We are interested in noting the differences between these ancient
implements and those in use at the present time; here is a gridiron,
with very long handle and four feet (a clumsy quadruped), and we see in
fancy the picture of home comfort, as the busy housewife prepares the
noonday meal, where -
"Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the farmer
Stood on the side of a lull commanding the sea, and a shady
Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreathing around it"
Here, too, are ox chains, a curiously shaped ploughshare, an odd little
spade used in mending the dikes, and digging clay for bricks, and also
the long and heavy tongs of the "blacksmith".
"Who was a mighty man in the village and honored of all men
For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and nations
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the people."
These implements were discovered at Frenchman's Brook on this farm, only
three years ago, and were then found apparently as bright and strong as
if just placed there. They were covered with brush, but a foot or two
below the surface; and seem to have been hurriedly hidden by the exiles,
who, finding them too weighty for conveyance, secreted them, probably
with the hope of returning sometime.
What a study for an artist the group would have made, as they stood
examining the misty iron, and talking of the unhappy people so
ruthlessly sent into banishment! For background, the quaint, unpainted
house, black with age, the roof of the "lean-to" so steeply sloping that
the eave-trough was on a line Avith the heads of the group Beyond lay
the lovely valley, with the winding Équille on its serpentine way to
join the greater river; the whole picture framed in the long range of
wooded and rugged hills.
Higginson thinks there has been too much sentimentalizing over the fate
of the Acadians; and one member of our party so evidently considers that
our enthusiasm savors of the gushing school-girl, that we are cautious
in our remarks. But the old man's grandson, holding his pretty child on
his shoulder, and looking across the valley to his pleasant dwelling,
says, "Oh, it was cruel to send them away from their homes!" to which
all earnestly assent.
Clambering up the hill back of the old house, we come upon the site of
an ancient French church, and commend the taste of those who chose such
an admirable location. Here we find, to our delight, that local
tradition has buried two fine old bells.
