302 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



power and the balance-wheel that were requisite for the 

 development of her husband's genius. Without her 

 zeal and self-sacrificing devotion the world would never 

 have heard of Audubon. His budding talents event- 

 ually would have been smothered in some backwoods 

 town of the Middle West or South. For the space of 

 nearly twelve years, Mrs. Audubon, now as the head 

 of a small private school, now as a governess in some 

 friendly family who appreciated her worth, practically 

 assumed the responsibility for the support and educa- 

 tion of their children in order that her husband's hands 

 might be free, and with her hard-earned savings was 

 able to aid him materially in the prosecution of his 

 labors. When relatives or friends upbraided him for 

 not entering upon some form of lucrative trade, she 

 recognized his genius and always came to his support, 

 being fully persuaded that he was destined to become 

 one of the great workers of the world. Whatever oth- 

 ers may have said or done at that time, both Audubon 

 and his wife were confident of the ultimate success of 

 his mission. In short, the work in which the naturalist 

 was engaged became a family interest, in which every 

 member was destined sooner or later to bear a part. 



Audubon recalled a somber incident of this time 

 which he thought might furnish a lesson to mankind, 

 and he shall relate it in his own words : 



After our dismal removal from Henderson to Louisville, 

 one morning when all of us were sadly desponding, I took you 

 both, Victor and John, from Shippingport to Louisville. I had 

 purchased a loaf of bread and some apples ; before you reached 

 Louisville you were hungry, and by the river side we sat down 

 and ate our scanty meal. On that day the world was with me 

 as a blank, and my heart was sorely heavy, for scarcely had I 

 enough to keep my dear ones alive ; and yet through those dark 



