He often, in his fallen days, would go about sighing for
Marie, and declaring that, with all his vengeful feelings
towards her, she was the only maiden whom he had ever
really loved. Old Jean came back and settled with a sad
heart, in the little cottage where had grown up his sweet
Marie. It was very desolate for his old heart now. The
ivy wreathed itself about the little wicker house, as
was its wont, but Marie was not there. The cows came as
usual to the bars to be milked, but there was a lamenting
in their lowing call. They missed the small, soft hand
that used to milk them, and never more heard the blithe,
glad voice singing from _La Claire Fontaine_. Paul worked
bravely and strove to cheer his father; and Violette,
with her bright, quick eyes, just a little like Marie's,
would come down and sing to him, and bring him cool,
pink, dew-bathed roses. He thanked them all; but their
love was not sufficient. His heart was across the prairies
by a grave upon which the violets were growing. Before
the leaves fell he was lying by her side. A cypress
marks the graves, and the little brook goes by all the
summer.
CHAPTER X.
We left the murderer upon the plains making speeches like
Marius on the ruins of Carthage. The self-imposed
banishment did not endure for long; and the swarthy face
of Louis Riel was once more seen in Riviere Rouge. When
tidings of the murder got abroad, English-speaking Canada
cried out that the felon should be handed over to justice.
I say English-speaking Canada, for the French people
almost to a man gave their sympathy to the man whose
hands were red with the blood of his fellow creature.
They could not be induced to look upon the slaying as an
act of inhuman, bloody, ferocity, with which the question
of race or religion had not the remotest connection.
"It is because Riel, a Frenchman and a Roman Catholic,
shot Thomas Scott, an Englishman and a Protestant, that
all this crying for vengeance is heard over the land.
Now, had the cases been reversed, we would hear no English
lamentings over a murdered Riel." This was in effect what
they said, impossible, almost, as it might seem for one
to be able to credit it. For illiterate persons, who
could see no treason in the uprising, to condone the
tumult and havoc, and regard even the murder justifiable,
was what might have been expected. But what shall be said
for M. George E. Cartier, the "enlightened statesman,"
for Pere Richot, the "crocmitaine," for Pere Lastanc,
the Vicar-General, and finally, for Monseigneur himself?
Nothing can be said! We can only as Canadians all hang
down our heads in shame, that any section of our common
country should make such an exhibition of itself in the
sight of humanity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account