One day Rosa Bonheur had to go away on a long journey. She did not know just what to do with the lions, but finally sent them to the park, where a man took good care of them. Nero did nothing but walk back and forth in his cage all day long while his mistress was away. He refused to eat anything the man gave him, and by the time Rosa Bonheur returned home the lion was very sick. As soon as he saw her he showed how pleased he was. She spent many days taking care of him, and finally Nero was well again. He never wanted any one else to come near him.
A few months later, Rosa Bonheur had to go away again. She was very much worried about leaving Nero, but finally she found a man with whom she was not afraid to trust him. As soon as she was gone, however, gentle old Nero became very cross and ugly. He growled at the keeper, and tried to hurt him.
One day the keeper had to go into the cage to fix something. With a fierce growl Nero sprang at him and tried to kill him. In the struggle the lion was badly hurt. When Rosa Bonheur came home she found Nero very sick and going blind. No one dared to go near his cage, but as soon as he heard her voice he was the old faithful Nero again. When Rosa went into his cage he put his great head in her lap and seemed happy to have her pet him. Every one was surprised to see how much he loved her. Rosa Bonheur did everything for him she could, hoping her pet would get well again, but a few days later he died, his head in her lap.
Rosa missed her pet very much, and after that she never cared to own another lion. She gave the lioness to the city to keep in the park. She was very glad she had painted so many good pictures of Nero, for it made her feel as if she still had her pet with her.
Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Whose lion was this? How did she get him? Why did she want a lion? How many did she have? How did the lioness behave? What was this lion’s name? How tame was he? Whom did he like best? What happened when Rosa Bonheur went away on a journey? Who took care of the lions? What did Nero do? How did he act when Rosa Bonheur came back? What did she do? What happened the second time she went away? upon her return? Why did Rosa Bonheur not care to have another lion? Why was she glad she had painted this picture?
To the Teacher: The children may draw a picture of a lion. Use manila paper and charcoal. Call attention to the large, bushy head, cat-like body, and long, waving tail.
The story of the artist. Rosa Bonheur’s father was an artist, and when any one asked her who taught her to draw, she always said, “My father taught me.” Her mother could play the piano very well indeed, but Rosa did not care so much for that study. When Rosa was sent to school she had to walk some distance through the woods to the schoolhouse. Sometimes she would stop and smooth the dust in the road with her hand, and then draw pictures in it. She used a stick to draw with. Even then she liked to draw pictures of animals best of all. Often she had such good times drawing that she even forgot to go to school.
Her father thought he could make a better living in Paris, so the family moved to that great city. The first place they lived was up several flights of stairs and across the street from a butcher’s shop. This shop had for a sign a wild boar rudely carved out of wood. Rosa missed her old pets so much, and this wild boar looked so much like her little pet pig in the country, that she used to stop to pat the wooden boar every time she passed that way.
A man who lived in the same house with the Bonheur family kept a small school for boys. Rosa’s two brothers went to this school, and after a while the teacher said Rosa might go too. She was the only girl in the school, but she did not mind that at all. The boys were glad to have her with them, for she knew more games than they and played just like one of them.
Her father did not do so well with his painting as he had hoped, so they moved into a cheaper house. It was here that Rosa’s mother died. The little sister, Juliette, was then sent to her grandmother, and Rosa went to live with an aunt. The aunt sent her to school, and it was at this time that she used to stop on the way to the schoolhouse to draw pictures in the dust on the road. So she did not get along very well with her aunt and the teacher and was delighted when her father told her she might come home.