_The Boys in the Museum.--The Doctor’s Lecture.--The
Acadians.--Louisbourg.--A Journey to the Wharf.--The Antelope.--Captain
Pratt._
THE presence of Dr. Porter in the Museum repressed to some extent the
merriment of the boys, and the newly-arrived articles were deposited in
a conspicuous place, where they could not fail to attract attention. The
Museum had grown up slowly under the joint care of the doctor and Mr.
Simmons, the former of whom devoted himself to the archæological, and
the latter to the mineralogical department. With each of these gentlemen
it was a hobby. The delight of the doctor at these exhumed French relics
has already been described; and, at the present time, their formal
assignment to their proper location here served to stimulate his
enthusiasm, and started him off upon a favorite theme of his--the exiled
Acadians. About these he had much to say. He showed all the relics which
he had slowly accumulated here; he told many stories of discoveries of
his own; and finally, going to a small chest, he drew forth some papers.
“I promised to show you some of these,” said he, “when we were over on
the North Mountain. Everything in the banishment of the Acadians was
hard and harsh, and cannot be thought of now without indignation. Not
the least repulsive thing about this business is the way in which they
were sent off. Many people suppose that they were sent away in the large
ships of the British fleet. That was not the case. They were packed in
a number of small vessels hired at Boston; most of them were schooners.
The whole thing was taken under contract by a Boston firm--Messrs.
Ap-thorp & Hancock. All their bills which they sent in to the Nova
Scotia government are now in the archives, and I have copies of them.
See; here is one for a specimen.”