Acadia | Page 8

steamers, in vast quantities,
"were below." Nor was the peace alone the great feature of the holiday.
The eighth of June, the natal day of Halifax, was to be celebrated also.
For Halifax was founded, so says the Chronicle, on the eighth of June,
1749, by the Hon. Edward Cornwallis (not our Cornwallis), and the
'Alligonians in consequence made a specialty of that fact once a year.
And to add to the attraction, the Board of Works had decided to lay the
corner-stone of a Lunatic Asylum in the afternoon; so there was no end
to the festivities. And, to crown all, an immense fog settled upon the
city.
Leaning upon my friend Robert's arm and my staff, I went forth to see
the grand review. When we arrived upon the ground, in the rear of
Citadel Hill, we saw the outline of something glimmering through the
fog, which Robert said were shrubs, and which I said were soldiers. A
few minutes' walking proved my position to be correct; we found
ourselves in the centre of a three-sided square of three regiments,
within which the civic authorities were loyally boring Sir John Gaspard
le Merchant and staff, to the verge of insanity, with the Address which
was to be laid at the foot of the throne. Notwithstanding the despairing
air with which His Excellency essayed to reply to this formidable paper,
I could not help enjoying the scene; and I also noted, when the reply

was over, and the few ragamuffins near His Excellency cheered bravely,
and the band struck up the national anthem, how gravely and discreetly
the rest of the 'Alligonians, in the circumambient fog, echoed the
sentiment by a silence, that, under other circumstances, would have
been disheartening. What a quiet people it is! As I said before, to make
the festivities complete, in the afternoon there was a procession to lay
the corner-stone of a Lunatic Asylum. But oh! how the jolly old rain
poured down upon the luckless pilgrimage! There were the "Virgins" of
Masonic Lodge No.--, the Army Masons, in scarlet; the African
Masons, in ivory and black; the Scotch-piper Mason, with his legs in
enormous plaid trowsers, defiant of Shakspeare's theory about the
sensitiveness of some men, when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose; the
Clerical Mason in shovel hat; the municipal artillery; the Sons of
Temperance, and the band. Away they marched, with drum and banner,
key and compasses, BIBLE and sword, to Dartmouth, in great feather,
for the eyes of Halifax were upon them.
CHAPTER II.
Fog clears Up--The One Idea not comprehended by the American
Mind--A June Morning in the Province--The Beginning of the
Evangeliad--Intuitive Perception of Genius--The Forest
Primeval--Acadian Peasants--A Negro Settlement--Deer's Castle--The
Road to Chezzetcook--Acadian Scenery--A Glance at the Early History
of Acadia--First Encroachments of the English--The Harbor and
Village of Chezzetcook--Etc., etc.
The celebration being over, the fog cleared up. Loyalty furled her flags;
the civic authorities were silent; the signal-telegraph was put upon short
allowance. But the 'Alligonian papers next day were loaded to the
muzzle with typographical missiles. From them we learned that there
had been a great amount of enthusiasm displayed at the celebration, and
"everything had passed off happily in spite of the weather." "Old
Chebucto" was right side up, and then she quietly sparkled out again.
There is one solitary idea, and only one, not comprehensible by the
American mind. I say it feebly, but I say it fearlessly, there is an idea

which does not present anything to the American mind but a blank.
Every metaphysical dog has worried the life out of every abstraction
but this. I strike my stick down, cross my hands, and rest my chin upon
them, in support of my position. Let anybody attempt to controvert it!
"I say, that in the American mind, there is no such thing as the
conception even, of an idea of tranquillity!" I once for a little repose,
went to a "quiet New-England village," as it was called, and the first
thing that attracted my attention there was a statement in the village
paper, that no less than twenty persons in that quiet place had obtained
patent-rights for inventions and improvements during the past year.
They had been at everything, from an apple-parer to a steam-engine. In
the next column was an article "on capital punishment," and the leader
was thoroughly fired up with a bran-new project for a railroad to the
Pacific. That day I dined with a member of Congress, a peripatetic
lecturer, and the principal citizens of the township, and took the return
cars at night amid the glare of a torch-light procession. Repose,
forsooth? Why, the great busy city seemed to sing lullaby, after the
shock of that quiet New-England village.
But in this quaint, mouldy old town,