
continuation of "Evangeline"
At first, the Acadians resettled in small numbers in cities across the Eastern seaboard, and Evangeline searches each for
her love. She eventually gives up, settles in Philadelphia, becomes a nun and works at a hospital. After many years, she finally encounters Gabriel
once again—now a sick old man. He dies in her arms; she soon follows him to the grave.
Longfellow’s poem became an American classic, with reinterpretations following years later. In particular, "Acadian Reminiscences: The True Story of the
Acadians" (1907) by Felix Voorhies of St. Martinsville, La. In his version, the lovers reunite not in Philadelphia but in St. Martinsville, under a Live
Oak tree that stretches its branches towards the chocolate brown waters of the Bayou Teche. They embrace passionately and all was well until Gabriel
suddenly remembered that he had remarried in the years that passed. Evangeline later goes insane and dies.
The name Evangeline became and remained popular in local art and music, and her name is affixed on everything from a state parish, a particular blend of
local coffee, a state park, to bridges and bodies of water throughout Southern Louisiana.
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