Duse And the French

enius with whom she could never dream of competing. But her talent was quite different from Bernhardt's, and might win her a place of her own that would amply satisfy her. The real reason that she feared disaster in Paris was on account of the language. Dumas, in advising her to take the step, had implied the necessity of perfecting her French. That, in his mind, was a matter of course. In a general way he referred to a year or two of preliminary study. Dumas may have been a masterful playwright, his judgment may have been preeminent on many subjects; but had he ever attempted to speak a foreign language without an accent? Had he ever seen a mature man or woman who undertook the study of a language not their own, and succeeded in speaking it precisely as the natives do? Frenchmen are very ready to compliment a stranger on his accent. "In a year or two," they say, "you will speak as well as any of us." It is a polite form of speech, it hurts nobody, and it frequently pleases the stranger. But these same Frenchmen, five minutes later, may hear a man talking near by; he may have lived in Paris twenty or thirty years; but at the first word he utters they will tell you he is not t Parisian. Even if he chapter{Section 4came from the provinces as a young man, the accent is still there to betray him. The sound of language has always been a very important consideration for the French. In reading a book, or even a newspaper, they listen to the harmony of the words,... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.