New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-10

Object Hundreds of American Girls Who Each
Year Come to to Study for the Grand Opera"

addition to that Of Fernando After her
fathers death, her mother manifested a strange
dislike to her eight children. Five of these chill
dren have since died. One Of the sons. who has a
splendid tenor voice, is doing military service
in the band of an infantry regiment at Nancy
and another son is also performing military SER
vice as trumpeter in a regiment of dragons at
Peronne.
When seventeen years of age Mile Fernando
Devoyod entered the Conservatory Of Music in
Paris to study both for opera and for the
dramatic stage She was often in need of
money. and received aid from her cousins and
also from NJ. Ernest Caron. of the Municipal
Council of Paris who one of her fathers
most intimate friends. Fernando was an eX-
tremely beautiful girl with luXuriant black hair,
dark brown eyes and had tail, slender figure,
admirably suited for the stage. She had a
sympathetic soprano voice of fine quality and Of
wide compass. Her health, however, was del
icate. She was subject to fits of deep despond-
ency. She became fatgued and anemic owing
TO overwOTk. She was sent by her cousins for
six months rest in a farmhouse near Granville,
in Normandy. The young girl pined for Paris.
one day she ran away from Granville and came
to Paris, where she found, destitute and
shivering from cold, seated on a bench near the
Pare Monceau. She again helped by her
friends and resumed her studies at the Con-
servatoTy in the class Of NJ Martini few
weeks ago she failed to pass her examination,
and, becoming disheartened. fastened to her
modest room in a boarding house at the Boule-
She played a game of bridge with few friends
at the boarding house, and after singing the
quisite refrain, TAI perdu mon Euridice," from
CHICKS 'Orphee,' ran upstairs to her bedroom.
She dressed herself in the white dress in which
she had appeared before the jury at the Con-
servatory of Music. She wrote number of let
tiers. At her bedside were half a dozen sheets OF
paper upon which she made the following notes
in pencil: 1T is now 2:3O o'clock. feel cold,
and am shivering. l am, nevertheless, surprised
TO find myself so calm just before starting forth
such a long Journey. I don't want TO awaken
my neighbors, but few hours later 1 shall kill
myself" On another sheet of paper were the
words: IT have just tried my revolver. I fired
1t off under the blankets so that nobody should
hear. l did not manage 1t very well, but by
and-by. TO kill myself. shall hold the revolver
with both hands" Apparently the last SEN
tence that she wrote was, "QuOn arrange bien
Je serai morte" C'Arrange my hair nicely. so
that I shall appear pretty when dead'D. At
o'clock woman occupying the adjoining room
called the maid who was bringing up tea ana
said that she heard a strange explosion in Mile.
Devoyods room. The door was opened and the
young girl was found dying. She had shot her
and expired She wore her white dress, and on
the mantel were photographs of her father in
singing when he died on the stage Of the Saint
Michel Theatre at ST. Petersburg. Near her
fathers portrait was slip of paper upon which
was pencilled Happy the girls who have
mothers who really love them On another
scrap of paper was written: "Je ne peux vivre
gu Paris, Je ne peux vivre QUEEN chantant"'
I
live only while singing!'D Such was the end OF
the seventh girl student who has committed sui
eide in Paris during the last ten weeks because
Of failure TO pass competitive examinations. NJ.
Gailhard, director of the Opera, said: Il knew
Mile Fernando Devoyod and had formed prom
Using expectations in regard to her career as
singer; but she was too ambitious and. above
all too impatient" NJ. Gabriel Faure. head OF
the Conservatory Of Music, remarked: Mile.
Fernando Devoyod had a splendid voice, and
would undoubtedly in due time have been able to
pass her examinations but, like many Of her
comrades wished TO emerge forthwith from her
chrysalis and appear as a full-fedged prima
donna" NJ. Jules Claretie, administrator gen
eraI of the Theatre Francois, nodded his head
gravely and said: Patience, perseverance and
resignation are the weapons that nable young
girl students of real talent to succeed in life,
but not the revolver, so hippantly described by
Mile Fernando Devoyod the little jewel
and with which she put end TO her life when
only twenty two years Of age" NJ. Jules
Claretie's words should be taken to heart by
hundreds of American girls who each year come
TO Paris to study for the grand opera.
c. l. B.