; Brown as a nut was his face, but his rusaet beard was already Flaked with patches of snow, as hedges sometimes in November. 8. The corselet was a light breast-plate of armor. One of Standish's grandsons is said to have been in possession of his coat- of-mail. His sword is in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Histori- cal Society. As "the identical sword-blade used by Milea Standish " is also in possession of the Pilgrim Society of Plym- outh, the antiquary may take his choice between them, or cred- it Standish with a change of weapons. Damascus blades are iwords or cimeters presenting upon their surface a variegated appearance of watering, as white, silvery, or black veins in fine lines and fillets. Such engraved blades were common in the East, and the most famous came from Damascus; the exact secret of the workmanship has never been fully discovered in the West. 10. A fowling-piece is a light gun for shooting birds; atnatch- loclc was a musket, the lock of which held a match or piece of twisted rope prepared to retain fire. As late as 1687 match- locks were used instead of flint-locks, which had then come into general use. In Bradford and Winslow's Journal (Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 125), we are told of a party setting out ' with eviiry man his inusket, sword, and corse.'et, under the conduct of Captain Miles Standish." That these muskets were matchlocks, appears from another passage in the samt journal (p. 142): "Then we lighted all our matches and pre pared ourselves, concluding that we were near their dwell ings." COURTSHIP, OF MILES STAN DISH. KK 15 Near him was seated John Alden, his friend, and household companion, Writing with diligent speed at a table of pine by the window; Fair-haired, azure-eyed, with delicate Saxon com- plexion, Having the dew of his youth, and the beauty thereof, as the captives Whom Saint Gregory saw, and exclaimed, " Not Angles but Angels." to Youngest of all was he of the men who came in the Mayflower. Suddenly breaking the silence, the diligent scrib interrupting, 15. Bradford, the historian of the Plymouth Plantation, sayi that John Alden, who was one of the Mayflower company, " was hired for a cooper, at Southampton, where the ship victualled; and being a hopeful young man, was much de- sired, but left to his own liking to go or stay when lie cam* here [to Plymouth, that is] ; but he stayed and married here." In this picture of Miles Standish and John Alden, some hav professed to see a miniature likeness to Oliver Cromwell and John Milton. 18. The story of the first mission to heathen England is re- ferred to here. A monk named Gregory, in the sixth century, passed through the slave-market at Rome, and there amongst other captives he saw three fair-complexioned and fair-haired boys, in striking contrast to the dusky captives about them. He asked whence they came, and was answered, "From TJrit- gin," and that they were called Angli, which was the Latin form of the name by which they called themselves, and from which Anglo, England, and Kngiish are derived- " JVon Anyli led Angtli," replied Gregory; 'ihevhave the face of ar.gels, not of Angles, ana they ought t<> be fellow heirs of heaven." Years afterward, tne sMirv runs, wnen tiregory was pope, h remembered the fair captives, ana sent St. Augustine to carry Christianity to them. The story will be found at length in E. A. Freeman's Old English History for Children, p. 44- 106 LONGFELLO IF. Spake, in the pride of his heart, Miles Standish the Captain of Plymouth. "Look at these arms," he said, "the warlike weapons that hang here Burnished and bright and clean, as if for parade or inspection! 15 This is the sword of Damascus I fought with in Flanders ; this breastplate, Well I remember the day! once saved my life in a skirmish ; Here in front you can see the very dint of the bullet Fired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish area- bucero. Had it not been of sheer steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Standish 50 Would at this moment be mould, in their grave in the Flemish morasses." Thereupon answered/ John Alden, but looked not up from his writing: " Truly the breath of the Lord hath slackened the speed of the bullet ; He in his mercy preserved you, to be our shield and our weapon ! ' ' Still the Captain continued, unheeding the words of the stripling : 35 " See, how bright they are burnished, as if in an i arsenal hanging ; 26. The history of Miles Standish is not clearly known, but he was a soldier in the Low Countries during the defence of the Netherlands against the Spanish power, and the poet has made much of this little knowledge that we have. 28. Arcabucero is Spanish for archer, and the same term passed over, as weapons changed, into a musketeer and gun smith. COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISU. 107 That is because I have done it myself, and not left it to others. Serve yourself, would you be well served, is an excellent adage; So I take care of my arms, as you of your pens and your inkhorn. Then, too, there are my soldiers, my great, invin- cible army, 1C Twelve men, all equipped, having each his rest and his matchlock, Eighteen shillings a month, together with diet and pillage, And, like Csesar, I know the name of each of my soldier si " This he said with a smile, that danced in his eyes, as the sunbeams Dance on the waves of the sea, and vanish again in a moment. 45 Alden laughed as he wrote, and still the Captain continued: " Look! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer planted High on the roof of the church, a preacher who speaks to the purpose, 38. There is some uncertainty about the derivation of tha word inkhorn. The usual interpretation refers to the custom of icribes carrying ink in a horn attached to their dress, but Borne etymologists make it a corruption from inkern, the terminations erne and eron coming from the Saxon ern, earn, a lecret place to put anything in, inkern being thus a little vessel into which we put ink. 39. The formation of the military company was due chiefly to the serious losses that befel the Pilgrims during the first winter, leading them to maka careful provision against aur- Drises and attacks from the Indians. 47. One of the earliest structures raised by the Pilgrima was 108 LONGFELLO W. Steady, straightforward, and strong, with irresisti- ble logic, Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the heathen. 50 Now we are ready, I think, for any assault of th Indians ; Let them come, if they like, and the sooner thej try it the better, Let them come if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or pow-wow, Agpinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Toka- mahamon!" Long at the window he stood, and wistfully gazed on the landscape, J5 Washed with a cold gray mist, the vapory breath of the east-wind, Forest and meadow and hill, and the steel-blue rim of the ocean, Lying silent and sad, in the afternoon shadows and sunshine. Over his countenance flitted a shadow like those on the landscape, Gloom intermingled with light ; and his voice was subdued with emotion, 60 Tenderness, pity, regret, as after a pause he pro- ceeded : a platform upon the hill overlooking the settlement, where they mounted five guns. They had also a common house for rendezvous, nineteen feet square, but the planting of guns upon the log-built meeting-house belongs to a later date. 52. The tayamore was an Indian chief of the subordinate class; the sachem a principal chief; the pow-wow a medicine nan or conjurer. 53. Names of Indians who are mentioned in the early chron- icles. COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISU. 109 " Yonder there, on the hill by the sea, lies buried Rose Standish ; Beautiful rose of love, that bloomed for me by the wayside ! She was the first to die of all who came in the Mayflower ! Green above her is growing the field of wheat we have sown there, 65 Better to hide from the Indian scouts the grave* of our people, Lest they should count them and see how many already have perished ! " Sadly his face he averted, and strode up and down, and was thoughtful. Fixed to the opposite wall was a shelf of books, and among them Prominent three, distinguished alike for bulk and for binding ; 70 Bariffe's Artillery Guide, and the Commentaries of Cassar 64. The dead were buried on a bluff by the water-side during that first terrible winter, and the marks of burial were care- fully effaced, lest the Indians should discover how the colony had been weakened. The tradition is preserved in Holmea'e Annals. 70. The elaborate title of Standish's military book was: Militarie Discipline: or the Young Artillery Man, Wherein ia Discoursed and Shown the Postures both of Musket and Pike, the Exactest way, &c., Together with the Exercise of the Foot in their Motions, with much variety: As also, diverse and sev- eral Forms for the Imbatteling small or great Bodies demon- strated by the number of a single Company with their Reduce- ments. Very necessary for all such as are Studious in the Art Military. Whereunto is also added the Postures and Bene- Qciall Use of the Halfe-Pike joyced with the Mnsket. With 110 LONGFELLOW. Out of the Latin translated by Arthur Goldinge of London, And, as if guarded by these, between them was standing the Bible. Musing a moment before them, Miles Standish paused, as if doubtful Which of the three he should choose for his con- solation and comfort, 75 Whether the wars of the Hebrews, the famous campaigns of the Romans, Or the Artillery practice, designed for belligerent Christians. Finally down from its shelf he dragged the ponder- ous Roman, Seated himself at the window, and opened the book, and in silence Turned o'er the well-worn leaves, where thumb- marks thick on the margin, 80 Like the trample of feet, proclaimed the battle was hottest, Nothing was heard in the room but the hurrying pen of the stripling, Busily writing epistles important, to go by the Mayflower, Ready to sail on the morrow, or next day at latest, God willing! the way to draw up the Swedish Brigade. By Colonel William Barriffe." Barriffe was a Puritan, and added to his title-page : " Psalmes 144: 1. Blessed be the Lord my Strength which teacheth my hands to warre and my fingers to fight." 71. Golding was a voluminous translator, and his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was highly regarded. He was pat- ronized hy Sir Philip Sidney. 82. The Mayflower began her return voyage April 5, 1621. Not a single one of the emigrants returned ; a her, in spite of the " terrible winter." COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. Ill Homeward bound with the tidings of all that ter- rible winter, 85 Letters written by Alden, and full of the name of Priscilla, Full of the name and the fame of the Puritan maiden Priscilla! II. LOVE AXD FRIENDSHIP. Nothing was heard in the room but the hurrying pen of the stripling, Or an occasional sigh from the laboring heart of the Captain, Reading the marvellous words and achievements of Julius Ctesar. 90 After a while he exclaimed, as he smote with his hand, palm downwards, Heavily on the page: " A wonderful man was this Caesar 1 You are a writer, and I am a fighter, but here is a fellow Who could both write and fight, and in both was equally skilful!" Straightway answered and spake John Alden, the comely, the youthful: 95 " Yes, he was equally skilled, as you say, with his pen and his weapons. Somewhere have I read, but where I forget, he could dictate Seven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs." 85. Among the names of the Mayflower company are thoM if "Mr. William Mullines and his wife, and 2 children, Joseph ind Priscila; and a servant, Robart Carter." 112 LONGFELLOW. " Truly," continued the Captain, not heeding or hearing the other, " Truly a wonderful man was Caius Julius Cae- sar! loo Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian vil- lage, Thau be second in Rome, and I think he was right when he said it. Twice was he married before he was twenty, and many times after; Battles five hundred he fought, and a thousand cities he conquered; He, too, fought in Flanders, as he himself has re- corded; tO5 Finally he was stabbed by his friend, the orator Brutus ! Now, do you know what he did on a certain oc- casion in Flanders, When the rear-guard of his army retreated, the front giving way too, And the immortal Twelfth Legion was crowded so closely together There was no room for their gwords ? Why, he seized a shield from a soldier, IIO Put himself straight at the head of his troops, and commanded the captains, 100. " In his journey, as he was crossing the Alps and pass- ing by a small village of the barbarians with but few inhab- itants, and those wretchedly poor, his companions asked the question among themselves by way of mockery if there were Any canvassing for offices there; any contention which should pe uppermost, or feuds of great men one against another- To which Csesar made answer seriously, " For my part I had mther be the first man among these fellows, than the second man :n Rome." Plutarch's Life of Cceaar, A. H. dough's tranlation. COURTSHIP OF MILES STAXDISH. 113 Calling on each by his name, to order forward the ensigns; Then to widen the ranks, and give more room for their weapons ; So he won the day, the battle of something-or- other. That 's what I always say; if you wish a thing to be well done, 115 You must do it yourself, you must not leave it to others!" All was silent again; the Captain continued his reading. Nothing was heard in the room but the hurrying pen of the stripling Writing epistles important to go next day by the Mayflower, Filled with the name and the fame of the Puritan maiden Priscilla; 120 Every sentence began or closed with the name of Priscilla, Till the treacherous pen, to which he confided the secret, Strove to betray it by singing and shouting the name of Priscilla! Finally closing his book, with a bang of the pon- derous cover, Sudden and loud as the sound of a soldier ground- ing his musket, 125 Thus to the young man spake Miles Standish the Captain of Plymouth : " When you have finished your work, I have something important to tell you. 113. The account of this battle will be found in Ccetar's Com- nentariee, book II. ch. 10. 8 114 LONGFELLOW. Be not however in haste; I can wait; I shall not be impatient! " Straightway Alden replied, as he folded the last of his letters, Pushing his papers aside, and giving respectful attention: 130 " Speak ; for whenever you speak, I am always ready to listen, Always ready to hear whatever pertains to Miles Standish." Thereupon answered the Captain, embarrassed, and culling his phrases : " 'T is not good for a man to be alone, say the Scriptures. This I have said before, and again and again I re- peat it ; 133 Every hour in the day, I think it, and feel it, and say it. Since Rose Standish died, my life has been weary and dreary; Sick at heart have I been, beyond the healing of friendship". Oft in my lonely hours have I thought of the maiden Priscilla. She is alone in the world ; her father and mother and brother 140 Died in the winter together ; I saw her going and coining, Now to the grave of the dead, and now to the bed of the dying, 139. " Mr. Molines, and his wife, his sone and his servant, dyed the first winter. Only his danghter Prisctla survived and married with John Alden, who are both living and have 11 children.' Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, p 462. COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. 115 Patient, courageous, and strong, and said to my- self, that if ever There were angels on earth, as there are angels in heaven, Two have I seen and known; and the angel whose name is Priscilla 145 Holds in my desolate life the place which the other abandoned. Long have I cherished the thought, but never have dared to reveal it, Being a coward in this, though valiant enough for the most part. Go to the damsel Priscilla, the loveliest maiden of Plymouth, Say that a blunt old Captain, a man not of words but of actions, 150 Offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this in short is my meaning ; I am a maker of war, and not a maker of phrases. You, who are bred as a scholar, can say it in ele- gant language, Such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, 155 Such as you think best adapted to win the heart of a maiden." When he had spoken, John Alden, the fair- haired, taciturn stripling, All aghast at his words, surprised, embarrassed, bewildered, Trying to mask his dismay by treating the subject with lightness, Trying to smile, and yet feeling his heart stand still in his bosom, 116 LONGFELLOW. 160 Just as a timepiece stops in a house that is stricken by lightning, Thus made answer and spake, or rather stam- mered than answered: " Such a message as that, I am sure I should man- gle and mar it; If you would have it well done, I am only re- peating your maxim, You must do it yourself, you must not leave it to others! " 165 But with the air of a man whom nothing can turn from his purpose, Gravely shaking his head, made answer the Cap- tain of Plymouth: " Truly the maxim is good, and I do not mean to gainsay it; But we must use it discreetly, and not waste powder for nothing. Now, as I said before, I was never a maker of- phrases. 170 I can march up to a fortress and summon the place to surrender, But march up to a woman with such a proposal, I dare not. I 'm not afraid of bullets, nor shot from tho mouth of a cannon, But of a thundering ' No ! ' point-blank from the mouth of a woman, That I confess I 'm afraid of, nor am I ashamed to confess it! 175 So you must grant my request, for you are an elegant scholar, Having the graces of speech, and skill in the turn- ing of phrases." Taking the hand of his friend, who still wzw reluc tant and doubtful, COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. 117 Holding it long in his own, and pressing it kindly, he added : " Though I have spoken thus lightly, yet deep is the feeling that prompts me ; 180 Surely you cannot refuse what I ask in the name of our friendship! " Then made answer John Alden : "The name of friendship is sacred ; What you demand in that name, I have iut the power to deny you! " So the strong will prevailed, subduing and mould- ing the gentler, Friendship prevailed over love, and Alden went on his errand. in. THE LOVER'S ERRAND. 185 So the strong will prevailed, and Alden went his errand, Out of the street of the village, and into the pattj- 1 of the forest, Into the tranquil woods, where bluebirds and roo- ms were building Towns in the populous trees, with hanging gar- dens of verdure, Peaceful, aerial cities of joy and affection and freedom. 190 All around him was calm, but within him commo- tion and conflict, Love contending with friendship, and self with each generous impulse. 188. Compare the populous neste in Evangelme, 1. 136. ID the hanging gardens of verdure there is reference to tne famoa hanging gardens of Babylon. 118 LONGFELLOW. To and fro in his breast his thoughts were heav- ing and dashing, As in a foundering ship, with every roll of the ves- sel, Washes the bitter sea, the merciless surge of the ocean ! 195 "Must I relinquish it all," he cried with a wild lamentation, "Must I relinquish it all, the joy, the hope, the illusion? Was it for this I have loved, and waited, and wor- shipped in silence? Was it for this I have followed the flying feet and the shadow Over the wintry sea, to the desolate shores of New England ? loo Truly the heart is deceitful, and out of its depths of corruption Rise, like an exhalation, the misty phantoms of passion ; Angels of light they seem, but are only delusions of Satan. All is clear to me now; I feel it, I see it distinctly! This is the hand of the Lord; it. is laid upon me in anger, 105 For I have followed too much the heart's desires and devices, Worshipping Astaroth blindly, and impious idolr of Baal. This is the cross I must bear; the sin and the swift retribution." 206. Astaroth, in the Old Testament Scripture, is the form used for the principal female divinity, as Baal of the principa male divinity of the Phoenicians. COURTSHIP OF MILES STAND1SH. 119 So through the Plymouth woods John Alden went on his errand; Crossing the brook at the ford, where it brawled over pebble and shallow, 210 Gathering still, as he went, the Mayflowers bloom- ing around him, Fragrant, filling the air with a strange and won- derful sweetness, Children lost in the woods, and covered with leaves in their slumber. *' Puritan flowers," he said, " and the type of Pu- ritan maidens, Modest and simple and sweet, the very type of Priscilla! 215 So I will take them to her; to Priscilla the May- flower of Plymouth, Modest and simple and sweet, as a parting gift will I take them; Breathing their silent farewells, as they fade and wither and perish, Soon to be thrown away as is the heart of the giver." So through the Plymouth woods John Alden went on his errand; 2O Came to an open space, and saw the disk of the ocean, Sailless, sombre and cold with the comfortless breath of the east-wind; 210. The Mayflower is the well-known Epigcta repent, some- times also called the Trailing Arbutus. The name Mayflower was familiar in England, as the application of it to the historic ship shows, but it was app,.ed by the English, and is still, to the hawthorn. Its use here in connection with Epigcca repent dates from a very early day, some claiming that the first Pil- grims so used it, in affectionate memory of the vessel and iu English flower associations. 120 LONGFELLOW. Saw the new-built house, and people at work in a meadow; Heard, as he drew near the door, the musical voice of Priscilla Singing the hundredth Psalm, the grand old Puri- tun anthem, 225 Music that Luther sang to the sacred words of the Psalmist, Full of the breath of the Lord, consoling and com- forting many. Then, as he opened the door, he beheld the form of the maiden Seated beside her wheel, and the carded wool like a snow-drift Piled at her knee, her white hands feeding the ravenous spindle, 230 While with her foot on the treadle she guided the wheel in its motion. Open wide on her lap lay the well-worn psalm-" book of Ainsworth, Printed in Amsterdam, the words and the music together, 224. The words in the version which Priscilla used sound lomewhat rude to modern ears, but the music is substantially what we know as Old Hundred. The poet tells us (1. 231) that it was Ainsworth's translation which she used. Ainsworth be- came a Brownist in 1590, suffered persecution, and found refuge in Holland, where he published learned commentaries and translations. His -version of Psalm c. is as follows: 1. Bow to Jehovah all the earth. 2. Serve ye Jehovah with gladness ; before him come with singing- mirth. 3. Know that Jehovah he God ia. It '8 he that made us and net we big flock and sheep of his feeding. 4. Oh, with confession enter ye his gates, his courtyard with praising Confess to him, bless ye his name. 5. Because Jehovah he good is ; his mercy ever is the same, and hk faith unto all ages. COURTSHIP OF MILES SI'ANDISH. 121 Rough-hewn, angular notes, like stones in the wall of a churchyard, Darkened and overhung by the running vine of the verses. 135 Such was the book from whose pages she sang the old Puritan anthem, She, the Puritan girl, in the solitude of the forest, Making the humble house and the modest apparel of home-spun Beautiful with her beauty, and rich with the wealth of her being! Over him rushed, like a wind that is keen and cold and relentless, *4Q Thoughts of what might have been, and the weight and woe of his errand ; All the dreams that had faded, and all the hopes that had vanished, All his life henceforth a dreary and tenantless mansion, Haunted by vain regrets, and pallid, sorrowful faces. Still he said to himself, and almost fiercely he said it, 245 " Let not him that putteth his hand to the plough look backwards; Though the ploughshare cut through the flowera of life to its fountains, Though it pass o'er the graves of the dead and the hearths of the living, Tt is the will of the Lord ; and his mercy endur- eth forever 1 ' ' So he entered the house; and the hum of the wheel and the singing 250 Suddenly ceased; for Priscilla, aroused by hia step on the threshold. 122 LONGFELLOW. Rose as he entered, and gave him her hand, in signal, of welcome, Saying, " I knew it was you, when I heard your step in the passage; For I was thinking of you, as I sat there singing and spinning." Awkward and dumb with delight, that a thought of him had been mingled 155 Thus in the sacred psalm, that came from the heart of the maiden, Silent before her he stood, and gave her the flow- ers for an answer, Finding no words for his thought. He remem- bered that day in the winter, After the first great snow, when he broke a path from the village, Reeling and plunging along through the drifts that encumbered the doorway, - *6o Stamping the snow from his feet as he entered the house, and Priscilla Laughed at his snowy locks, and gave him a seat by the fireside, Grateful and pleased to know he had thought of her in the snow-storm. Had he but spoken then ! perhaps not in vain had he spoken; Now it was all too late ; the golden moment had vanished! 165 So he stood there abashed, and gave her the flow- ers for an answer. Then they sat down and talked of the birds and the beautiful Spring-time; Talked of their friends at home, and the May flower that sailed on the morrow. COURTSHIP OF MILES STAXDISH. 123 "I have been thinking all day," said gently the Puritan maiden, " Dreaming all night, and thinking all day, of the hedge-rows of England, 170 They are in blossom now, and the country is all like a garden ; Thinking of lanes and fields, and the song of the lark and the linnet, Seeing the village street, and familiar faces of neighbors Going, about as of old, and stopping to gossip to- gether, And, at the end of the street, the village church, with the ivy 175 Climbing the old gray tower, and the quiet graves in the churchyard. Kind are the people I live with, and dear to me my religion ; Still my heart is so sad, that I wish myself back in Old England. You will say it is wrong, but I cannot help it: I almost Wish myself back in Old England, I feel so lonely and wretched." 280 Thereupon answered the youth: " Indeed I do not condemn you; Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. Yonrs is tender and trusting, and needs a stronger to lean on ; So I have come to you now, with an offer and proffer of marriage Made by a good man and crue, Miles Standish the Captain of Plymouth ! " t24 LONGFELLOW. 185 Thus he delivered his message, the dexterous writer of letters, Did not embellish the theme, nor array it in beau- tiful phrases, But came straight to the point, and blurted it out like a school-boy; Even the Captain himself could hardly have said it more bluntly. Mute with amazement and sorrow, Priscilla the Puritan maiden 190 Looked into Alden's face, her eyes dilated with wonder, Feeling his words like a blow, that stunned her and rendered her speechless; Till at length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: " If the great Captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, Why does he not come himself, and take the' trouble to woo me? 295 If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not worth the winning!" Then John Alden began explaining and smooth- ing the matter, Making it worse as he went, by saying the Cap- tain was busy, Had no time for such things; such things! the words grating harshly Fell on the ear of Priscilla; and swift as a flash she made answer: 300 " lias he no time for such things, as you call it, be- fore he is married, Would he be likely to find it, or make it, aftei the wedding ? That is the way with you men ; you don't under stand us, you cannot. CO URTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. 1 25 When you have made up your minds, after think- ing of this one and that one, Choosing, selecting, rejecting, comparing one with another, 505 Then you make known your desire, with abrupt and sudden avowal, And are offended and hurt, and indignant per- haps, that a woman Does not respond at once to a love that she never suspected, Does not attain at a bound the height to which you have been climbing. This is not right nor just; for surely a woman's affection }io Is not a thing to be asked for, and had for only the asking. When one is truly in love, one not only says it, , but shows it. Had he but waited awhile, had he only showed that he loved me, Even this Captain of yours who knows? at last might have won me, Old and rough as he is ; but now it never can happen." JI5 Still John Alden went on, unheeding the wordi of Priscilla, Urging the suit of his friend, explaining, persuad- ing, expanding; Spoke of his courage and skill, and of all his battles in Flanders, How with the people of God he had chosen to suffer affliction, How, in return for his zeal, they had made him Captain of Plymouth : 126 LONGFELLOW. 3 / >.o He was a gentleman born, could trace his pedigree plainly Back to Hugh Standish of Duxbury Hall, in Lancashire, England, Who was the son of Ralph, and the grandson of Thurston de Standish ; Heir unto vast estates, of which he was basely defrauded, Still bore the family arms, and had for his crest a cock argent $25 Combed and wattled gules, and all the rest of the blazon. H