THE MAN WHO LOVED THE BIRDS 



217 



war of 1812 came on and diminished the revenues from 

 their business. They moved to Hendersonville, and 

 started a new enterprise, but this proved a failure. A 

 removal of his business to St. Genevieve, on the Miss- 

 issippi River, below St. Louis, was planned, and Audu- 

 bon set off with his remaining goods loaded on a barge. 

 The trip afforded him a fine opportunity to gratify his 

 taste for the wilderness, for the country through which 

 thev passed was an almost unbroken stretch of magnificent 

 hardwood forest, and they were delayed by many mis- 

 haps. Continued bad fortune followed them, and Audu- 

 bon started to return to his wife and family at Hender- 

 sonville, traveling on foot. With this journey began a 

 long series of stirring and strenuous experiences that 

 make his biography read like a romance. Poverty and 

 privation made his life sad, for it brought suft'ering to 

 his brave wife, who in spite of all their troubles en- 

 couraged him to continue the great work on which he 

 was well advanced. Often penniless and earning a scant 

 living with his brush as a portrait painter, and in other 

 ways, he went from place to place, sometimes taking his 

 family with him, but more often wandering alone. Dressed 

 in the rough leather shirt and leggings of the trapper, 

 sometimes weeks and months in the primeval forests, 

 subsisting on wild fruits and meats, often forced to beg 

 his way, he faced danger and difficulty with unlimited 

 enthusiasm. He was happiest in the woods, and his 

 patience and perseverance in the conquest of science and 

 art were boundless. 



Years passed in this manner, then his wife conceived 

 the idea of assisting her husband by teaching, and even- 

 tually to send him to Europe for the purpose of finish- 

 ing his instruction in oil painting (his previous work 

 having been done with pencil and crayons). From 1833 

 to 1826 they labored with this end in view, and in July, 

 1826, Audubon landed in Liverpool, exhibited his draw- 

 ings in various cities, and opened a subscription for their 

 publication. The following December this dream came 

 true, 170 subscriptions to "The Birds of America" at 

 $1,000 each having been made. Not only was he thus put 

 at financial ease, but great honors were accorded him 

 by Cuvier, Humboldt, Sir Walter Scott, and other great 

 men of the day. 



Although he might well have retired to a life of com- 

 fort, he soon returned to the wilderness to continue his 

 great work. He journeyed from Florida and Texas to 

 Labrador, and from the Atlantic Coast to the Rocky 

 Mountains. When over sixty years of age, after the 

 completion of his work on birds, he began a similar work 

 on animals, "The Quadrupeds of America," with un- 

 diminished enthusiasm. But before the completion of 

 this volume his physical powers failed him, and on Jan- 

 uary 27, 1851, he died peacefully at his home near Tar- 

 rytown. New York. But his memory lives, for as one 

 who loved him has said : 



"While the little wren chirps about our homes, and the 

 robin and reed-bird sing in the green meadows; while 

 the melody of the mocking bird is heard in the cypress 

 swamps, or the shrill scream of the eagle on the frozen 

 shores of the northern seas, the name of John James 



Audubon, the gifted artist, the ardent lover of Nature, 

 and the admirable writer, will live in the hearts of his 

 grateful countrymen." 



RAILROAD SAVES THE TREES 



THE Sharpsville, Pa., station of the Baltimore & 

 Ohio Railroad is being cited as evidence that some 

 of the so-called "soulless corporations" are not 

 so soulless after all. At Sharpsville the railroad com- 

 pany purchased extra land for tracks and a station in 

 order to allow two beautiful specimens of the silverleaf 



KAILKOAD S.AVUS .\IAPLli TKKES 



The unusual consideration sliown by the B. & O. R. R., at Sharpsville, 



Pa., in saving two fine maple trees. 



maple tree to keep on growing on the right of way, 

 although by chopping them down many hundreds of dol- 

 lars would have been saved. 



W^ien the engineers ran their lines into town the 

 plans called for the tracks to be laid over the ground 

 now occupied by the trees. Then some of the officers 

 of the company inspected the route and discovered the 

 trees, and some lovers of trees made pleas for the preser- 

 vation of the trees. 



The pleas were heeded and the engineers had to run 

 new lines and make plans for a curved track in order 

 that the trees might stand undisturbed. 



A similar condition cannot be found throughout the 

 country, according to traveling men. It is not uncom- 

 mon for strangers to stop and wonder at the sight of the 

 trees growing between railroad tracks. 



JANUARY, 1915, COPIES NEEDED 



THE American Forestry Association will be glad to 

 buy copies of American Forestry for January, 

 1915, and members having copies of that month 

 and not needing them will confer a favor on the Associa- 

 tion by mailing them to the office at Washington, D. C. 



Have you invited a friend to become a subscribing member? 



