In later years, they'll tell you grandpapa
  Adored his little darlings; for them did
His utmost just to pleasure them and mar
  No moments with a frown or growl amid
Their rosy rompings; that he loved them so
  (Though men have called him bitter, cold and stern,)
That in the famous winter when the snow
  Covered poor Paris, he went, old and worn,
To buy them toys, despite the falling shells,
  At which, like they, laughed Punch, with all his bells.

From L'Annee Terrible, Jan 1871