THE OSPREY. 



An Illtastrated IVIagazine of Poptalar Ornittiology. 



P'uljlislieci Nlonthly e>coept iii .Iol>' and A.\agvast. 



VOU'ME 2. 



APRIL, 1898. 



Number 8. 



AUDUBON'S STORY RE-TOLD.* 



SARA A. HUBBARD. 



T is nearly fifty years since 

 [ohn James Audubon passed 

 from the sight of men, yet 

 his name is fresh in every 

 mind. It is as yesterday tha' 

 the modest biography pub 

 lished in 1869 gave us an 

 outline of the leading facts 

 in his history. The 

 " record was of a fascin- 

 ating character, unique 

 in man}' particulars, strongly 

 tinged with romance, and 

 vivid in its suggestiveness. It set forth so remarkable 

 a personality, at once charming and commanding, 

 that one could not fail to retain the impression and be 

 glad to revive it at any hour. When, therefore, a 

 more complete account of the man is now presented, 

 chiefly through his journals set in order by his grand- 

 daughter, the pleasure is heightened by the interest 

 of the facts already known ; and as the final page is 

 reached in this last full and authentic narrative, in 

 an access of enthusiasm one is impelled to turn back 

 to the earlier volume, and hunt it through, as so often 

 before, for material to feed the reawakened interest. 

 It is not so much the genius of Audubon, his gifts 

 and accomplishments, that delight us; it is. first of all, 

 his manliness, the rare balance of sweetness and 

 strength, of daring and humility, of impetuosity and 

 patience, of grace and virility, of passion and purity, 

 of fidelity, industry, and endurance, — in a word, of 

 the masculine and feminine elements which together 

 make up the perfect humanity. 



It would be superfluous to rehearse any but the 

 most significant incidents of Audubon's career. 

 Everybody is familiar with the chance which pro- 

 cured his birth on American soil, — the gay, roving 

 Frenchman, Admiral Audubon, having married a 

 beautiful Spanish Creole and become a temporary 



*AuuuBON AND HIS JOURNALS. By Maria K. Aii<lul)oii. With 

 Zoological and other Notes, by Dr. Klliott Cones. In two 

 volumes. New York ; Charles Scribner's Sons. Cloth. $7.50. 

 (The present article is published in The Oshkey through the 

 courtesy of 'The Dial,' and the torn accompanying illustra- 

 tions are kindly loaned from the work by the publishers. — Ed.] 



resident in the vicinity of New Orleans. The mother 

 did not long survive the advent of her son, and the 

 day and year of his arrival were afterward lost in 

 oblivion. They may be placed, according to his 

 granddaughter, somewhere not far beyond 1772. 

 The formative years of Audubon's life were spent in 

 France, where every privilege was afforded him 

 which wealth, a doting stepmother, and a prudent 

 father could provide. "The handsomest boy in 

 France," as the stepmother declared, was trained in 

 all the graceful arts befitting a gentleman of his 

 time. He danced and fenced and drew, and played 

 the flute and violin and flageolet with unusual skill, 

 displaying in every direction both versatile and mas- 

 terful talents. An absorbing love for nature in all its 

 phases was his dominant characteristic, and in early 

 childhood he began painting the birds about him, a 

 pursuit from which finally he was to earn lasting 

 fame. He had already made two hundred sketches 

 of these feathered wonders, when, at seventeen years 

 of age, he returned to America, to become an inde- 

 pendent citizen of the country to which he was ever 

 loyally attached. 



For some years his home was at Mill Grove, a 

 farm belonging to his father, situated near Schuylkill 

 Falls in Pennsylvania. Here he led a life devoid of 

 care and devoted to pleasures of a harmless sort, in 

 which music and drawing were not neglected. He 

 had no vices. Later in life, he wrote ; 



"Cards I dislike. . . I lived on milk, fruits, 



and vegetables, with the addition of game and fish at 

 times, but never had I swallowed a single glass of 

 wine or spirits until the day of my wedding. The 

 result has been my uncommon, indeed iron, constitu- 

 tion. This has been my constant mode of life ever 

 since my earliest recollection. ... I never went 

 to dinners, merely because my choice of food occa- 

 sioned comment, and also because often not a single 

 dish was to my taste, and I could eat nothing from 

 the sumptuous tables before me. ... All this 

 time I was as fair and as rosy as a girl, though as 

 strong, indeed stronger than most young men, and as 

 active as a buck." 



Audubon was a model of manly beauty, with a 

 lithe, sinewy frame, capable of wonderful feats of 

 strength and endurance and a countenance marked 



