This was the old man's favorite tale, and he loved to repeat it

When his neighbours complained that any injustice was done them.

"Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer remember,

Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statue of Jus

tice

Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in its left hand,

And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice presided

Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and homes of the people.

Even the birds had built their nests in the scales

of the balance,

Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the

sunshine above them.

But in the course of time the laws of the land

were corrupted;

Might took the place of right, and the weak were

oppressed, and the mighty

Ruled with an ron rod. Then it chanced in a nobleman's palace

That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a suspicion

Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the household.

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the

scaffold,

Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of Justice.

As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit

ascended,

Lo! o'er the city a tempest rose; and the bolts of the thunder

Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath

from its left hand

Down on the pavement below the clattering

scales of the balance,

And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of

a magpie,

Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was inwoven.”

Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was ended, the blacksmith

Stood like a man who fain would speak, but findeth no language;

All his thoughts were congealed into lines on his face, as the vapors

Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window-panes in the winter.

Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on

the table,

Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with home-brewed

Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in

the village of Grand-Pré ;

While from his pocket the notary drew his

papers and ink-horn,

Wrote with a steady hand the date and the

of the parties,

age

Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep and in cattle.

Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were completed,

And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on the margin.

Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on the table

Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of

silver;

And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and the bridegroom,

Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to their

welfare.

Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed and departed,

While in silence the others sat and mused by the

fireside,

Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its corner.

Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the old men

Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful ma

nœuvre,

Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was made in the king-row.

Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure,

Sat the lovers, and whispered together, beholding the moon rise

Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the meadows.

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of

heaven,

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots

of the angels.