She tried to persuade them to confine their tributes to flowers and sweets, which had at least the merit of mortality; but she was never successful, … - Marcel Proust

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She tried to persuade them to confine their tributes to flowers and sweets, which had at least the merit of mortality; but she was never successful, and the house was gradually filled with a collection of foot-warmers, cushions, clocks, screens, barometers and vases, a constant repetition and a boundless incongruity of useless but indestructible objects.