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INTRODUCTION
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xix
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ments of a mind that is peculiarly and typically French. Yet, to me at least, this little volume reveals many of the most essential traits of literature. It is not so much a text-book as a personal expression of the ecstasy of a great artist in the propagation of her craft. Much of it, unconsciously, is autobiographical; and even when the author endeavors to be most strictly didactic, the perfume of her personality irradiates her writing.
For the general reader, therefore, who entertains no aspiration on his own account to learn "how to sing a song," the book is valuable because it offers an opportunity to become more nearly acquainted with one of the great women of the world. In a recent letter to myself she said, — "Puisse mon livre ouvrir les idees, les oreilles, les yeux, et les cceurs de ceux qui le liront, your y chercher la clef de la c6lebriti, ou de la fortune ! . . . lis n'y trouveront que la clef de la conscience dans le travail, et la clef de VEglise de Vhumaine Beaute."
Clayton Hamilton.
New York City, 1918.
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Note. — The drawings in this book are made by Claire Avery; the photographs by Alice Boughton.
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