My Double Life

My Double Life, by Sarah Bernhardt

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Title: My Double Life The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt
Author: Sarah Bernhardt
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9100] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 6, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MY DOUBLE LIFE
The Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt
1907

CONTENTS
Chap. I. CHILDHOOD
II. AT BOARDING SCHOOL
III. CONVENT LIFE
IV. MY D��BUT
V. THE SOLDIER'S SHAKO
VI. THE FAMILY COUNCIL AND MY FIRST VISIT TO A THEATRE
VII. MY CAREER--FIRST LESSONS
VIII. THE CONSERVATOIRE
IX. A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL AND EXAMINATIONS--THE CONSERVATOIRE
X. MY FIRST ENGAGEMENT
XI. MY D��BUT AT THE HOUSE OF MOLI��RE, AND MY FIRST DEPARTURE THEREFROM
XII. AT THE GYMNASE THEATRE--A TRIP TO SPAIN
XIII. FROM THE PORTE ST. MARTIN THEATRE TO THE OD��ON
XIV. "LE PASSANT"--AT THE TUILERIES--FIRE IN MY FLAT
XV. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
XVI. SARAH BERNHARDT'S AMBULANCE AT THE OD��ON THEATRE
XVII. PARIS BOMBARDED
XVIII. A BOLD JOURNEY THROUGH THE GERMAN LINES
XIX. MY RETURN TO PARIS--THE COMMUNE--AT ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
XX. VICTOR HUGO
XXI. A MEMORABLE SUPPER
XXII. AT THE COM��DIE FRAN?AISE AGAIN--SCULPTURE
XXIII. A DESCENT INTO THE ENFER DU PLOGOFF--MY FIRST APPEARANCE AS PH��DRE--THE DECORATION OF MY NEW MANSION
XXIV. ALEXANDRE DUMAS--"L'ETRANG��RE"--MY SCULPTURE AT THE SALON
XXV. "HERNANI"--A TRIP IN A BALLOON
XXVI. THE COM��DIE GOES TO LONDON
XXVII. LONDON LIFE--MY FIRST PERFORMANCE AT THE GAIETY THEATRE
XXVIII. MY PERFORMANCE IN LONDON--MY EXHIBITION--MY WILD ANIMALS--TROUBLE WITH THE COM��DIE FRAN?AISE
XXIX. THE COM��DIE FRAN?AISE RETURNS TO PARIS--SARAH BERNHARDT'S COMMENTS ON ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF THE DAY
XXX. MY DEPARTURE FROM THE COM��DIE FRAN?AISE--PREPARATIONS FOR MY FIRST AMERICAN TOUR--ANOTHER VISIT TO LONDON
XXXI. A TOUR IN DENMARK--ROYAL FAMILIES--THE "TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS" OF SARAH BERNHARDT
XXXII. EXPERIENCES AND REFLECTIONS ON BOARD SHIP FROM HAVRE TO NEW YORK
XXXIII. ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK--AMERICAN REPORTERS--THE CUSTOM HOUSE--PERFORMANCES IN NEW YORK--A VISIT TO EDISON AT MENLO PARK
XXXIV. AT BOSTON--STORY OF THE WHALE
XXXV. MONTREAL'S GRAND RECEPTION--THE POET FR��CHETTE--AN ESCAPADE ON THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER
XXXVI. SPRINGFIELD--BALTIMORE--PHILADELPHIA--CHICAGO--ADVENTURES BETWEEN ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI--CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
XXXVII. NEW ORLEANS AND OTHER AMERICAN CITIES--A VISIT TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA
XXXVIII. THE RETURN TO FRANCE--THE WELCOME AT HAVRE
INDEX

I
CHILDHOOD
My mother was fond of travelling: she would go from Spain to England, from London to Paris, from Paris to Berlin, and from there to Christiania; then she would come back, embrace me, and set out again for Holland, her native country. She used to send my nurse clothing for herself and cakes for me. To one of my aunts she would write: "Look after little Sarah; I shall return in a month's time." A month later she would write to another of her sisters: "Go and see the child at her nurse's; I shall be back in a couple of weeks."
My mother's age was nineteen; I was three years old, and my two aunts were seventeen and twenty years of age; another aunt was fifteen, and the eldest was twenty-eight; but the last one lived at Martinique, and was the mother of six children. My grandmother was blind, my grandfather dead, and my father had been in China for the last two years. I have no idea why he had gone there.
My youthful aunts always promised to come to see me, but rarely kept their word. My nurse hailed from Brittany, and lived near Quimperl��, in a little white house with a low thatched roof, on which wild gilly-flowers grew. That was the first flower which charmed my eyes as a child, and I have loved it ever since. Its leaves are heavy and sad-looking, and its petals are made of the setting sun.
Brittany is a long way off, even in our epoch of velocity! In those days it was the end of the world. Fortunately my nurse was, it appears, a good, kind woman, and, as her own child had died, she had only me to love. But she loved after the manner of poor people, when she had time.
One day, as her husband was ill, she went into the