The Washington herald., 1907-07-12
OUIDA IN DIRE WANT
AgedNOveliStS SquanderS For
tune on Her Dogs.
GRANTED PENSION BY KING
Pathetic story Comes frHm Florence
Regarding Woman, Who Il often
Has Many Eeeentricities and Ii To-
tally Ignorant of Value of Money.

london. July 12-There was general sur
prise and curiosity when II was an
'aounced that Miss Louise de la Rance
(OuNp). tho novelist. has been granted
a pension Of $50 from the civil list, tt
being known that she was formerly
wealthy. she having made fortune from
her writings. It is even a greater sur
prise now TO learn that the venerable
authOr-she is now seyenty-eight-has
been latterly in such poverty that some
times she was compelled 10 go without
food.
The Florence correspondent Of the
Daily Mail sends a story Of her recent
life. He says that until two years ago
Miss de la Rance occupied a splendid
three-story villa at Lueca.
She was known as THE Lady Of the
Dogs" as she invariably had thirty. and
was always seen with a number of them
around her. Her fondness for dogs. with
which certain megalOmania. caused her
on one occasion, to give a meal OF milk.
bread. and meat to every dog in Lueca.
She paid the bill for this extraordinary
btsAAfAAtA ntAAAAElss 0lAAOubA ltaAN AtUAS
were crowdng upon her through her utter
ignorance Of the value Of money. It is
stated that on several occasions at about
this time she went without food for a
whole day. remarking that It was sufii-
cient If her dogs ate. Frequently, her
maid appealed to the owner Of the villa
for supper for ner mistress.
PASSES Night Under Trees.
A dispute with her landlord about some
furniture led TO three lawsuits. which
Ouida won, but the costs further crippled
her purse. and her landlord turned her
out After staying at one or two places
she went to a first-class hotel at Viareg-
gio. Again thoughtless expenditures ex-
hausted 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
5 o'clock in the morning on the beach
she took her 70 her humble cottage at
Monti. and kept her Jnere for several
months. But that homeless night on the
cold beach caused Ouida to totally 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 un-
I'll July 6. when, being again in financial
straits, she went with her ex-maid' 8
mother to the village of Massarosa. five
miles distant. where she is now living in
a milkman's squalid cottage.
Health Is Broken Down.
She rarely goes outdoors and has few
visitors. Her health is broken down. She
eats little. She wears white dresses of
silk muslin, with lengthy trains. and white
gloves extending far up the arms. Last
winter she had new black dress with a
long train.
Her passion for dogs Is not diminished
although now she has only three-Ruf7v
Goldoni. and Neroni. She has been heard
to say that life would be hopeless misery
without her dogs. 1t is ,4er fear Of en-
dangering their lives by change Of eli
mate that prevents her from returning To
England
In her happier days, when she was able
to give away and spend money with i'm
pulsiye generosity and disregard of arith.
metic, she had, besides thirty dogs AZ
least forty horses. 1t is known that onca
since her sufferings began she went with
out food for four days through sheer
want.