The story of her life is of great interest, and can be but slightly sketched here.

She was afoot betimes in the morning, and often walked ten or twelve miles and worked hard all day.  The difficulty of reaching her models proved such a hindrance to her that she conceived the idea of visiting the abattoirs, where she could see animals living and dead and study their anatomy.

It is not easy to imagine all the difficulties she encountered in doing this—­the many repulsive features of such places—­while the company of drovers and butchers made one of the disagreeables of her pursuits.  Her love for the animals, too, made it doubly hard for her to see them in the death agony and listen to their pitiful cries for freedom.

In all this experience, however, she met no rude or unkind treatment.  Her drawings won the admiration of the men who watched her make them and they treated her with respect.  She pursued her studies in the same manner in the stables of the Veterinary School at Alfort and in the Jardin des Plantes.

At other times she studied in the country the quiet grazing herds, and, though often mistaken for a boy on account of the dress she wore, she inspired only admiration for her simplicity and frankness of manner, while the graziers and horse-dealers respectfully regarded her and wondered at her skill in picturing their favorite animals.  Some very amusing stories might be told of her comical embarrassments in her country rambles, when she was determined to preserve her disguise and the pretty girls were equally determined to make love to her!

Aside from all this laborious study of living animals, she obtained portions of dead creatures for dissection; also moulds, casts, and illustrated anatomical books; and, in short, she left no means untried by which she could perfect herself in the specialty she had chosen.  Her devotion to study and to the practice of her art was untiring, and only the most engrossing interest in it and an indomitable perseverance, supplemented and supported by a physically and morally healthful organization, could have sustained the nervous strain of her life from the day when she was first allowed to follow her vocation to the time when she placed herself in the front rank of animal painters.

A most charming picture is drawn of the life of the Bonheur family in the years when Rosa was making her progressive steps.  They lived in an humble house in the Rue Rumfort, the father, Auguste, Isidore, and Rosa all working in the same studio.  She had many birds and a pet sheep.  As the apartment of the Bonheurs was on the sixth floor, this sheep lived on the leads, and from time to time Isidore bore him on his shoulders down all the stairs to the neighboring square, where the animal could browse on the real grass, and afterward be carried back by one of the devoted brothers of his mistress.  They were very poor, but they were equally happy.  At evening Rosa made small models or illustrations for books or albums, which the dealers readily bought, and by this means she added to the family store for needs or pleasures.