The Days of a Man dgio 



charming of Provencal poems, the old man's lament 

 that while his children had traveled far and wide, 

 "Inner evcn to Narbonnc and Perpignan, he himself had 

 l:arcZ- i^^ver gone to Carcassonne ! But I shall not attempt 

 Sonne" to dcscribe this marvelous walled town above the 

 Aude, with its massive gates and watch towers, really 

 a city within a fortress. Leaving it reluctantly, we 

 now came to picturesque Lourdes in the foothills of 

 the Pyrenees on the banks of the swift Gave de Pau, 

 and dominated by an ancient castle perched on an 

 abrupt cliff. Under a rock on the river bank flows 

 out a clear, cold spring; it was there that Bernadette 

 Soubirous, a neurotic girl, had in 1858 a vision of the 

 Virgin, who appeared in a niche above, a charming 

 figure clothed in white with a blue sash. Thus arose 

 Our Lady the shtine of Our Lady of Lourdes, "Notre Dame de 

 of Lourdes igurdes," and with time, by dint of judicious adver- 

 tising, the spring became famous among the faithful, 

 the world over, for its marvelous cures. From every 

 part of France the peasantry began to pour, at last 

 by hundreds of thousands; ample hotels were built, 

 and a multitude of bazaars for the sale of relics and 

 mementos. 



On the day of our visit there were present upward 

 of thirty thousand people, mostly from different 

 parts of France — one trainload being from Valen- 

 ciennes in the extreme northeast. Many of these had 

 come just for the outing, but to a large percentage 

 The last Loutdcs was the last hope. In the huge open stadium, 

 hope clarion- voiced priests like "yell leaders" in an 

 American football game or a political convention 

 swayed the throng at will : 



Prosterne'z-vous! agenouillez-vous! 

 I Les bras en croix! haissez a terre! 



I 316 ] 



