While Evangeline stood like one entranced, Ah! how often beneath this oak, returning

Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of the music of me in thy slumbers. Heard she the sound of the sea, and an ir- When shall these eyes behold, these arms be repressible sadness folded about thee?" Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole Loud and sudden and near the note of a forth into the garden. whippoor-will sounded

Beautiful was the night. Behind the black Like a flute in the woods; and anon, through the neighbouring thickets, Farther and farther away it floated and dropped into silence.

Fell here and there through the branches a,,Patience!" whispered the oaks, from oracular tremulous gleam of the moonlight,

Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened And from the moonlit meadow a sigh respond

Unto the night, as it went its way, like a Bathed his shining

i

With the delicious balm that they bore in their vases of crystal.

„Farewell!" said the priest, as he stood at the shadowy threshold;

Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn vibrations.

Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, beautiful prairies,

See that you bring back the Prodigal Son Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow

from his fasting and famine,

And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the bridegroom was coming."

and sunshine,

Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas.

Farewell!" answered the maiden, and, Over them wander the buffalo herds, and smiling, with Basil descended

the elk, and the roebuck;

Down to the river's brink, where the boat- Over them wander the wolves, and the

men already were waiting.

Thus beginning their journey with morning and sunshine and gladness,

herds of riderless horses;

Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel;

Swiftly they followed the flight of him who Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's children,

was speeding before them,

Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf Staining the desert with blood; and above over the desert. their terrible war-trails Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, that succeeded, the vulture, Found the trace of his course, in lake or Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle,

forest or river,

Nor after many days had they found him; By invisible stairs ascending and scaling but vague and uncertain

Rumours alone were their guides through a
wild and desolate country;
Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of
Adayes,

Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned
from the garrulous landlord,

the heavens.

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,

That on the day before, with horses and Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for guides and companions,

roots by the brook-side,

Gabriel left the village, and took the road And over all this the sky, the clear and

Through the Sweet-water Valley precipitate Rise in the morning air from the distant.

leaps the Nebraska;

And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout

and the Spanish sierras,

plain; but at nightfall,

When they had reached the place, they found only embers and ashes.

Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by And, though their hearts were sad at times the wind of the desert, and their bodies were weary,

Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, Hope still guided them on, as the magic

descend to the ocean,

Fata Morgana

Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and vanished before them.

Fading and melting away and dissolving into the sunshine,

Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far into the forest,

Once, as they sat by their evening fire, Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed there silently entered like a weird incantation, Into the little camp an Indian woman, whose Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, who features was wooed by a phantom, Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience That, through the pines o'er her father's as great as her sorrow. lodge, in the hush of the twilight,

She was a Shawnee woman, returning Breathed like the evening wind, and whishome to her people pered love to the maiden,

From the far-off hunting grounds of the Till she followed his green and waving cruel Camanches,

plume through the forest,

Where her Canadian husband, a Coureur- And never more returned, nor was seen

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.

again by her people.

Silent with wonder and strange surprise,
Evangeline listened

To the soft flow of her magical words, till
the region around her

Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy guest the enchantress.

But when their meal was done, and Basil Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains

and all his companions,

Worn with the long 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

the moon rose,

Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious splendour

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.

Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm Filled with the thoughts of love was Evan

of her Indian accent,

All the tale of her love, with its pleasures,

and pains, and reverses.

geline's heart, but a secret, Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror,

Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into

know that another

the nest of the swallow.

Hapless heart like her own had loved and It was no earthly fear. A breath from the had been disappointed. region of spirits

Moved to the depths of her soul by pity Seemed to float in the air of night; and she and woman's compassion,

felt for a moment

Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was had suffered was near her,

pursuing a phantom.

She in turn related her love and all its dis- And with this thought she slept, and the

But, when the morning came, arose and Much he teaches the people, and tells them

passed from the wigwam,

of Mary and Jesus;

Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep Soft was the voice of the priest, and he with pain, as they hear him." spake with an accent of kindness;

Then, with a sudden and secret emotion But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter the snow-flakes

Evangeline answered,

,,Let us go to the Mission, for there good Fall into some lone nest from which the tidings await us!" birds have departed. Thither they turned their steeds; and behind „Far to the north he has gone," continued a spur of the mountains, the priest;,,but in autumn,

Just as the sun went down, they heard a When the chase is done, will return again to the Mission."

murmur of voices, And in a meadow green and broad, by the Then Evangeline said, and her voice bank of a river, was meek and submissive, Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents,,Let me remain with thee, for my soul is of the Jesuit mission. sad and afflicted." Under a towering oak, that stood in the So seemed it wise and well unto all; and midst of the village, betimes on the morrow, Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. Mounting his Mexican steed, with his InA crucifix, fastened dian guides and companions,

High on the trunk of the tree, and over- Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline shadowed by grape-vines,

Looked with its agonized face on the mul

titude kneeling beneath it.

This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through

the intricate arches

stayed at the Mission.

Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other,

Of its aërial roof, arose the chant of their Days and weeks and months; and the fields

vespers,

Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.

Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer approaching,

of maize that were springing Green from the ground when a stranger she came, now waving above her, Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, and forming

Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries

the evening devotions.

pillaged by squirrels.

But when the service was done, and the Then in the golden weather the maize was benediction had fallen

From the hands of the priest, like seeds

from the hands of the sower,

husked, and the maidens

Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a lover,

Slowly the reverend man advanced to the But at the crooked laughed, and called it a strangers, and bade them

thief in the cornfield.

Welcome; and when they replied, he smiled Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought

with benignant expression,

not her lover.

Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother-,,Patience!" the priest would say; „have tongue in the forest, faith, and thy prayer will be answered! And with words of kindness conducted them Look at this delicate flower that lifts its

into his wigwam.

head from the meadow,

There upon mats and skins they reposed, See how its leaves all point to the north, and on cakes of maize-ear as true as the magnet;

Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the It is the compass flower, that the finger of watergourd of the teacher. God has suspended

Soon was their story told; and the priest Here on its fragile stalk, to direct the tra

,,Not six suns have risen and set since Ga- Over the sea-like, pathless limitless waste briel, seated

of the desert.

On this mat by my side, where now the Such in the soul of man is faith. The blos

maiden reposes

soms of passion,

Told me this same sad tale; then arose and Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and

continued his journey!"

fuller of fragrance,

But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her their odour is deadly.

earthly horizon,

Only this humble plant can guide us here, As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks

Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odour As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose haunts they molested.

of blossom. Far to the north and east, it is said, in the There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, an exile,

Michigan forests, Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the Finding among the children of Penn a home Saginaw river. and a country. And, with returning guides, that sought the There old René Leblanc had died; and when lakes of St. Lawrence,

Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline went from

the Mission.

When over weary ways, by long and perilous marches,

She had attained at length the depths of the Michigan forests,

he departed,

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descendants.

Something at least there was in the friendly streets of the city,

Something that spake to her heart, and made her no longer a stranger:

Found she the hunter's lodge deserted and And her ear was pleased with the Thee fallen to ruin!

and Thou of the Quakers,

For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country,

Thus did the long sad years glide on, and Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and sisters.

in seasons and places

Divers and distant far was seen the wander- So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed ing maiden; endeavour, Now in the tents of grace of the meek Mo- Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, ravian Missions, uncomplaining,

Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her thoughts and her footsteps.

of the army,

Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and As from a mountain's top the rainy mists

populous cities.

Like a phantom she came, and passed away

unremembered.

Fair was she and young, when in hope began the long journey;

of the morning

Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below us,

Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and hamlets,

Faded was she and old, when in disappoint- So fell the mists from her mind, and she ment it ended. saw the world far below her,

Each succeeding year stole something away Dark no longer, but all illumined with love; and the pathway

from her beauty, Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth gloom and the shadow. and fair in the distance.

Then there appeared and spread faint streaks Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart

of gray o'er her forehead,

was his image,