Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-28

phases or lie again mystery one 10 d
mystery because of her inexplicably con-
Trajectory nature, because of her rude
ness and her charm, because of her writ
ten impurity of thought and her lived
purity of action, because OF her love foI
humanity and her hatred of society
Truly with one of Swinburne's women
she might say: II have strange blood In
me-"
Romance and passion, idealism and
lcleverness. cynicism and brusqueness
fqpdness for dogs and dislike for men,
success in letters and failure in love,
wealth and poverty, popularity and un-
popularity-these are some of the things
which have made of Ouida's life hodge
podge of the unusual.
After having won a large fortune
through her thlrty-five novels and after
having given rein to her fancies to the
utmost Ouida. as was stated recently
through dispatches from London, is now
in such dire distress she is being given a
pension by the British government of $IoU
yearly. She has been forced to sell her
splendid villa near Florence, in which she
has lived for nearly thirty years, and she
is now, at the age of 81, living in the
direst distress near Lucca with peas
ants family.
While scarcely any information has
ever been obtained as to Ouida's parents,
it is known that she is partly English,
partly French, partly Spanish. She was
born near Bury st. Edmond's, England,
in 1910. Her mother was an English
woman said to have been the daughter
of a clergyman, who married on the con-
tinent a dashing French -Spaniard of good
| family and bad morals. Ouida's father
| came from one of the towns In the Pyr-
enees and met her mother somewhere in
middle Europe. OF Ouida's young life
and of her education nothing authentic
has been given to the world.
It is declared that as a girl she trav-
eled much, going through capital after
capital of Europe and becoming ac-
quainted at a tender age with some Of
| the most brilliant and vicious circles of
| those centers of the brilliant and the
vicious. From her father, who is SAID
| to have been a man of great wit ana
keennees, It has sometimes been guessed
| that she obtained a masculine way OF
| looking at the world. But of specific
| facts about her young lire ner DloSrd-
piers are silent.
The first that the world knew OF Ouida
was when she appeared as a novelist at
the age of %, at which time she was
living in England with her mother. AT
this time she was known to her frlends
as Miss Rame Her given name was
Louise Then came two or three more
novels. her name III private lliS Siioii6Sh
with her changing fortunes. She became
Miss Rame. Next she became Miss de
Rance Finally, when about 80, she bios
somed forth under the name she has since
used in private life-that of Louise
de la Rance. The nom de plume OF
Ouida, which she has always used, was
her own Childish method of pronouncing
her name of Louise. When she came to
write and began to cast about for pen
hn HGninU
childhood and Ouida she became to the
world at large.
From 1867 dates the first widespread in
terest of the world in Ouida, for in that
year she published her Under Two
Flags" still read, which attained tre-
mendous popularity and made its author
famous The book was dramatized and
is still seen upon the stage. From that
year the great public began to inquire
about Ouida, began to entertain her, be-
gan to give her a prominent place among
literary celebrities of the day. And when
the public began to do these Things IL
also began to question, WHO is TINS
woman?" How does she know so much
of these things of which she writesT'
From whence come her passion and her
cynicism?' But to these questions there
was no adequate answer.
% Ouida began to be invited out to social
affairs, she began to be sought after by
clever people and by would-be-thought
clever ones; she began to have huge
But she always remained
much of mystery. With all her success
she never tagged in her work and novel
after novel flowed from her fertile pen
at write much?" Ouida exclaimed one
day to a friend. "Why should not write
much and write readily? Have I not
been learning my trade of letters since
was years old? 1t was at that age that
began to write" But of further ex-
PLANTATION she vouchsafed none. This
glimpse of her childish years only whet-
ted curiosity but Ouida would pursue the
subject no further. Ouida, indeed, never
would give anybody anything, whether
it be information or an autograph, or
even common civility, unless the whim of
the moment urged her to 1t.
Ouida's southern blood always kept
calling her insstently, and about 1877
she decided to make Italy her winter
home. She built a beautiful three-story
villa near Florence, and here she used
to live for months at time, entertain
ing at elaborate receptions the cleverest
Florentines and the chief foreign visitors
to the Italian city. 1t was in 1889, while
Ouida was living at her villa, that one
of the best glimpses of the novelist ever
published was given TO the world. Thls
glance at Ouida's character was penned
by the Countess Natalie C., who had
known Ouida in childhood, though under
what circumstances was not stated. Here
is part of what the countess had to say
of Ouida:
Miss Rame she was called when first
I knew her. She had been a strange
child, full of wild, passionate moods, and
understood by few. She loved horses
-.
the years-and would talk affectionately
to them, caressing them tenderly and
showing a loving, kind nature. Then
presto-she was always bursting into
fits of tears and passion and declaring
that her fellow beings did not under
stand her.
Last season-in 1SSS-Ouida was the
sensation of London society. Everywhere
she was feted, dinners and receptions