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Gould's Pathophysiology for the Health

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Chapter 10: Blood and Circulatory System Disorders
Test Bank

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Which of the following would result from a reduced number of erythrocytes in the blood?
a. Increased hemoglobin in the blood
b. Decreased hematocrit
c. Increased risk of hemostasis
d. Decreased osmotic pressure of the blood
ANS: B REF: 185

2. What term is used to describe a deficit of all types of blood cells?


a. Leucopenia
b. Neutropenia
c. Pancytopenia
d. Erythrocytosis
ANS: C REF: 205

3. Capillary walls consist of:


a. multiple endothelial layers.
b. a thick layer of smooth muscle.
c. two or three epithelial layers.
d. a single endothelial layer.
ANS: D REF: 183

4. Vitamin K is required by the liver to synthesize:


a. heparin.
b. prothrombin.
c. amino acids.
d. bilirubin.
ANS: B REF: 190 | 202

5. Individuals with type O blood are considered to be universal donors because their blood:
a. contains A and B antibodies.
b. contains A and B antigens.
c. lacks A and B antibodies.
d. lacks A and B antigens.
ANS: D REF: 192

6. What are the two circulations that comprise the overall circulatory system?
a. Pulmonary and systemic circulations
b. Peripheral and central circulations
c. Cardiovascular and lymphatic circulations
d. Cardiopulmonary and peripheral circulations
ANS: A REF: 183
7. Chronic blood loss causes anemia because of the:
a. shortened life span of the erythrocytes.
b. lower metabolic rate.
c. loss of protein and electrolytes.
d. smaller amount of recycled iron available.
ANS: D REF: 193

8. What is the cause of sickle cell anemia?


a. A defective gene inherited from both parents
b. A chronic bacterial infection
c. Bone marrow depression
d. An autoimmune reaction
ANS: A REF: 198

9. Which of the following best describes the characteristic erythrocyte associated with pernicious
anemia?
a. Hypochromic, microcytic
b. Normochromic, normocytic
c. Elongated, sickle-shaped
d. Megaloblastic or macrocytic nucleated cells
ANS: D REF: 201

10. What causes numbness and tingling in the fingers of individuals with untreated pernicious
anemia?
a. Persistent hyperbilirubinemia
b. Increasing acidosis affecting metabolism
c. Vitamin B12 deficit causing peripheral nerve demyelination
d. Multiple small vascular occlusions affecting peripheral nerves
ANS: C REF: 195

11. Jaundice is one typical sign of:


a. sickle cell anemia.
b. aplastic anemia.
c. iron deficiency anemia.
d. acute leukemia.
ANS: A REF: 198

12. What are the typical early general signs and symptoms of anemia?
a. Chest pain, palpitations
b. Jaundice, stomatitis
c. Pallor, dyspnea, and fatigue
d. Bradycardia, heat intolerance
ANS: C REF: 193

13. What is the cause of oral ulcerations and delayed healing occurring with any severe anemia?
a. Lack of folic acid for DNA synthesis
b. Frequent microinfarcts in the tissues
c. Deficit of oxygen for epithelial cell mitosis and metabolism
d. Elevated bilirubin levels in blood and body fluids
ANS: C REF: 193

14. Which of the following is present with pernicious anemia?


a. Pancytopenia
b. Hypochlorhydria
c. Leukocytosis
d. Multiple infarcts
ANS: B REF: 195

15. Why is pernicious anemia treated with injections of vitamin B12?


a. An immune reaction in the stomach would destroy the vitamin.
b. Digestive enzymes would destroy the vitamin.
c. The vitamin irritates the gastric mucosa.
d. The ingested vitamin would not be absorbed into the blood.
ANS: D REF: 195

16. Why do abnormally low hemoglobin values develop with pernicious anemia?
a. Decreased production of erythrocytes
b. Shorter life span of erythrocytes
c. Abnormal structure of hemoglobin chains
d. Deficit of folic acid
ANS: B REF: 195

17. What are the common early signs of aplastic anemia?


a. Painful joints and skeletal deformity
b. Abdominal discomfort and splenomegaly
c. Excessive bleeding and recurrent infections
d. Palpitations and chest pain
ANS: C REF: 197

18. Why do vascular occlusions and infarcts occur frequently with sickle cell anemia?
a. The red blood cells are abnormally large.
b. Increased hemolysis of erythrocytes occurs.
c. Erythrocytes change to sickle shape when hypoxia occurs.
d. HbS is unable to transport oxygen.
ANS: C REF: 199

19. Which of the following applies to sickle cell trait?


a. Most hemoglobin is in the form of HgS
b. Sickling of erythrocytes occurs with severe hypoxia.
c. Painful sickling crises with multiple infarctions occur frequently.
d. A child’s skeletal growth is delayed.
ANS: B REF: 198
20. What is the basic abnormality in thalassemia?
a. Several amino acids in the globin chains have been replaced by substitute amino
acids.
b. More than four globin chains are found in the erythrocytes.
c. The iron molecule is displaced in hemoglobin.
d. There is failure to synthesize either the alpha or beta chains in the hemoglobin
molecule.
ANS: D REF: 200

21. Which of the following can result from a malabsorption problem?


a. Aplastic anemia
b. Sickle cell anemia
c. Thalassemia major
d. Pernicious anemia
ANS: D REF: 195

22. In individuals with pernicious anemia, antibodies form to:


a. vitamin B12.
b. intrinsic factor or parietal cells.
c. mucus-producing glands.
d. hydrochloric acid.
ANS: B REF: 195

23. In cases of polycythemia vera, blood pressure is elevated as a result of:


a. increased blood volume.
b. frequent infarcts in the coronary circulation.
c. congested spleen and bone marrow.
d. increased renin and aldosterone secretions.
ANS: A REF: 205

24. Petechiae and purpura are common signs of:


a. excessive hemolysis.
b. leucopenia.
c. increased bleeding.
d. hemoglobin deficit.
ANS: C REF: 201

25. Which statement applies to the disorder hemophilia A?


a. It is transmitted as an X-linked dominant trait.
b. There is usually a total lack of factor VIII in the blood.
c. Males and females can be carriers.
d. Hematomas and hemarthroses are common.
ANS: D REF: 203

26. Which of the following occurs when disseminated intravascular coagulation develops?
a. Increased thrombocytes and blood clotting
b. Hemolysis with loss of blood cells
c. Massive sepsis and hemorrhage
d. Multiple thrombi and deficit of clotting factors
ANS: D REF: 203-204

27. Which of the following substances acts as an anticoagulant?


a. Prothrombin
b. Heparin
c. Fibrinogen
d. Vitamin K
ANS: B REF: 190

28. In individuals with acute leukemia, the increased number of malignant leukocytes leads to:
1. decreased hemoglobin.
2. thrombocytopenia.
3. bone pain with increased activity.
4. splenomegaly.
a. 1, 3
b. 1, 2, 4
c. 2, 3, 4
d. 1, 2, 3, 4
ANS: B REF: 206-208

29. Multiple opportunistic infections develop with acute leukemia primarily because:
a. the number of white blood cells is decreased.
b. many circulating leukocytes are immature.
c. severe anemia interferes with the immune response.
d. decreased appetite and nutritional intake reduce natural defenses.
ANS: B REF: 206-207

30. Why is excessive bleeding a common occurrence with acute leukemia?


a. Deficit of calcium ions
b. Impaired production of prothrombin and fibrinogen
c. Decreased platelets
d. Dysfunctional thrombocytes
ANS: C REF: 206-207

31. Predisposing factors to leukemia commonly include:


a. exposure to radiation.
b. certain fungal and protozoal infections.
c. familial tendency.
d. cigarette smoking.
ANS: A REF: 207

32. Von Willebrand disease is caused by:


a. defective erythrocytes that become deformed in shape, causing occlusions.
b. excessive lymphocytes that do not mature.
c. absence of a clotting factor that helps platelets clump and stick.
d. a lack of hemoglobin due to iron deficiency.
ANS: C REF: 203

33. Thrombophilia can result in conditions such as:


a. severe chronic kidney disease.
b. peripheral vascular disease.
c. deficient calcium levels in the long bones.
d. excessive bleeding of hematomas.
ANS: B REF: 204

34. Multiple myeloma is a malignant tumor involving:


a. plasma cells.
b. granulocytes.
c. bone cells.
d. lymph nodes.
ANS: A REF: 209

35. What is the primary treatment for the leukemias?


a. Radiation
b. Chemotherapy
c. Surgery
d. Immunotherapy
ANS: B REF: 207

36. Which of the following statements applies to hemochromatosis. It is:


a. caused by excessive iron intake in the diet.
b. results from excessive hemolysis of RBCs.
c. a metabolic error that leads to excess amounts of hemosiderin, causing damage to
organs.
d. an inherited defect that results in abnormal hemoglobin.
ANS: C REF: 188

37. Thalassemia is caused by:


a. a defect in one or more genes for hemoglobin.
b. an abnormal form of heme.
c. abnormal liver production of amino acids and iron.
d. overproduction of hypochromic, microcytic RBCs.
ANS: A REF: 200

38. Secondary polycythemia may be associated with:


a. frequent angina attacks.
b. certain types of anemia.
c. severe chronic bronchitis.
d. renal disease.
ANS: C REF: 205
39. All of the following apply to vitamin K EXCEPT:
a. it is used as an antidote for warfarin (Coumadin).
b. the liver requires it to produce prothrombin.
c. it is a fat-soluble vitamin.
d. the bone marrow requires it to synthesize hemoglobin.
ANS: D REF: 189 | 190 | 202

40. Leukemia is sometimes linked to chromosome abnormalities, as evidenced by:


a. the presence of Philadelphia chromosome translocation in cases of acute
myelogenous leukemia (AML).
b. very low incidence in persons with Down syndrome.
c. little evidence of familial incidence.
d. transmission as a recessive gene.
ANS: A REF: 206-207

41. Iron deficiency anemia frequently results from any of the following EXCEPT:
a. certain vegetarian diets.
b. excessive menstrual flow.
c. malabsorption syndromes.
d. diabetes mellitus.
ANS: D REF: 193

42. Which of the following applies to the leukemias?


a. Chronic leukemias are more common in older people.
b. AML is the most common childhood leukemia.
c. Exposure to chemicals is not considered a predisposing factor.
d. Lymphoid tissue produces abnormal leukocytes.
ANS: A REF: 207

43. A high percentage of blast cells in the leukocyte population indicates a poor prognosis for an
individual with:
a. thalassemia.
b. acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
c. myelodysplastic syndrome.
d. multiple myeloma.
ANS: B REF: 208

44. Which of the following applies to erythropoietin?


a. It is produced by the liver.
b. It increases iron absorption for heme production.
c. It stimulates production of red blood cells.
d. Hypoxia stimulates the red bone marrow to produce erythropoietin.
ANS: C REF: 187 | 192

45. Which of the following diagnostic tests would be within the normal range for an individual
with hemophilia A?
a. Bleeding time
b. Coagulation time
c. PTT time
d. Prothrombin time
ANS: A REF: 192

46. Which of the following applies to the condition disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)?
a. It is usually a secondary complication.
b. It is always initiated by excessive bleeding.
c. It results in an inability of platelets to adhere.
d. It is not life threatening.
ANS: A REF: 203-204

47. In which blood dyscrasia does pancytopenia develop?


a. Pernicious anemia
b. Aplastic anemia
c. Iron deficiency anemia
d. Sickle cell anemia
ANS: B REF: 205

48. Which of the following applies to the etiology of aplastic anemia? It is:
a. idiopathic in many cases.
b. a genetic disorder.
c. predisposed by exposure to myelotoxins.
d. Both A and C.
ANS: D REF: 197

49. Microcytic and hypochromic erythrocytes are commonly found as a result of:
a. iron deficiency anemia.
b. polycythemia.
c. disseminated intravascular coagulation.
d. hemophilia A.
ANS: A REF: 201
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Title: Fifteen years of a dancer's life


With some account of her distinguished friends

Author: Loie Fuller

Author of introduction, etc.: Anatole France

Release date: November 29, 2023 [eBook #72257]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: Herbert Jenkins Limited,


1913

Credits: Tim Lindell, Debrah Thompson and the Online


Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIFTEEN


YEARS OF A DANCER'S LIFE ***
FIFTEEN YEARS OF
A DANCER’S LIFE
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF HER
DISTINGUISHED FRIENDS
BY
LOIE
FULLER
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY

ANATOLE FRANCE

“SHE OUGHT TO WRITE OUT HER MEMORIES AND HER IMPRESSIONS.”—


Alexandre Dumas

HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED


ARUNDEL PLACE, HAYMARKET
LONDON, S.W. MCMXIII
Photo Langfier
LOIE FULLER
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN FRENCH.

LONDON AND NORWICH PRESS, LIMITED, LONDON AND


NORWICH
INTRODUCTION

I HAD seen her only as she had been seen by multitudes from
every corner of the globe, on the stage, waving her draperies in
the first light, or transformed into a great resplendent lily, revealing
to us a new and dignified type of beauty. I had the honour of being
presented to her at a luncheon of the tour du monde at Boulogne. I
saw an American lady with small features, with blue eyes, like water
in which a pale sky is reflected, rather plump, quiet, smiling, refined. I
heard her talk. The difficulty with which she speaks French adds to
her power of expression without injuring her vivacity. It obliges her to
rely on the rare and the exquisite, at each moment to create the
requisite expression, the quickest and best turn of speech. Her
words gush forth, the unaccustomed linguistic form shapes itself. As
assistance she employs neither gestures nor motions, but only the
expression of her eyes, which changes like the landscapes that are
disclosed along a beautiful highway. And the basis of her
conversation, now smiling and now serious, is one of charm and
delightfulness.
This brilliant artist is revealed as a woman of just and delicate
sensibility, endowed with a marvellous perception of spiritual values.
She is one who is able to grasp the profound significance of things
that seem insignificant, and to see the splendour hidden in simple
lives. Gleefully she depicts, with keen and brilliant stroke, the humble
folk in whom she finds some ennobling and magnifying beauty. Not
that she is especially devoted to the lowly, the poor in spirit. On the
contrary she enters easily into the lives of artists and scholars. I have
heard her say the most delicate, the subtlest things about Curie,
Mme. Curie, Auguste Rodin and other geniuses. She has
formulated, without desiring to do so, and perhaps without knowing
it, a considerable theory of human knowledge and philosophy of art.
But the subject of conversation which comes closest to her is
religious research. Should we recognize in this fact a characteristic
of the Anglo-Saxon race, of the effect of a Protestant education, or
simply a peculiarity of temperament of which there is no
explanation? I do not know. At all events she is profoundly religious,
with a very acute spirit of inquiry and a perpetual anxiety about
human destiny. Under various guises, in various ways, she has
asked me about the cause and the final outcome of things. I need
not say that none of my replies were couched in a manner to satisfy
her. Nevertheless she has received my doubts serenely, smiling at
everything. For she is distinctly an amiable being.
As regards understanding? Comprehension? She is marvellously
intelligent. She is even more marvellously instinctive. Rich in so
many natural gifts she might have become a scholar. I have heard
her employ a very comprehensive vocabulary in discussing the
various subjects of astronomy, chemistry and physiology. But it is the
unconscious in her that counts. She is an artist.
I have been unable to resist the pleasure of recalling my first
meeting with this extraordinary and delightful woman. What a rare
chance! You admire afar off, as in a vision, an airy figure comparable
in grace to those dancers whom one sees on Pompeiian wall
paintings, moving in their light draperies. Some day you discover
once again this apparition in real life, softened in colour and hidden
under those thicker robes with which mortals cover themselves, and
you perceive that she is a person of good mind and good heart, a
soul somewhat inclined to mysticism, to philosophy, to religion, a
very deep, a very cheerful and a very noble soul.
There you have to the life this Loie Fuller, in whom our Roger
Marx has hailed the chastest and most expressive of dancers,
beautifully inspired, who reanimates within herself and restores to us
the lost wonders of Greek mimicry, the art of those motions, at once
voluptuous and mystical, which interpret the phenomena of nature
and the life history of living beings.
ANATOLE FRANCE
CONTENTS

PAGE
I. MY STAGE ENTRANCE 15
II. MY A PPEARANCE ON A REAL STAGE AT TWO YEARS AND A 20
HALF
III. HOW I CREATED THE SERPENTINE DANCE 25
IV. HOW I CAME TO PARIS 43
V. MY APPEARANCE AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE 51
VI. LIGHT AND THE DANCE 62
VII. A JOURNEY TO RUSSIA—A BROKEN CONTRACT 73
VIII. SARAH BERNHARDT—THE DREAM AND THE REALITY 84
IX. ALEXANDRE DUMAS 101
X. M. AND MME. CAMILLE FLAMMARION 111
XI. A V ISIT AT RODIN’S 122
XII. M. GROULT’S COLLECTION 128
XIII. MY DANCES AND THE CHILDREN 137
XIV. PRINCESS MARIE 151
XV. SEVERAL SOVEREIGNS 165
XVI. OTHER MONARCHS 184
XVII. SOME PHILOSOPHERS 192
XVIII. HOW I DISCOVERED HANAKO 207
XIX. SARDOU AND KAWAKAMI 217
XX. AN EXPERIENCE 223
XXI. AMERICAN A FFAIRS 232
XXII. GAB 250
XXIII. THE VALUE OF A NAME 267
XXIV. HOW M. CLARETIE INDUCED ME TO WRITE THIS BOOK 273
ILLUSTRATIONS

LOIE FULLER Frontispiece


PAGE
LOIE FULLER IN HER ORIGINAL SERPENTINE DRESS 29
THE DANCE OF FLAME 59
LOIE FULLER AND HER MOTHER 75
THE DANCE OF THE LILY 93
LOIE FULLER AND ALEXANDRE DUMAS 107
M. AND MME. CAMILLE FLAMMARION, AT JUVISY 115
THE DANCE OF FLOWERS 139
THE DANCE OF THE BUTTERFLY 143
DANCE TO GOUNOD’S “AVE MARIA” 159
THE DANCE OF THE BUTTERFLY 181
LOIE FULLER IN HER GARDEN AT PASSY 193
LOIE FULLER’S ROOM AT THE FOLIES-BERGÈRE 211
GAB 253
THE DANCE OF FIRE 261
THE DANCE OF FEAR FROM “SALOME” 283
FIFTEEN YEARS OF A
DANCER’S LIFE

I
MY STAGE ENTRANCE

“W HOSE baby is this?”


“I don’t know.”
“Well, anyway, don’t leave it here. Take it away.”
Thereupon one of the two speakers seized the little thing and
brought it into the dancing-hall.
It was an odd little baggage, with long, black, curly hair, and it
weighed barely six pounds.
The two gentlemen went round the room and asked each lady if
the child were hers. None claimed it.
Meanwhile two women entered the room that served as dressing-
room and turned directly toward the bed where, as a last resort, the
baby had been put. One of them asked, just as a few minutes before
the man in the dancing-hall had asked:
“Whose child is this?”
The other woman replied:
“For Heaven’s sake what is it doing there? This is Lillie’s baby. It
is only six weeks old and she brought it here with her. This really is
no place for a baby of that age. Look out; you will break its neck if
you hold it that way. The child is only six weeks old, I tell you.”
At this moment a woman ran from the other end of the hall. She
uttered a cry and grasped the child. Blushing deeply she prepared to
take it away, when one of the dancers said to her:
“She has made her entrance into society. Now she will have to
stay here.”
From that moment until the end of the ball the baby was the chief
attraction of the evening. She cooed, laughed, waved her little hands
and was passed round the hall until the last of the dancers was
gone.
I was that baby. Let me explain how such an adventure came
about.
It occurred in January, during a very severe winter. The
thermometer registered forty degrees below zero. At that time my
father, my mother, and my brothers lived on a farm about sixteen
miles from Chicago. When the occasion of my appearance in the
world was approaching, the temperature went so low that it was
impossible to heat our house properly. My mother’s health naturally
made my father anxious. He went accordingly to the village of
Fullersburg, the population of which was composed almost
exclusively of cousins and kinsmen, and made an arrangement with
the proprietor of the only public-house of the place. In the general
room there was a huge cast-iron stove. This was, in the whole
countryside, the only stove which seemed to give out an appreciable
heat. They transformed the bar into a sleeping-room and there it was
that I first saw light. On that day the frost was thick on the window
panes and the water froze in dishes two yards from the famous
stove.
I am positive of all these details, for I caught a cold at the very
moment of my birth, which I have never got rid of. On my father’s
side I had a sturdy ancestry. I therefore came into life with a certain
power of resistance, and if I have not been able to recover altogether
from the effects of this initial cold, I have had the strength at all
events to withstand them.
A month later we had returned to the farm, and the saloon
resumed its customary appearance. I have mentioned that it was the
only tavern in town, and, as we occupied the main room, we had
inflicted considerable hardship upon the villagers, who were deprived
of their entertainment for more than four weeks.
When I was about six weeks old a lot of people stopped one
evening in front of our house. They were going to give a surprise
party at a house about twenty miles from ours.
They were picking up everybody en route, and they stopped at
our house to include my parents. They gave them five minutes in
which to get ready. My father was an intimate friend of the people
whom they were going to surprise; and, furthermore, as he was one
of the best musicians of the neighbourhood he could not get out of
going, as without him the company would have no chance of
dancing. He accordingly consented to join the party. Then they
insisted that my mother go, too.
“What will she do with the baby? Who will feed her?”
There was only one thing to do in these circumstances—take
baby too.
My mother declined at first, alleging that she had no time to make
the necessary preparations, but the jubilant crowd would accept no
refusal. They bundled me up in a coverlet and I was packed into a
sleigh, which bore me to the ball.
When we arrived they supposed that, like a well-brought-up baby,
I should sleep all night, and they put me on the bed in a room
temporarily transformed into a dressing-room. They covered me
carefully and left me to myself.
There it was that the two gentlemen quoted at the beginning of
this chapter discovered the baby agitating feet and hands in every
direction. Her only clothing was a yellow flannel garment and a calico
petticoat, which made her look like a poor little waif. You may
imagine my mother’s feelings when she saw her daughter make an
appearance in such a costume.
That at all events is how I made my debut, at the age of six
weeks. I made it because I could not do otherwise. In all my life
everything that I have done has had that one starting-point; I have
never been able to do anything else.
I have likewise continued not to bother much about my personal
appearance.
II
MY APPEARANCE ON A REAL STAGE AT TWO
YEARS AND A HALF

W HEN I was a very small girl the president of the Chicago


Progressive Lyceum, where my parents and I went every
Sunday, called on my mother one afternoon, and
congratulated her on the appearance I had made the preceding
Sunday at the Lyceum. As my mother did not understand what he
meant, I raised myself from the carpet, on which I was playing with
some toys, and I explained:
“I forgot to tell you, mamma, that I recited my piece at the Lyceum
last Sunday.”
“Recited your piece?” repeated my mother. “What does she
mean?”
“What!” said the president, “haven’t you heard that Loie recited
some poetry last Sunday?”
My mother was quite overcome with surprise. I threw myself upon
her and fairly smothered her with kisses, saying,
“I forgot to tell you. I recited my piece.”
“Oh, yes,” said the president, “and she was a great success, too.”
My mother asked for explanations.
The president then told her: “During an interval between the
exercises, Loie climbed up on the platform, made a pretty bow as
she had seen orators do, and then, kneeling down, she recited a little
prayer. What this prayer was I don’t remember.”
But my mother interrupted him.
“Oh, I know. It is the prayer she says every evening when I put
her to bed.”
And I had recited that in a Sunday School thronged by free-
thinkers!
“After that Loie arose, and saluted the audience once more. Then
immense difficulties arose. She did not dare to descend the steps in
the usual way. So she sat down and let herself slide from one step to
another until she reached the floor of the house. During this exercise
the whole hall laughed loudly at the sight of her little yellow flannel
petticoat, and her copper-toed boots beating the air. But Loie got on
her feet again, and, hearing the laughter, raised her right hand and
said in a shrill voice: ‘Hush! Keep quiet. I am going to recite my
poem.’ She would not stir until silence was restored. Loie then
recited her poem as she had promised, and returned to her seat with
the air of having done the most natural thing in the world.”
The following Sunday I went as usual to the Lyceum with my
brothers. My mother came, too, in the course of the afternoon, and
took her seat at the end of a settee among the invited guests who
took no part in our exercises. She was thinking how much she had
missed in not being there the preceding Sunday to witness my
“success,” when she saw a woman rise and approach the platform.
The woman began to read a little paper which she held in her hand.
After she had finished reading my mother heard her say:
“And now we are going to have the pleasure of hearing our little
friend Loie Fuller recite a poem entitled: ‘Mary had a little Lamb.’”
My mother, absolutely amazed, was unable to stir or to say a
word. She merely gasped:
“How can this little girl be so foolish! She will never be able to
recite that. She has only heard it once.”
In a sort of daze she saw me rise from my seat, slowly walk to
the steps and climb upon the platform, helping myself up with feet
and hands. Once there I turned around and took in my audience. I
made a pretty courtesy, and began in a voice which resounded
throughout the hall. I repeated the little poem in so serious a manner
that, despite the mistakes I must have made, the spirit of it was
intelligible and impressed the audience. I did not stop once. Then I
courtesied again and everybody applauded me wildly. I went back to
the stairs and let myself slide down to the bottom, as I had done the
preceding Sunday. Only this time no one made fun of me.
When my mother rejoined me, some time after, she was still pale
and trembling. She asked me why I had not informed her of what I
was going to do. I replied that I could not let her know about a thing
that I did not know myself.
“Where have you learned this?”
“I don’t know, mamma.”
She said then that I must have heard it read by my brother; and I
remembered that it was so. From this time on I was always reciting
poems, wherever I happened to be. I used to make little speeches,
but in prose, for I employed the words that were natural for me,
contenting myself with translating the spirit of the things that I recited
without bothering much over word-by-word renderings. With my firm
and very tenacious memory, I needed then only to hear a poem once
to recite it, from beginning to end, without making a single mistake. I
have always had a wonderful memory. I have proved it repeatedly by
unexpectedly taking parts of which I did not know a word the day
before the first performance.
It was thus, for instance, when I played the part of Marguerite
Gauthier in La Dame aux Camélias with only four hours to learn the
lines.
On the Sunday of which I have been speaking, my mother
experienced the first of the nervous shocks that might have warned
her, had she been able to understand, that she was destined to
become the prey of a dreadful disease, which would never leave her.
From the spring which followed my first appearance at the Folies-
Bergère until the time of her death she accompanied me in all my
travels. As I was writing this, some days before her end, I could hear
her stir or speak, for she was in the next room with two nurses
watching over her night and day. While I was working I would go to
her from time to time, rearrange her pillows a little, lift her, give her

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