The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-01-28
OUIDA.

MAUI ana Express. UuTHeu upon Oulud
| "Her villa is about two miles from
town." said my companion, ''but she
! lives very much in retirement since her
unfortunate love affair with the Marquis
! Of Stufa, a member of one of the Oldest
| of the Florentine families. Ouida has
/ ALWAYS boasted that she was above the
weakness of love. But she found the
marquis man of literary tastes, artist
ic refinement, and passionate energy,
which interested her at once. Acquaint-
| ance soon ripened into friendship, and
| afterward, on Ouida's part, into love
her first love, and she maiden of 40
| summers! But the marquis, while he
| admired the writer only trided with the
| woman. He not only failed to return
her affection. but fell in love with fair
Italian, less brilliant, but younger and
| more beautiful than herself. The result
of this affair was the novel of Friend
ship in which Ouida gave her version
of this real romance, taking care to
make the marquis very weak charac-
| ter, like Hamlet, 'infirm of purpose but
not possessing Hamlet's superb mental
| gifts. This love affair was not only
bitter disappointment to Ouida, but it
| made her for a time the laughing stock
| of Florence. For weeks she shut her.
| self up in her villa, with her cats and
| dogs, and refused to see any visitors.
| Her evening drives to the Cacine and on
| the Arno were abandoned, and the
! places which had once seen her every
| day now saw her no more. Although
! this strict seclusion is no Ion er kept up,
| still she is much less accessible than she
lofo ~
| She has said of love and women that
the latter are the exact antipodes of
olives; the one begins in. salt, and
leaves us pleased with the delicious aro-
ma; the other is nectar to commence
with, but how soon they turn into very
gall. Nine times out of ten a woman
does not care rush for man who is
diving at her feet, while she is crazy
about some ugly brute who takes no
more notice of her than he does of his
dirty boots"
Notwithstanding Ouida's sentimental
retirement from the world at that time,
she did not refuse to see me. Her villa
is situated on one Cf the lovely hills that
overlook Florence. Her garden, though
small, was in beautiful order and well
guarded by two large Maremma sheep
dogs. The villa is in the Italian style,
and the vine-clad piazza commands a
charming view of Florence and the
classic Arno; the stately Duomo, which
inspired Michael Angelo to rear the
mighty dome of st. Peters which raises
its lofty head in the center of the city;
Santa Croce, the Westminster abbey of
Florence, is seen to the right, while
above, the azure sky of Italy smiles per-
petually upon one of the fairest scenes
in the world. The Protestant cemetery,
just outside of Florence, contains the re-
mains of Mrs. Browning, Arthur Clough,
and Walter Savage Landor. Swim
burne addressed the following lines in
memoriam of Landor:
And thou, oh Florence to thy trust
Receive and keep.
Keep safe his dedicated dust,
His sacred sleep!
There is a mystery about Ouida which
piques curiosity, but which the most per-
sistent interviewer has never been able
to penetrate. She was once asked how
she came to know co much about camp
life, clubs, bar. .dcks, gambling-houses,
and other places only frequented by
men, and she is reported to have leaned
her head upon her hands, and looking
straight at her questioner with pro-
voking smile, to have saucily answered:
at is none of your business" Her real
name is Louise de la Rame. Her father
was Frenchman, her mother English,
and while her tastes and manners are
French. her features are decidedly En-
glish Her face is fair and oval, her
eyes are deep blue in color and very
large and expressive; her golden-brown
hair, which formerly was worn loose
and flowed down her shoulders, is 90
longer kept in much admired Gisor-
der" but is discreetly braided as befts
middle-aged woman. She is about
abe medium height, slender and grace
full. She passes much time in the open
air, driving and walking, and from
April to October is out all the time eX-
eept when eating and sleeping. Her
favorite time for driving is in the aft
ernoon from to 6. She drives herself,
and always has a couple of pet dogs
with her; in fact, whether walking or
driving at home or abroad, eating or
reading, thinking or writing, she has
her canine companions by her side. She
has a burying place for dogs in her
garden, and they are laid to rest with
tenderness not always bestowed upon
human beings. Her favorite St. Ber-
nard dog. Isla, has marble tomb over
his remains, with an inscription quite
as pathetic, but less misanthropic, than
Byron's famous lines on his favorite
Newfoundland, Boatswain. Ouida is an
early riser; tempted by the lovely clim-
ate of Florence, she is up at in winter
and 5 in summer Her literary work is
done chiefly in winter, but she has no
particular hours of the day for writing,
taking up her pen only when she in the
the humor to write She does not re-
member when she commenced her au-
thorship, for at the age of she wrote in
printed letters child's story. From her
earliest girlhood she has been student,
being trained to masculine modes of
thought by her father, who was a man
of rare intellectual gifts. but his genius
was wasted in utopian dreams of poll
teal millennium. This love of study, be-
gun SO young, has never left her, and
she has added to it an appreciation of
all the arts that lend grace and charm
to life. She paints with great clever
ness both in oil and water colors, and
she finds her favorite subjects in her
o"h househoiu Pets' uoS VI Cat dl
ways appears in her landscapes, and
sometimes horse is added. Before her
love affair with the Marquis of Stufa,
Ouida held regular Friday receptions
during the fashionable seasons, which
were much frequented by Americans
and English. with sprinkling of
French, Italian. and other foreigners,
who were attracted by her literary fame.
At these receptions she usually wore
black velvet, and the refreshments were
very simple-tea, coffee, wine, and
cake, also cigarettes; but Ouida never
smokes nor drinks wine. Her converse
ton is lively and interesting and she
expresses her opinions without reserve
both in society and in her books.
did not expect to hear from Ouida
SO true description of woman's great
est charm as the following: The