So we see that his thoughts printed as music flew like winged messengers to carry news of him to others in distant places. And people not merely asked: "Who can he be?" but they found out who he was, and kept passing the news on and on until finally it has reached us! Chopin was never a robust person, though he was well and busy most of his life. But in the last years he suffered much from illness. This led him to travel to many places from Paris for the good of his health. Chopin was devoted to Poland, the beloved land of his birth. Here is a picture of the great composer who has fallen asleep at the keyboard and is dreaming of a glorious future for Poland. [Illustration 14: CHOPIN DREAMING OF POLAND] Once he went to England and to Scotland. He played in London and was highly praised for the beautiful way he performed his own music. While it is true that Chopin was ill in the last years of his life, we must notice that he kept right on with his work. He played and composed just as he always had done. Chopin died in Paris, October 17, 1849, just two years after Mendelssohn, who died in 1847. Many men, who would have given up everything had they not been brave, have worked right on through illness. Milton was blind, but he dictated _Paradise Lost_ to his daughter. Beethoven was deaf, but he did not give up composing. Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote the lovely _Child's Garden of Verses_, was ill all his life, but he kept on writing. Grieg was probably never well all his life, but he never gave up. [Illustration 15: MILTON] [Illustration 16: BEETHOVEN] [Illustration 17: STEVENSON] [Illustration 18: GRIEG] Have you ever thought that the beautiful ideas of great men sometimes outlive famous cities? What a lot of cities and countries we must visit in our thoughts, to see the great composers at their work. For example-- 1. Grieg belongs to Norway. 2. Chopin to Warsaw and Paris. 3. Schubert to Vienna in Austria. 4. Bach to Thuringia in Saxony, Germany. 5. Handel to Germany and England. 6. Haydn to Hungary. 7. Beethoven to Germany and Vienna. (He was born at Bonn on the Rhine.) 8. Schumann to Germany. 9. Mendelssohn to Hamburg and Berlin, Germany. 10. Mozart to Salzburg and Vienna in Austria. It will be a pleasant thing for us to see if we can arrange these names in order, beginning with the oldest, Bach and Handel, and coming down to the latest. By doing such things, time and time again, they begin to stick in the memory. SOME FACTS ABOUT CHOPIN When you have read this page and the next make a story about Chopin's life. Write it in your own words. When you are quite sure you cannot improve it, copy it on pages 15 and 16. 1. Frederic François Chopin was born in Poland. 2. His birthday was March 1, 1809. 3. He spent most of his life in the two cities of Warsaw and Paris.