AUDUBON 17 



considered sufficient for the expenditure of a young gentle- 

 man. 



Miers Fisher left me the next morning, and after him went 

 my blessings, for I thought his departure a true deliverance ; yet 

 this was only because our tastes and educations were so different, 

 for he certainly was a good and learned man. Mill Grove was 

 ever to me a blessed spot ; in my daily walks I thought I per- 

 ceived the traces left by my father as I looked on the even fences 

 round the fields, or on the regular manner with which avenues of 

 trees, as well as the orchards, had been planted by his hand. 

 The mill was also a source of joy to me, and in the cave, which 

 you too remember, where the Pewees were wont to build, I never 

 failed to find quietude and delight. 



Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every 

 moment ; cares I knew not, and cared naught about them.. I 

 purchased excellent and beautiful horses, visited all such neigh- 

 bors as I found congenial spirits, and was as happy as happy 

 could be. A few months after my arrival at Mill Grove, I was 

 informed one day that an English family had purchased the 

 plantation next to mine, that the name of the owner was Bake- 

 well, and moreover that he had several very handsome and in- 

 teresting daughters, and beautiful pointer dogs. I listened, but 

 cared not a jot about them at the time. The place was with- 

 in sight of Mill Grove, and Fatland Ford, as it was called, 

 was merely divided from my estate by a road leading to the 

 Schuylkill River. Mr. William Bakewell, the father of the family, 

 had called on me one day, but, finding I was rambling in 

 the woods in search of birds, left a card and an invitation to 

 go shooting with him. Now this gentleman was an Englishman, 

 and I such a foolish boy that, entertaining the greatest prejudices 

 against all of his nationality, I did not return his visit for many 

 weeks, which was as absurd as it was ungentlemanly and impolite. 



Mrs. Thomas, good soul, more than once spoke to me on the 

 subject, as well as her worthy husband, but all to no import; 

 English was English with me, my poor childish mind was settled 

 on that, and as I wished to know none of the race the call re- 

 mained unacknowledged. 

 VOL. I. — 2 



