TEE LATE MADAME BOUCICAUT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1775, 24 February 1888, Page 3

TEE LATE MADAME BOUCICAUT

Independently of the legacies already enumerated m the papers, Madame Bouoloaut has (says a correspondent of the 11 Dally News") lef ber coachman £20,000 as a mark of her gratitude for his hone.t oare of her horses and attention to her own comfort and safety during a period of twenty years' service; Her general legacy to the 232 persona associated with her m tbe Bon Marche consists of the premises and her sharp, which waa valued at £2,400,000. Four hundred thousand pounds are to be spent In founding and endowing a hospital iv Paris, and the residue of her prodigious fortune ia to be devoted to the poor m whatsoever manner the Charity Board Bhall appoint. Great and disinterested as was this remarkable woman, she had a weakness. Ie was a longing to wear tho Cross of the Legion of Honor. She always refused to intrigua for or buy it, but hoped to earn It* Waen Mdme. Furtado Holne waa decorated for founding an industrial cchool for the blind, Mdme Bouolcaut wns nettled at th> preference. Tbe recant scandals were a gre.t blow to her, inasmuch as tbey showed by what dishonorable means tho distinction she ardently desired was too often obtained. She gave up the longing to obtain it, wh : ch, seeing what her woal'h was, she thought a real mhfortu'ie. It deprived her of a stimulant th it she much needed. She wasalw.ys doing good, but, as with beautiful humility rtho said, there was no merit m that seeing that she had only lo pnt ber fingers m a full purse of endless depth.