Show LIBRARY IX HER HEAD I The newest society sensation in St Petersburg is an old peasant woman with I a wonderful memory Her name is irma I Andrejewna Fedosova she is seventy years of age can neither read nor write but knows by heart over 19000 legends I lolksongs and poems When she gives a public recital the scene Is a striking one A little bent figure appears hobbles onto I on-to the platform sits down on a chair with hands folded and withered face quite ex preseionless Amid a hush of expectation I she begins to speak then her face brightEns bright-ens her eyes open widely and sparkle i while her voice grows clear and penetrating I penetrat-ing She looks ten years younger In her I enthusiasm a she half speaks half sings the legends of her youth tales of great wars old fairy tales longlost tragedies or tender love stories while the audience carried away by her strange magnetism listens spellbound laughs and weeps at her will She is the rage in the Russian Rus-sian capital and we rag two eminent emin-ent literary men have written down a number of her memorystored treasures which they Intend to publish in book form for lovers when of it folklore should prove a rich find |