. A life of Napoleon Boneparte:. shrubs, long rows of hedges, a brook, lakes, windingpaths, a Swiss village, a temple of love, grottoes, a cascade,an endless variety of artificial and sentimental devices, tooktheir place. To decorate this park of Malmaison to Jo-sephines liking, the government turned over to her dozensof bronze and marble busts, vases, columns, and statues,some of them of great value. One curious and amusing feature of the park was the ani-mals it contained. Josephine was as fond of pets as of flow-ers. She always had one or more dogs from which she wasnever separated—not even
. A life of Napoleon Boneparte:. shrubs, long rows of hedges, a brook, lakes, windingpaths, a Swiss village, a temple of love, grottoes, a cascade,an endless variety of artificial and sentimental devices, tooktheir place. To decorate this park of Malmaison to Jo-sephines liking, the government turned over to her dozensof bronze and marble busts, vases, columns, and statues,some of them of great value. One curious and amusing feature of the park was the ani-mals it contained. Josephine was as fond of pets as of flow-ers. She always had one or more dogs from which she wasnever separated—not even Napoleon could make her givethem up, much as he detested them. At Malmaison, shegave free rein to her liking. Birds were her chief delight,and she bought scores. In three years her bill for birdsfrom one dealer was over $4,500. The lakes were filled withswans, black and white, and ducks from America and China;in the parks were kangaroos, deer, gazelles, a chamois; therewere monkeys everywhere; and there were no end of trained. 368 BONAPARTE IS MADE FIRST CONSUL 369 pets of all kinds—usually gifts. None of these animalswere of any practical use; to be sure there was a flock ofvaluable sheep, but these were kept merely as a decorationto a certain field, the shepherds who guarded them havingbeen brought in their native costumes from Switzerland. Josephines interest in her garden and flowers and animalswas beyond that of the mere prodigal who buys for the sakeof bu3nng and loses his interest in possessing. One of thedelights of her life at Malmaison was visiting daily her ani-mals, .in each of which she took the liveliest interest. Herflowers she watched carefully, and she took great delight indistributing them. Many gardens in France to-day containplants and trees which are said to be grown from cuttingssent to some dead-and-gone ancestor by Josephine. During the first two years of the Consulate, in spite ofall the changes going on, Malmaison was the source of muchbrilliant l
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1901
