66 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 5 



a publisher, but published it himself ; nor did 

 he seek to sell it through dealers, but sold it 

 himself. Yet. he was but twenty-four and 

 with "little learning." Where he ever got 

 the money to do this will forever remain a 

 mystery. At the time he was selling this 

 book he was peddling dry goods, and even 

 the renowned "Yankee peddler" of to-day 

 has not improved on his method ; and if 

 any fair-minded man will read his diary dur- 

 ing this peddling trip he will admit that he 

 was a genius at twenty-four, and a thorough 

 student of human nature. To know human 

 nature too well is to drive one to live in the 

 woods by daylight, and into the garret at 

 dark to play " the flute " and be called " mel- 

 ancholy." We should like to copy the clos- 

 ing paragraph in the introduction to Wilson's 

 poems, edition of 1790, but space or time 

 will not permit. 



In 1794, or four years after the above 

 mentioned volume was published, we find 

 Wilson in America, with impatience his 

 master as he left the ship at New Castle, 

 Delaware, preferring to walk to Philadelphia. 

 It was on this trip that he saw and shot his 

 first Red- headed Woodpecker, which he 

 admired so much. In due time he arrived 

 in Philadelphia, in a strange land "with little 

 money" and that borrowed. His travels 

 and change from the life of a weaver at not 

 over a dollar per day to that of a school- 

 master for little, if any, more, and often much 

 less, is well known to all ornithologists. 

 From these scant earnings he often had 

 money for " Duncan " to help him buy his 

 farm and support his family, and published 

 his own matchless work beside. 



I have before me a letter written by Wil- 

 son to his friend Bartram, dated August 16, 

 1804 (unpublished). He had just seen for 

 the first time a Pileated Woodpecker and 

 had evidently never heard of one at that 

 time, and yet in Vol. 4, 181 1, we find a rare 

 illustration and a good description, ^\'as it 

 genius or learning that enabled him to ac- 

 complish this in so short a time? If he had 



few friends and little money, how did he 

 make out to go to Pittsburg by stage, then to 

 buy a boat, which he named " The Ornithol- 

 ogist," and travel in this way several hun- 

 dred miles ; then leaving the boat, buying a 

 horse and travel through the then wilder- 

 ness of Kentucky and other Southern States 

 to New Orleans on horseback, often getting 

 mired in the morasses, and yet taming and 

 having as a companion an Illinois Paroquet? 

 If one wants to know Wilson, he should read 

 his visit to the grave of poor Lewis on this 

 trip. How did he travel through the whole 

 .Atlantic seaboard on horseback ; how did 

 he make out to travel through the New Eng- 

 land States into Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and Maine? 



We have before us a letter dated Boston, 

 October 12, 1808, written on common un- 

 ruled letter paper. The first page, besides 

 date and address, contains fifty-nine lines, 

 second page 63 lines, third page 63 lines, 

 with 18 lines on the outside page — used at 

 that time to fold, as no envelopes were then 

 used — making 203 lines of exceedingly fine 

 penmanship, almost as distinct as print to- 

 day, after the lapse of seventy-six years. In 

 a commercial life this would be considered 

 learning, but in a profession we fear it would 

 not count. Wilson had few friends we admit ; 

 but every friend he had was thoroughly honest, 

 and his friendships only ended with life. If 

 there is on record in the English language 

 the superior or equal of Alexander AVilson as 

 a friend, or as a man, we have never seen 

 it. When he was struggling to earn money 

 to publish his work, and working almost 

 night and day for a mere pittance, he divided 

 that money with Duncan, and wrote with it 

 the most cheering letter. Who but Wilson 

 could do this? To benefit his fellow-men 

 by dividing his last hard-earned dollar was 

 no sacrifice to him. 



Every American historian should read 

 Wilson's " Foresters," not as a poem (poets 

 do not walk from Philadelphia to Niagara 

 Falls and back in the late fall), but for the 



