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The first two of these Rachel Felix and Sarah Bernhardt were of Jewish extraction; the third, Eleanor Duse, is Italian. All of them made their way from pauperism to fame; but perhaps the rise of Rachel was the most striking. In the winter of 1821 a wretched peddler named Abraham or Jacob Felix sought shelter at a dilapidated inn at Mumpf, a village in Switzerland, not far from Basel.

The first two of these Rachel Felix and Sarah Bernhardt were of Jewish extraction; the third, Eleanor Duse, is Italian. All of them made their way from pauperism to fame; but perhaps the rise of Rachel was the most striking. In the winter of 1821 a wretched peddler named Abraham or Jacob Felix sought shelter at a dilapidated inn at Mumpf, a village in Switzerland, not far from Basel.

So unimportant was the advent of this little waif into the world that the burgomaster of Mumpf thought it necessary to make an entry only of the fact that a peddler's wife had given birth to a female child. There was no mention of family or religion, nor was the record anything more than a memorandum.

So unimportant was the advent of this little waif into the world that the burgomaster of Mumpf thought it necessary to make an entry only of the fact that a peddler's wife had given birth to a female child. There was no mention of family or religion, nor was the record anything more than a memorandum.