Thoughts of To-Day

Newspaper
Year
1888
Month
3
Day
7
Article Title
Thoughts of To-Day
Author
Alpha
Page Number
3
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
THOUGHTS OF TO-DAY Who would have foretold one hundred, aye, seventy years ago, the wonderful advancement which the French-Acadien people were to make, within the century, in population, resources, and intelligence? The echoes of the savage soldiery’s cry seems yet to be ringing in the ears of the attentive listener; and still in forest, and by limpid stream, the traces of where the hunted Acadien pitched his miserable tent are visible to the keen observer. Out from their hiding-places in the heart of the “forest primeval,” almost within the recollection of men still living, did they emerge pale and trembling, knowing not why they were thus hounded, knowing not even why they should be thankful to the possessors of their former lands for giving them a respite from death, when they had committed no crime, done no wrong that would call for either punishment or pardon! Along the shores of the “mournful and misty Atlantic” did they settle down in little bands, and by families, striving to gain from an ungrateful soil and a treacherous ocean the bare necessaries of existence, and often purchasing them at the cost of incredible toil and the risk of human life. Like the chosen people of God in the days of the “great lawgiver,” they lived a people within a people, knowing not the language of their conquerors, nor even worshipping a common God with the same forms. Through long and weary years they rose early and lay down late, striving by arduous and patient labor to win back again at least a modicum of that ease and comfort which their forefathers had enjoyed ‘mid the smiling meadow-lands of Grand Pré. Nor did they toil in vain. Confining ourselves for the present to their situation in Western Nova Scotia, we may well ask where could another handful of people be found who would have made so astonishing a progress, in a material point of view, within so limited a period of time? The unbiased observer who travels through their settlements to-day, whether along the shores of the beautiful St. Mary’s Bay, or mid the romantic and ever-changing scenery that adds a subtle charm to the windings of the Tusket River, or the imposing grandeur of Argyle Bay, is struck by the air of comfort and bien aître so generally imaged forthby their home-like habitations. There he sees a people living beneath their roof tree in modest comfort, yet truly rich with the surpassing richness of contented minds. The overflowing granaries of the good old days may not be theirs, but plenty is ever in the house and on the hospitable board, and as long as the good God has given them the means to provide for their own simple wants, they wish not that others who may be indigent or distressed should suffer. The blessing of the Psalmist is theirs, in the number and happiness of their children; and the paternal affection is returned by a filial love which knows no bounds. There is old age honored and revered; there is childhood cared for and nurtured with a sacred fondness that contemplates with awe-struck tenderness the budding graces of holy youth. There, night and morning, does the hymn of praise mouth to the “great White Throne,” bearing upwards, in a fragrant, insense-laden breath, the regrets of old age, the prayers of mature years, and the hopes of expectant youth. This is no picture of the imagination – no dream of a fancy-bewildered mind. No. Bringing us out from a world of sordid cares, and pain, and sorrow, transporting us to another age and another soil, the lives of numbers amongst our Acadian confrères are living, moving examples of Faith mirrored in Life! Much could be said of other qualities, but space will not permit. Much, too, might be said of faults, but those, as the outcome of human frailty, we must expect. Enough has been said to clearly demonstrate the advancement in resources and in moral capacity which has marked our French-Acadien population during the last generation. In the intellectual world they are but now beginning to make their influence felt, but allow another decade to come and pass away, and this influence – a mighty one, for good or evil (let us hope, and with reason, for the former)will weigh heavily in the balance on all important questions. Politically and socially, they are destined to become a power – and not an inert one, either – in the regulating of affairs throughout those “Provinces by the Sea;” and there can be found amongst them, to-day, many who believe firmly that when an opportunity arrives to show the quality of their mental development among the descendants of the proscribed Evangéline, there will be found men worthy of their ancestors and worthy of their beloved Acadie! ALPHA.