re made prisoners, and transported to the English colonies. All
their dwellings and churches were burnt, their cattle were killed, and the
whole country was laid waste, so that none of them might find shelter or
food in their old homes, after the departure of the English. One thousand
of the prisoners were sent to Massachusetts; and Grandfather allowed his
fancy to follow them thither, and tried to give his auditors an idea of
their situation.

We shall call this passage the story of

THE ACADIAN EXILES

A sad day it was for the poor Acadians, when the armed soldiers drove
them, at the point of the bayonet, down to the sea-shore. Very sad were
they, likewise, while tossing upon the ocean, in the crowded transport
vessels. But, methinks, it must have been sadder still, when they were
landed on the Long Wharf, in Boston, and left to themselves, on a foreign
strand.

Then, probably, they huddled together, and looked into one another's faces
for the comfort which was not there. Hitherto, they had been confined on
board of separate vessels, so that they could not tell whether their
relatives and friends were prisoners along with them. But, now, at least,
they could tell that many had been left behind, or transported to other
regions.

Now, a desolate wife might be heard calling for her husband. He, alas! had
gone, she knew not whither, or perhaps had fled into the woods of Acadia,
and had now returned to weep over the ashes of their dwelling. An aged
widow was crying out, in a querulous, lamentable tone, for her son, whose
affectionate toil had supported her for many a year. He was not in the
crowd of exiles; and what could this aged widow do but sink down and die?
Young men and maidens, whose hearts had been torn asunder by separation,
had hoped, during the voyage, to meet their beloved ones at its close.
Now, they began to feel that they were separated forever. And, perhaps, a
lonesome little girl, a golden-haired child of five years old, the very
picture of our little Alice, was weeping and wailing for her mother, and
found not a soul to give her a kind word.

Oh, how many broken bonds of affection were here! Country lost!--friends
lost!--their rural wealth of cottage, field, and herds, all lost together!
Every tie between these poor exiles and the world seemed to be cut off at
once. They must have regretted that they had not died before their exile;
for even the English would not have been so pitiless as to d