Evening star., 1908-01-26
0U|DA PASSES AWAY
IN DIRE DISTRESS
Once Popular Authoress Dies
in Absolute Poverty.
BOOKS MADE A FORTUNE
She Never Knew the Value of Money
in the Least.
MYSTERY IN HER EARLY LIFE
Passionate Devotion to Animals Was
One of Her Marked Traits.
Starved for Her Dogs.
MYSTERY IN HER EARLY LIFE

Guise de la Ramee). the novelist. died
| today at Viareggio after an illness extend
ing over a long period. She died in most
distressing poverty. her only attendant be-
she expired. She was completely blind of
| one eye and the other eye was badly af-
fected through her having suffered so
much from exposure and privation. Dur
| ing the last few months of her life she
Was compelled at times to sleep in the
open air when unable to pay for a nights
! lodging. The immediate cause of her
death is set down as asthma complicated
by heart disease.
Oudia had a passionate fondness for
dogs, and up to the very last was sur
rounded by many of them, depriving her
self of even the necessities of life in order
to feed them.
The minister of instruction had sent her
on several occasions recently considerable
contributions which had been subscribed
for her aid.
Mile. Luise de la Rance. known to the
English reading world by her pen name,
Oudia. a childish pronunciation of her
own Christian name was born at Bury
Stedmunds, Suffolk. England. in 1910. Her
father was English. her mother French.
Her early life is shrouded in mystery
which has given opportunity for the wild
est imaginative work on the part of pseu-
dobiograp piers, the favorite idea being that
she knocked about England and the con-
tinent with her somewhat dissolute father
This theory is usually given in explana-
ton of her knowledge of boisterous life
a knowledge which caused the public to
surmise that her first books were written
by a man with an at least questionable
history. At any rate her father and
| mother separated when she was an in
| fant. and she herself said that she never
| had any childhood or girhood. One at
tempt was made by Ouida's American
publisher. the late J. B. Lippincott. to
| learn from the novelist herself how she
came to know so much of the seamy side
of life. Her smiling answer, Its none of
your business" closed the attempt. In
the light of her books, the story that she
was educated by her father and by him
taught masculine habits of thought seems
plausible.
A Hardened Cynic.
When still a young woman, Ouida ap-
pears to have gone back to England and
to have lived with her mother in Lon
don. From this time on she devoted her.
self TO writing. Her first story, Gran
vile de Vigneu." was published when she
was twenty years old. Artificial. SEN
sational and indirectly licentious" were
| some of the adjectives applied to her
| work by the critics of the time. There
was certain power in her writing, how
ever. which gave her books vogue
| from the first. and their highly seasoned
qualities only endeared them the more to
| d great mass of the public.
\ The noveliSt'S view Of men and women
| and life was one of cynicism; a tendency
| of her mature and early training which
| WIS only Increased and intensified by
| her sole romantic affair 4 Florentne
marquis of cultured tastes Wooed and
| won her, and then she found out about
| his liaison with a younger. more beautiful
woman. Ouida broke with her fiance and
then showed the world what she thought
of him and of her successful rival in her
novel, "Friendship.' The characters were
drawn close to life that the couple
who had inspired them withdrew from
/ society to SecluSiOn.
Ouida's work sold in large quantities
and she was accounted wealthy. 1t has
been estimated she made from $3.50. 600 to
100000 from her writings. But she did
good. Living moderately. in fine villa
near Florence. she entertained friends
weekly. This seemed to be her only dis
sipation. But she never turned deaf
ear to any story of want or need: all
who asked help received it without
thought of her own future. Her almost
| unreasoning love for animals also had a
deal to do with the squandering of her
| fortune. During her days of aff1uence
she is said to have kept thirty dogs be-
of her that she once ordered all the dogs
of Florence fed at her expense.
The Lady Of the Dogs.
| Last yea it was reported i'm London
that the novelist was in great poverty
and a pension of $50 was granted to
her from the civil list. A fund was
raised for her. but the aged woman
| did not take kindly to the efforts to help
her. 1t is said she even tore proffered
| bank notes to pieces before the eyes of
| the would-be benefactors. 1t was re-
| lated at the time that she was living In
| the humble home of a milkman at Massa-
| rosa, having lost home and entire for
| tune. But three greyhounds We're left
| to her of her former days of aff1uence
| These. it was said, often ate the
| food that should have gone to their mis-
/ tress. but they went about with her and
she was still called in Florence, THE
| lady of the dogs.
| These reports of Ouidas utter poverty
wee afterward denied; it is possible they
| were exaggerated. She was said TO be
| poor. but not suffering or in need. For
months she was harassed by correspond
| entS and others who. from varying mo-
| tives, tried to learn the truth of her con-
ditiOn.
Ouda was the autho~ of forty or more
| novels. which attained varying degrees
| of popularity. OF these Under Two
Flags published in 1867 and later drama
| tized by Paul NJ. Potter. probably had
| the greatest vogue: "Strathmore," Chan
dos" .'Tricotin. Two Little Wooden
Shoes, and In Marsuma.. were much
read A book of short stories. Lady
Ma-about's Troubles. and the dog story
| "A Dog of Flanders. have been account
| ed of considerable merit. the former for
| it's cleverness the latter for its pathos.