My mother had
a very sweet singing voice, which she retained till late in life;
indeed a tiny thread of voice remained until her ninety-third
year, with a faint remnant of its old sweetness still clinging to
it. After her marriage, her love of theatricals still persisted,
so we were often having performances at home, as my brothers and
sisters shared her tastes. I made my first appearance on the stage
at the age of seven, and I can still remember most of my lines.
At Petrograd, in the French theatricals, I was always cast for old
men, and I must have played countless fathers, uncles, generals,
and family lawyers. As unmarried girls took part in these
performances, the French pieces had to be considerably
"bowdlerized," but they still remained as excruciatingly funny as
only French pieces can be.
If I may be permitted a rather lengthy digression, "bowdlerised"
derives its name from Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published an
expurgated edition of Shakespeare. It would be rather interesting
to make a list of words which have passed into common parlance but
which were originally derived from some peculiarity of the person
whose surname they perpetuate.
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