Evangeline a Tale of Acadie by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

¶ … Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

People told her to forget Gabriel and take another. They said "Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has loved thee/Many a tedious year; come, give him thy hand and be happy!"

But she said that she could do nothing but follow her heart. "Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, and not elsewhere/For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and illumines the pathway,/Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in darkness"

Her reaction was best for her. It may not have been the same for someone else. The people were trying to be helpful seeing that she was in such distress, but it impossible to tell someone to quit her love for Gabriel once it had been kindled.

She learned that they had actually passed by where Gabriel was. It is ironic because she had said to Father Felician that she could feel Gabriel walking in the vicinity when they crossed the Atchafalaya where Basil said Gabriel actually was.

He had been at a mission in the Ozarks, but he left to go to the "North country." Evangeline stayed because he was supposed to be back the next spring. She left after a few years because he did not return as he had promised.

4. She finally settled in Pennsylvania near the Delaware River. She became a sister of mercy, and she was content because she was able to minister to people who were sick and in need.

5. From the wanderings that she had previously done, it would seem that it would not have been a very happy reunion. She finds him as one of her charges who is about to die after many years of searching for him and then becoming content as a nun and Sister of Mercy. It was actually a happy reunion for her because she did get to see him, but the search had lost its importance when she was given another mission.

6. He ends by saying almost the exact same words, but he talks about another race that has inherited the lands that were once those of Evangeline and Gabriel.

Longfellow contends that a woman's love is beautiful and strong because it is never-ending. But also because, as it matures, it strengthens as it moves away from fancy to a realization of the companionship and trust that love truly is.