28 Audubon's Western Journal 



about the home, the varied enjoyments and duties 

 of the country place gave my father ample occu- 

 pation. He loved the Hudson and the Palisades, 

 the woods and walks about him, was devoted to his 

 family and these were years he delighted to recall. 



Many men were employed in one capacity or 

 another and "Mr. John," as he was always called, 

 was a great favorite. He had the rare gift of 

 keeping these men friends, while he was perfectly 

 understood to be the master; they were thoroughly 

 at home with him, yet never familiar, and this 

 position, so difficult to maintain, he held with all. 

 As the village of Manhattanville, a little lower 

 dow!n the river, grew in size, many of the men from 

 there used to walk up on summer evenings to help 

 "haul the seine;" for fish were plentiful and good 

 in the Hudson then; and where "Mr. John" was, 

 disturbance or insolence was unknown, his orders 

 to each man were respected, his division of fish 

 always satisfied. 



An interruption in this tranquil life came in 1843' 

 when Audubon the elder went to the Yellowstone 

 country, and both sons were anxious about their 

 father until his return; they felt that he was too old 

 for such an arduous journey, but he was determined 

 to go, and his safe return ended all alarm for his 

 safety. Another break came in 1845 when my 

 father went to Texas to find mammals to depict in 

 the new work being published, and possibly birds 



