Page:Daughters of Genius.djvu/135

 Fanny's father and mother had been brought up in the Jewish faith, but were extremely liberal in their ideas, regarding the spirit as all, the form as nothing, and they desired to have their children educated as Christians. This was done, though at first secretly, in order not to wound the feelings of their grandparents, who were much more strict in their adherence to the ancient belief. Madame Salomon, especially, was so orthodox a Jewess, that she had cursed and cast off her own son for adopting Christianity. With this formidable old lady, however, Fanny was a great favorite, and she used often to visit her and play to her. One day, after she had been playing exquisitely well, Madame Salomon told her to choose what she would like best for her reward. To Madame's great surprise, the reply, given without a moment's hesitation, was:

"Forgive Uncle Bartholdy."

The request, so earnest and so unexpected, touched the old lady's heart, and eventually brought about a reconciliation, "for Fanny's sake," as she wrote to her son.

Although Fanny Mendelssohn received a thorough musical education, studying always with her brother, and as earnestly and aptly as he, and although her talent was recognized by the family as being almost, if not quite, equal to his, yet none of them for a moment thought of regarding music as her career. In the eyes of Abraham Mendelssohn, as in those of most men at that time, there was but one worthy profession for a woman—that of housewife; and so Fanny, in spite of some irrepressible longings for the distinction which she felt it within her power to attain, acquiesced in his views. In the very letter in which he praised her Romances, her father wrote to her:

"What you said to me about your musical occupations with reference to and in comparison with Felix, was both