And as the day wanes, the sleek cows, with considered
careful walk and placid mien, wend their way homeward, bearing their
heavy udders to the house-mother, who, pail in hand awaiting their
approach, pauses for a moment to mark the feathered boaster at her feet,
as he makes his parting vaunt of a day well spent and summons "Partlet"
to her vesper perch hard by.
O'er all the scene there rests a brooding peace, bespeaking tranquil
lives, repose trimmed with the hush of night, and effort healthful and
cool as the freshening airs of morn.
L'ENVOI.
Longfellow--moving all hearts to pity--has painted in "Evangeline" the
enforced dispersion of the French in "Acadia." Who shall tell the
homesick pain, the vain regrets, the looking back of those who peopled
our "Acadia"? No voice bids them away; they melt before the fervor of
the time; hasten lest they be 'whelmed by the great wave of life now
rolling towards them. Vain retreat, the waters are out and may not be
stayed. It is fate! it is right, but the travail is sore, the face of
the mother is wet with tears.
This outline sketch proposed is at an end; we have striven to be
faithful to the true lines. There is no obligation to perpetuate
unworthy "minutae.
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