FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   >>  
Later she was the banker of her family, and would never lend any of her children a sou except on excellent security. However, this was all to happen in after years. When the child who was destined to be famous had reached her tenth year she and her sisters made their way to Paris. For four years the second-hand clothing-shop was continued; the father still taught German; and the elder sister, Sarah, who had a golden voice, made the rounds of the cafes in the lowest quarters of the capital, while Rachel passed the wooden plate for coppers. One evening in the year 1834 a gentleman named Morin, having been taken out of his usual course by a matter of business, entered a BRASSERIE for a cup of coffee. There he noted two girls, one of them singing with remarkable sweetness, and the other silently following with the wooden plate. M. Morin called to him the girl who sang and asked her why she did not make her voice more profitable than by haunting the cafes at night, where she was sure to meet with insults of the grossest kind. "Why," said Sarah, "I haven't anybody to advise me what to do." M. Morin gave her his address and said that he would arrange to have her meet a friend who would be of great service to her. On the following day he sent the two girls to a M. Choron, who was the head of the Conservatory of Sacred Music. Choron had Sarah sing, and instantly admitted her as a pupil, which meant that she would soon be enrolled among the regular choristers. The beauty of her voice made a deep impression on him. Then he happened to notice the puny, meager child who was standing near her sister. Turning to her, he said: "And what can you do, little one?" "I can recite poetry," was the reply. "Oh, can you?" said he. "Please let me hear you." Rachel readily consented. She had a peculiarly harsh, grating voice, so that any but a very competent judge would have turned her away. But M. Choron, whose experience was great, noted the correctness of her accent and the feeling which made itself felt in every line. He accepted her as well as her sister, but urged her to study elocution rather than music. She must, indeed, have had an extraordinary power even at the age of fourteen, since not merely her voice but her whole appearance was against her. She was dressed in a short calico frock of a pattern in which red was spotted with white. Her shoes were of coarse black leather. Her hair was parted at the back of her
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   >>  



Top keywords:

sister

 

Choron

 

Rachel

 

wooden

 

Please

 

poetry

 
recite
 

consented

 
competent
 
grating

banker

 
peculiarly
 
family
 

readily

 
Turning
 

enrolled

 
regular
 

choristers

 
instantly
 

admitted


children

 
beauty
 

meager

 

standing

 

turned

 

notice

 

impression

 

happened

 

dressed

 

calico


pattern

 

appearance

 

fourteen

 
spotted
 
leather
 

parted

 

coarse

 

feeling

 

accent

 

experience


correctness

 

accepted

 
extraordinary
 

elocution

 
Conservatory
 
matter
 

business

 
entered
 
BRASSERIE
 

singing