wish. Yet he had never been able to attain it. He tells the tourist why. His wife and son, and even his grandson, had seen more of the world than he had seen. But the places they had seen are all included in a very small area, which shows that this poor old man was thinking of a very small world indeed.

You should be able to interpret the tale without further help. Try to see the old fellow as he tells his sad story. See the traveler as he listens and as he understands that the old fellow is a type. That is, he is like all others: they never attain their dearest wish, although each could easily do so if he would only bestir himself.

In the fifth stanza, the old man feels that he has sinned in wanting something that he fears he should not have. So he asks God to forgive him, and at once turns back to the forbidden wish.

Note what happens in the last stanza.

The great truth in the poem is told in the last line. What does it mean?

Study carefully the meanings of the following words before you read the poem:

bliss unalloyed: perfect happi- | Narbonne (når-bon'): a city in

ness.

five leagues: twelve and a half
miles.
the grape withheld its store:
there had been a poor crop
of grapes; hence, no money
with which to travel.
Babylon (băb'ĭ-lon): a large
city in ancient Persia, famous
for its grandeur.

France, not far from Carcas

sonne.

Perpignan

(pĕr-pen-yän'): a

town in France, some little distance from Carcassonne. Limoux (le-moo'): a city in

France near Carcassonne. crooned: to wail or tell some

thing sorrowfully. pilgrimage: a journey; a trip.

vicar: a priest of the peasant's abode: the place where one

church.

Aignan (en-yän'): a boy's name.

lives.

10

15

20

CARCASSONNE

"I'm growing old, I've sixty years;
I've labored all my life in vain.
In all that time of hopes and fears,
I've failed my dearest wish to gain.
I see full well that here below

Bliss unalloyed there is for none,
My prayer would else fulfillment know
Never have I seen Carcassonne !
Never have I seen Carcassonne !

"You spy the city from the hill,

It lies beyond the mountain blue; And yet to reach it one must still

Five long and weary leagues pursue,
And, to return, as many more.

Had but the vintage plenteous grown
But, ah! the grape withheld its store.
I shall not look on Carcassonne !
I shall not look on Carcassonne !

"They tell me every day is there
Not more or less than Sunday gay;
In shining robes and garments fair
The people walk upon their way.
One gazes there on castle walls

As grand as those of Babylon,

A bishop and two generals!
What joy to dwell in Carcassonne !
Ah! might I but see Carcassonne !

"The vicar's right: he says that we
Are ever wayward, weak, and blind;
He tells us in his homily

Ambition ruins all mankind;
Yet could I these two days have spent,

While still the autumn sweetly shone,
Ah, me! I might have died content

When I had looked on Carcassonne,
When I had looked on Carcassonne.

"Thy pardon, Father, I beseech,
In this my prayer if I offend;
One something sees beyond his reach
From childhood to his journey's end.
My wife, our little boy Aignan,

Have traveled even to Narbonne ;
My grandchild has seen Perpignan ;
And I have not seen Carcassonne,
And I have not seen Carcassonne !"

So crooned, one day, close by Limoux,
A peasant, double-bent with age.
"Rise up, my friend," said I; "with you
I'll go upon this pilgrimage."

5

We left, next morning, his abode,

But (Heaven forgive him!) half way on
The old man died upon the road.

He never gazed on Carcassonne.

Each mortal has his Carcassonne.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What is Carcassonne? How is it pronounced?

2. What peculiar truth of life 6.
does this poem tell about?

3. Who is the chief speaker in
the poem? Who speaks
in the last stanza?
4. What was the old peasant's
"dearest wish"? Could
he have attained it? How
far was it to Carcassonne? 7.
(A league is two and one
half miles.) Why had he 8.
not seen Carcassonne?

5. In the third stanza, what
wonderful sights does he
say are to be seen in
Carcassonne? Do you
think they are wonderful? 9.
This stanza is meant to
show us that our "greatest

wishes are as little or as big as we are in spirit. Why do you think the traveler wanted to take the old man to Carcassonne? Why could he not succeed in doing so? How does this apply to most persons who have a "greatest wish"? What is meant by the last line of the poem? Can you think of any “Carof your own?

cassonne

Is it a foolish wish or is it a noble one? What effect does it have on you? Does it keep you striving? Why do we not attain our Carcassonne "?

All joy is in the hope of joy to be, not in possession.

ALICE CARY

OPPORTUNITY

JOHN JAMES INGALLS

Many persons who fail in life excuse their failure by saying, "I never had a chance." By the word "chance" they mean opportunity. But it is not true that any person

66 never had a chance," or that an opportunity to succeed never came to him.

The three short poems that follow are what three very able men thought about the "coming of Opportunity." Their ideas are different, and they are very interesting to study. You will have delightful discussions in class if you will consider the lives of some noted men who overcame great obstacles, and of other men who failed, and, by applying these poems, find out why some succeeded and why others failed.

The first poem on "Opportunity" is by John James Ingalls, who was born in Middleton, Massachusetts, in 1833, and who died July 16, 1900. Mr. Ingalls was United States senator from Kansas for three terms, beginning in 1873. He wrote little in verse, but his short poem called "Opportunity" is famous.

Read it over carefully several times, trying to find out its meaning. Then return to this place, and read what follows.

"Human destinies " are our "fortunes," not our fortunes in money or property, but the things of good and ill that are to come to us in the future, and of which, naturally, we know nothing beforehand.

The poet makes "Opportunity " say to us,

"Master of human destinies am I!"