The Washington times., 1919-01-19

was agreed that my principal feature was
one which would have lent beauty to
cameo or a coin. Another sculptor alluded
to the aristocratic contour of my face.
Still another brilliant sculptor exclaimed,
"Oh, Yorska, your statuesque nose!"
1t happened that in my early life I had
not became especially well acquainted with
my nose. have had a quarrel with my
looks eyer since can remember. l want
ed to be blonde with infantile blue eyes
and yellow curls. Seeing there was no
hope for the achievement of this ambition,
l looked into the mirror seldom and but
hastily. Being a busy woman, l never
pored over my photographs. So may be
said to have enjoyed thirty years of bliss
full Inconsistencies of the unusual length
of my nose.
While was founding the French The
atre in New York was too busy to realize
that l had nose. When l played. your
critics, personal though they sometimes
are in their comments, did not point to
my most prominent feature.
Then came my awakening. | had
friend who, after seeing my performance
of Salome, said, at is beautiful. Yorska.
but when you look up at Herod your nose
looks too long. You should have it short
ened." And had an enemy. l will not
mention the name of this woman. 1t is
enough that she is very beautiful and very
unkind. I visited studio at which she
Co. IL
very affable, but someone repeated to me
what she said when l had passed: "No
use for anyone with that nose to try pic
lures. 1t will not stand the test" When
friend and enemy agree, the subject Of
the agreement must consider their verdict.
l considered it until I was obsessed by
my nose. 1 fancied that persons who
looked at me on the street were laughing
at my nose. A young English officer
looked at me long on the street. Ordinar-
lily I should have been fattered by the
thought that he admired me. But in my
state of mind I thought he was making
fun of my nose.
1 had reached the state Of mind of
Cyrano de Bergerac. He was in constant
consciousness of his huge chief feature.
But Cyrano slashed at his deriders. ]
wept about mine. One day I was trying
to read the war news. The Los Angeles
breeze shook the newspaper from my hand.
When | picked it up l saw an advertise
ment. Crooked Noses Strengthened" l
thought I had gone mad on facial impedi-
menta. | stared at the advertisement. |
read it over and over. Then drove to the
office and talked with the practitioners.
bod fnr IaH To hinlZ oh I
spoke to a friend of mine, an officer in
the English army He said, "You are
crazy! You may have liberated bones.
You may have no nose at all left. Don't!"
But Hdid go back.
left no word as to where | had gone.
l put myself in the hands of the surgeons.
! said, 81 believe in you. Merit my faith
in you. Take an inch from the end of my
nose and remove that Roman-Jewish
hump. l leave the means to you" They
said, There will be two operations. VIII
you have one to-day and another next
week?" l said, "No. I am a coward.
would be so frightened that I would never
come back to have the second one done.
Do them both to-day"
They placed me in a large chair in the
operating room. l had no anaesthetic ex-
cept a local one. Again and again and
again they applied the anaesthetic-which
| think was cOcaine-tO the end or my
nose The tip of the nose is exceedingly
sensitive. You know when one is cold
how the nose-tip suffers. Thirteen times
they bathed my nose in the lotion until
it was frozen. Then / closed my eyes.
heard the slight click of instruments.
AS with all skilled surgeons, they had
kept them out of sight to avoid panic.
realized that they were bending over me.
but l kept my eyes closed. One surgeon
was doing the cutting and the other the
stitching. l heard one say to the other,
Cut little more to the right" But there
was no sensation.
The first operation began at ten. After
it | rested on a couch for a short while.
Then began the second one. That | felt
slightly, for the removal of such impor-
tant bones could not have been made with
out pain unless | had been insensible.
knew they were lifting off the bone at the
top and the bones at the Side that had
made my hump. l sighed in deep content
that whatever happened to my nose the
hated hump was gone.
A woman attendant went home with me
and remained there twenty-four hours.