CHAPTER XXI 



DEBUT AS A NATURALIST 



Audubon makes his bow at Philadelphia — Is greeted with plaudits and 

 cold water — Friendship of Harlan, Sully, Bonaparte and Harris- 

 Hostility of Ord, Lawson and other friends of Alexander Wilson — A 

 meeting of academicians— Visit to "Mill Grove"— Exhibits drawings in 

 New York and becomes a member of the Lyceum — At the Falls of 

 Niagara— In a gale on Lake Erie — Episode at Meadville — Walk to 

 Pittsburgh — Tour of Lakes Ontario and Champlain — Decides to take his 

 drawings to Europe— Descends the Ohio in a skiff — Stranded at Cin- 

 cinnati — Teaching at St. Francisville. 



In 1824 after five hard years of struggle and em- 

 barrassment, Audubon decided that the time had come 

 to bring his labors to the light of day. At thirty-nine, 

 he read and spoke two languages but was without ade- 

 quate training in either ; he had never written a line for 

 publication, and to the scientific world he was a stranger. 

 Though without a definite plan, he cherished the ardent 

 hope of presenting the birds of his beloved America as 

 he had depicted them, to the size of life, and with all 

 the added interest and zest that a natural environment 

 could give them. 



To Philadelphia the naturalist now turned his steps, 

 for that city was then a Mecca for scientific men. Leav- 

 ing Shippingport in March, he reached the Quaker 

 capital on the fifth day of April. There he purchased 

 a new suit of clothes, and, dressed "with extreme neat- 

 ness," paid his respects to Dr. William Mease, the one 

 friend there whom he had known intimately in his 

 younger and more prosperous days. It was primarily 



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