Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father had spoken,

And, as they died on his lips, the worthy notary entered.

Bent, like a laboring oar that toils in the surf of the

ocean,

Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the notarypublic;1

Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the maize,

hung

Over his shoulders; his forehead was high; and glasses with horn bows

Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom supernal.2 Father of twenty children was he, and more than a hundred Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his great watch tick.

Four long years in the times of the war had he languished a captive,

Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend of the English.

Now, though warier grown, without all guile or suspicion, Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and childlike.

He was beloved by all, and most of all by the children; For he told them tales of the Loup-garou in the forest, And of the goblin that came in the night to water the horses,

And of the white Létiche,1 the ghost of a child who unchristened

Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers of children;

And how on Christmas Eve the oxen talked in the stable,2 And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in a nutshell,

And of the marvelous powers of four-leaved clover and horseshoes,

4

With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the village.

III.

Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the table, Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with homebrewed

Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the village of Grand-Pré;

While from his pocket the notary drew his papers and

inkhorn,

Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of the

parties,

Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep and in cattle.

Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were com

pleted,

1 white Létiche. It is conjectured that the white, fleet ermine gave rise to this superstition. 2 oxen... 66 stable. A belief still lingers among the peasantry of England, as well as on the Continent, that at midnight on Christmas Eve, the cattle in the stalls fell down on their knees in adora

tion of the infant Saviour, as the old legend says was done in the stable at Bethlehem." - SCUDDER.

3 cured by a spider. Another popular superstition.

4 writ in the lore. Explain the phrase.

5 pocket, diminutive of pcke, a little pouch.

And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on the

margin.

Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on the

table

Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of silver; And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and the bridegroom,1

Lifted aloft the tankard of ale, and drank to their welfare. Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed and departed,

While in silence the others sat and mused by the fireside, Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its

corner.

2

3

Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the old men Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful maneuver,* Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was made in the king-row.5

Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure,

Sat the lovers, and whispered together, beholding the moon rise

Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the meadows. Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.

1 bridegroom. This word is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon bryd-guma; guma = man.

2 draught-board, checker-board. The word "draught" is derived from the circumstance of drawing the "men" from one square to another.

3 contention, rivalry.

4 maneuver. See Webster for an interesting etymology.

5 Laughed...king-row. These terms require no explanation to any one who has played the game of checkers-and who has not?

6 Blossomed . . . angels. Discover what is felicitous in this beautiful image.

Thus was the evening passed. Anon the bell from the belfry

Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew,1 and straightway

Rose the guests, and departed; and silence reigned in the household.

Many a farewell word and sweet good-night on the door

step

Lingered long in Evangeline's heart, and filled it with gladness.

Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed on the hearth-stone,

And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the farmer. Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline followed. Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the darkness, Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the

maiden.

Silent she passed the hall, and entered the door of her chamber.

Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white, and its clothes-press

2

Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves were carefully folded

3

Linen and woolen stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline woven. This was the precious dower she would bring to her husband in marriage,

4

Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of her skill as

a housewife.

1 curfew (from French couvrir, to cover, and feu, fire), the nightfall bell of old times in England, -a signal to extinguish lights, cover fires, and retire to rest.

2 spacious. Give a synonym. 3 precious (from Latin pretium, price), of great price or value.

4 better. What does this word modify?

Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and radiant moonlight

Streamed through the windows, and lighted the room, till the heart of the maiden

Swelled and obeyed its power, like the tremulous tides of the ocean.

Ah! she was fair, exceeding fair to behold, as she stood with

Naked snow-white feet on the gleaming floor of her chamber!

Little she dreamed that below, among the trees of the orchard,

Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her lamp and her shadow.

Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeling of

sadness

Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in the moonlight

Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a moment.

And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely the moon pass

Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow her footsteps,

As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered with Hagar!