Editing Natalie Clifford Barney (section)

==Early life==
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| footer = {{font|size=100%|font=Sans-serif|text=First: Painting by [[Carolus-Duran]] of Barney at age ten that hung on the wall of her salon at 20, Rue Jacob.{{sfn|Schenkar|2000|p=177}} Second: Barney at about age 13, painted by Alice Pike Barney.}}
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Barney was born in 1876 in [[Dayton, Ohio]], to Albert Clifford Barney and [[Alice Pike Barney]].{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=44}} When Barney was a year old, she and her family moved to [[Cincinnati]], staying in a suite of rooms in the [[Burnet House]], a grand hotel. The Barneys were living here when Natalie's sister, [[Laura Clifford Barney|Laura]], was born in 1879. They stayed at the Burnet House until eventually moving to a house in the elite [[Mount Auburn Historic District|Mount Auburn]] neighborhood in 1881.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002}} 

When Barney was five years old, she encountered [[Oscar Wilde]] at a New York hotel.  Wilde scooped her up as she ran past him fleeing a group of small boys and held her out of their reach. Then he sat her down on his knee and told her a story.<ref>{{harvnb|Rodriguez|2002|p=31}}. Barney recounted this incident in ''Adventures of the Mind'', p. 31.</ref> The next day he joined Barney and her mother on the beach, and Wilde inspired Alice to pursue art seriously, which she did despite her husband's disapproval.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=30–31}} 

Like many girls of her time, Barney had a haphazard education.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=62}} Her interest in the French language began with a [[governess]] who read [[Jules Verne]] stories aloud to her, so she would have to learn quickly to understand them.{{sfn|Secrest|1974|p=262}} She and her younger sister, Laura, attended Les Ruches, a French boarding school in [[Fontainebleau]], France, founded by feminist [[Marie Souvestre]].{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=39}} As an adult, she spoke and wrote French fluently.{{sfn|Robinson|2001|p=38}}

When she was ten, her family moved from Ohio to the [[Sheridan Circle]] area of Washington D.C., spending summers at their large cottage in [[Bar Harbor, Maine]].{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=44}}  As the rebellious and unconventional daughter of one of the wealthiest families in town, she was often mentioned in Washington newspapers. In her early twenties she made headlines by galloping through Bar Harbor while driving a second horse on a lead ahead of her, riding astride instead of [[sidesaddle]].{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=59–60, 191}}

Barney later said she knew she was a lesbian by age twelve,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=52}} and she was determined to "live openly, without hiding anything".{{sfn|Benstock|1986|p=272}}