They bred cattle, sheep, hogs, and
horses in abundance; and the valley of the Annapolis, then as now, was
known for the profusion and excellence of its apples. For drink, they
made cider or brewed spruce-beer. French officials describe their
dwellings as wretched wooden boxes, without ornaments or conveniences,
and scarcely supplied with the most necessary furniture.[269] Two or
more families often occupied the same house; and their way of life,
though simple and virtuous, was by no means remarkable for cleanliness.
Such as it was, contentment reigned among them, undisturbed by what
modern America calls progress. Marriages were early, and population grew
apace. This humble society had its disturbing elements; for the
Acadians, like the Canadians, were a litigious race, and neighbors often
quarrelled about their boundaries. Nor were they without a bountiful
share of jealousy, gossip, and backbiting, to relieve the monotony of
their lives; and every village had its turbulent spirits, sometimes by
fits, though rarely long, contumacious even toward the cure, the guide,
counsellor, and ruler of his flock. Enfeebled by hereditary mental
subjection, and too long kept in leading-strings to walk alone, they
needed him, not for the next world only, but for this; and their
submission, compounded of love and fear, was commonly without bounds. He
was their true government; to him they gave a frank and full allegiance,
and dared not disobey him if they would. Of knowledge he gave them
nothing; but he taught them to be true to their wives and constant at
confession and Mass, to stand fast for the Church and King Louis, and to
resist heresy and King George; for, in one degree or another, the
Acadian priest was always the agent of a double-headed foreign
power,--the Bishop of Quebec allied with the Governor of Canada.[270]

[Footnote 268: _Histoire philosophique et politique_, VI. 242 (ed.
1772).]

[Footnote 269: _Beauharnois et Hocquart au Comte de Maurepas_, 12 Sept.
1745._]

[Footnote 270: Franquet, _Journal_, 1751, says of the Acadians: "Ils
aiment l'argent, n'ont dans toute leur conduite que leur interet pour
objet, sont, indifferemment des deux sexes, d'une inconsideration dans
leurs discours qui denote de la mechancete." Another observer,
Diereville, gives a more favorable picture.]

When Monckton and the Massachusetts men laid siege to Beausejour,
Governor Lawrence thought the moment favorable for exacting an
unqualified oa