1893. | NFW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 33 
with his pencil and brush the pursuit of his life. . He sent his 
family to Louisiana, where they would be cared for, and spent 
three years in the forests, studying the plumage of the birds and 
the habits and peculiarities of the animals he met with. When 
he returned, his portfolio was full of some of the most famous 
sketches of his life. He had drawn them at first dead, but after- 
wards was persuaded to sketch them as they appeared living. 
His wife in the meantime had supported herself and educated 
her family, so that when he returned she was able to help him. 
Not, however, to be dependent upon his wife, he supported him- 
self during one winter as a dancing master, and then started 
with a few of his drawings to obtain subscriptions for his great 
work. He interested the wealthy men here. He then went 
to Europe and attracted the notice of kings and nobles and 
rich men by the beauty of his work. The larger part of his 
drawings and sketches he left in New York. When he had 
secured subscriptions for 100 sets at $1,000 each, he returned to 
New York to find that during his absence the whole of his work 
had been destroyed. ‘I spent,” he says, “ the morning of that 
day in walking to the upper end of the island, where I gave way 
to vain regrets. That afternoon I began the work over again.” 
What he achieved by that resolution, his great work shows. 
This disaster, instead of crippling him, made him a great man. 
Instead of being overwhelmed by his misfortune and allowing 
himself to be overcome by vain regrets, he called his manliness 
to his aid, and in the full trust in his Heavenly Father which 
was so characteristic of every step of his life, commenced his 
life over again, only to rise at the end of the struggle to fame 
and wealth, and he has left behind him not only the record of a 
man who rose above great losses and unlooked-for misfortunes, 
but that of a great naturalist whose whole life was one of humble 
faith. Misfortune only interrupted his work. It intensified and 
developed his talents, and in his life we can plainly see how that 
what sometimes seem to us to be hindrances and obstacles which 
cannot be surmounted, may be turned into the greatest blessings 
of our lives. He says of himself that, in the midst of his mis- 
fortunes, “Many a time at the sound of the wood-thrush’s 
melodies have I fallen on my knees and there prayed earnestly 
to our God.” 
Audubon’s facility for describing the birds was as great as his 
artistic method of painting them. He also loved all inanimate 
nature, and was fond of flowers and trees. The great Scotch 
ornithologist, Wilson, says of him that ‘‘ He was, without con- 
tradiction, the greatest artist in his own walk that ever lived.” 
TRANSACTIONS N. Y, AcaD. Sci. VOL. XIII., Sig. 3, Nov. 24, 1893. 
