The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1907-07-31
.OUIDA AND HER DOCS
Novelist, In Dire Poverty, Still
Feeds Her Pets.
FOUR DAYS WITHOUT FOOD.

Famous Woman Writer, Pensioned by
British Government, Spent Night
on Seashore-Msde a Fortune, but
Spent Money RecklessIy-once Kept
Thirty Dogs and Forty Horses.
There was general surprise and curl
osity when it was announced that Miss
Louisa de la Rance, the novelist
(Ouida), has had a pension of $50
granted to her from the civil list, says
special cable dispatch from London
to the New York Sun. 1t was known
that she was formerly wealthy, having
made fortune from her writings. 1t
is even greater surprise now to learn
that the venerable AUTHORSHIP is seven
ty-eight-has been latterly in such pow
erty that sometimes she was compelled
to go without food
The Florence correspondent of the
London Daily Mail sends story of her
recent life. He says that until two
years ago Miss de la Rance occupied
splendid three story villa at Lucca.
She was known as 1.-The Lady of the
Dogs as she invariably had thirty,
and was always seen with number
of them around her. Her intense fond
ness for dogs, with a certain megalo-
mania, caused her ON one occasion to
give meal of milk, bread and meat
to every dog in Lucca. She paid the
bill for this extraordinary banquet
willingly, although heavy debts were
crowding upon her through her utter
ignorance of the value of money
1t is stated that on several occasions
at about this time she went without
food for whole day, remarking that
it was sufficient if her dogs ate. FIRE.
quently her maid appealed to the own
err of the villa for supper for her mis-
tress. A dispute with her landlord
about some furniture led to three law
suits, which Ouida won, but the costs
further crippled her purse, and her
landlord then turned her out.
After staying at one or two places
she Went to a first class hotel at Via
iGSSlo. AGAIN lAOuSulleSS eApSlluI-
lures exhausted her resources, and her
plight was such that last September
she passed a night under the trees on
the sea front The remaining few of
her large family of beloved dogs were
at her side. When her maids mother
found her at o'clock in the morning
on the beach she took her to her hum
BILE. cottage at Month and kept her
there for several months.
But that homeless night on the cold
beach caused Ouida to lose the sight of
her left eye and also brought about
deafness, from which she has never
recovered. In February last she went
to another hotel at Viareggio, where
she stayed until July 6, when, being
again in financial straits, she went
with her eX-mad's mother to the vii
lage of Massarosa. five miles distant,
where she is now living in milkman's
Squalid cottage.
She rarely goes outdoors and has few
visitors. Her health is broken down.
She eats little. She wears white dresses
of silk muslin, With long trains and
white gloves extending far up the
arms. Last winter she had new
black dress With long train. Her
passion for dogs is not diminished, al
though now She has only three, Ruff,
Goldoni and Neroino.
She has been heard to say that life
would pe hopeless misery without her
dogs. 1t is her fear of endangering
their lives N,' Il change of climate that
prevents her from returning to Eng
land. In her happier days. when she
ey With impulsive generosity and dis
regard of arithmetic, she had besides
thirty dogs at least forty horses. 1t
is known that once since her sutferings
began she Went without food for four
days through sheer want.
Ouida in poverty is almost incredible
to those who remember the vogue of
some of her novels. 1t is not so long
since everybody was reading "Strath-
MORE" "Chandos.'' Under Two Flags
and the many other works of one of
the most prolific of English novelists.
1t is probably by the last named work,
published in 1867. that Ouida is best
known. n comparatively recent theat-
rical success in New York. "Under Two
Flags" was Paul NJ. Potters dramati-
cation of this book. Besides the three
mentioned "Tricotrin." published in
1869, 1.-Two Little Wooden Shoes in
1874, and I'm Maremma,' in 1882. are
books of hers which We're eagerly read.
Lady Marabouts Troubles" is ac-
counted very clever book of short
stories. The more recent output tails
off in quality. All told there are forty
one novels from the pen of Mile. de Ia
Rance. The best of her works were
remarkable for the length of time that
they held public favor.
| When Ouida was about twenty years
old she went from Bury ST. Edmunds,
where she was born. to London with
her mother and grandmother and not
long afterward began her writing ca
reer. Her pen name was her own
childish INSTRUMENTATION of her name,
Louisa. She lived in Italy for many
years. Two or three years ago she at
| tracted considerable attention by her