72

_King Oscar of Sweden_ 74

_"Sans Gene"_ 80

_"La Tosca"_ 82

_Wolf-Ferrari_ 84

_Leaving Berlin_ 86

_Mark Twain_ 90

_"Madame Butterfly"_ 92

_David Belasco_ 94

_Sarah Bernhardt_ 96

_"As Pretty a Flock of Birds as one could find"_ 100

_As the Goose Girl in "Koenigskinder"_ 102

_Kate Douglas Wiggin_ 104

_Miss Farrar and Caruso in "Julian"_ 106

_As "Carmen"_ 108

_Work and play in California_ 110

_Making New Friends in the Movies_ 112

_Miss Farrar and Mr. Tellegen_ (_Photograph Reproduced by
courtesy of the International Film Service, inc._) 114

GERALDINE FARRAR

THE STORY OF AN AMERICAN SINGER

CHAPTER I

MY LIFE AS A CHILD

I believe that a benevolent Fate has had watch over me. Some have called
it luck; some have spoken of the hard work and the many years of study;
others have cited my career as an instance of American pluck and
perseverance. But deep down in my heart I feel much has been directed by
Fate. This God-sent gift of song was bestowed upon me for some purpose,
I know not what. It may fail me to-morrow, to-night; at any moment
something may mar the delicate instrument, and then all the
perseverance, pluck, study, and luck in the world will not restore it to
me. If early in life I dimly sensed this insecurity, yet always have I
gone onward and onward, eager for that which Fate had in store for me,
and accepting gladly those rewards and opportunities which in the course
of my career have been popularly referred to as "Farrar's luck."

Yet do not think that I waited in idleness to see what Fate would bring.
From the days of my earliest recollection I have labored unceasingly to
attain the goal which I believed and hope Destiny had marked out for me.
My mother tells me that before I was five I had already shown strong
music