The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-01

from which mt one OF her null
titudinous herOfnes had died. On
the stage Sarah died a thousand
deaths. Suicide, poison, drown
ing, tuberculosis, the flames and
other causes removed her from
earth. Not stage character ever
acknowledged uraemic poisoning.
Around certain deaths the glamor
Of romance is always thrown. In
the case OF other deaths, no play
wright win ever admit that they
are impossible.
TVERY time I met Sarah she
astonished me. as she as
- tonished every Journalist.
She must have met a few thou
sand Of them in her day, yet every
time she came to New York she
remembered each reporter and
called him by name.
Sarah understood. Sarah knew
her public. Sarah knew her In
terviewer. One made an appoint
ment with her and she was on
time. You were ushered up to
her suite, met by secretary, major
domos, supernumeraries. myr1ni-
dons and so forth. and finally you
reached Sarah, who invariably sat
nonchalantly awaiting you and
gave you her left hand affection
ately. Always the same .beatific
smile that showed her curious
little teeth, and her thin, mobile
lips. And it was always French
that she spoke. Her English was
dreadful. The first disenchant-
ment Sarah ever handed me was
when heard her attempt to
speak English in q playlet at the
Empire Theater. Her charm
vanished. So she never tried
English with her interviewers.
Moreover, with a vestige of
French to ones credit, Sarah was
perfectly ineligible. That "voix
dor" enunciated so divinely.
r. WENT to her house at IS
Boulevard Pereire, in Paris.
one day, and very extraordi-
nary it was. 1t seemed to be
house, but it also seemed to be a
museum. It was certainly not
what one would call honey"
The rooms were scarcely rooms.
They were huge spaces entirely
devoted to objects Of virtue" as
Mrs. Malaprop would say. The
walls were thick with pictures
and old prints and parchments,
and there were rugs and easels
and bamboos and vases and idols
and Mosques and bronzes and
ancient books and medals and
views of Sarah from every point
of view.
It was a confusing house. I'm
agine any one sitting there and
sewing. Picture Sarah
crocheting, or tatting, or darning
Maurice's socks! The Divine One
maintained an artistic disorder
that was bewildering, and reveled
in It.
Sarah sat upstairs-wise Sarah!
It was upstairs that she had her
''office. remember that 1t was
a very warm day, but the room
upstairs was like a furnace. The
major domo> kept piling heavy
logs on the }fire. He explained
to me as I waited that Madame
loved warmth" / felt as though
a Turkish bath wopld be a re-
frigerator compared \ with this
room. Beads Of pegspiration
formed on my brow-ahd stu
major domo threw on the 1ogs
remarking with each throw That
Madame loved warmth"
BY the time Madame arrived I
was a grease spot. It was
dreadful experience, for It isn't
cosy to meet anybody when you
feel absolutely damp ana TIRE
sponsible, But the Divine One
knew how to put one at ones
ease. Her perfect manners wers
a 10y. There was never any
pause in the conversation; there
was no sparring for topics; there
was no dull moment, Sarah at
homo was almost az dramatic a.
Sarah on the stage, The time
simply waltzed by 90 one CHAT
ted with Bernhard. She was
such an artist in everything she
did, She was positively an edu'
cation, Then she invariably spoke
in her ''voix dor" THAT wasn't
a commodity designed expressly
for the stage, It was eRe or
the t'preps" at No, 30 Boulevard
Pereire, In her little "dea" was
a bust Of Dante, presented to
Sarah by MaFieA Crawford In
honor Of her appearance in his
Francesca di Riniai," Sarah al
ways used ia tell Hae-at was eRe
of her faverite tanies-that IL it
hadn't been fer her historical
break with the 6egnedie Fran
caise she would have grewn fat
and cid and rich.
Once she said that she might