276 Burns, Miss Lawson’s Recollections. ae 
speaking broad Scotch which is simply ridiculous, I never heard 
him use a Scottish word except in jest or in reading his favorite 
Scottish poets.” 
He engraved plates for the ‘American Ornithology’ of Alex- 
ander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte; George Ord’s un- 
published work’ on mammals; the ‘Monograph of the Fresh- 
Water Univalve Mollusca’ of Prof. Samuel S. Haldeman and the 
‘Terrestial and Air-Breathing Mollusks’ of Dr. Amos Binney, be- 
side various illustrations on botany, chemistry and mineralogy. 
There were eight children, five of whom reached maturity: 
Malvina, Helen E., Catherine, Oscar A. and Mary, all inheriting 
the artistic talents of their parent. Malvina and Helen colored 
by hand most of the plates of Ord’s edition of Wilson’s ‘Ornithology’ 
and whatever superiority it possesses is entirely due to the skill of 
the girl artists. It is said that with the beautiful preparations 
from the Philadelphia Museum for models, they labored steadily 
at this work for three years and received five thousand dollars, 
at that time an almost unheard of sum for two young girls to earn. 
Helen, perhaps the most versatile of the sisters, executed the 
drawings for the works on conchology by Prof. Haldeman and 
Dr. Binney, and also engraved the life-sized figure of the Rice 
Bunting used in Harrison Hall’s prospectus of Wilson’s ‘Orni- 
thology.’ Oscar was born in Philadelphia, August 7, 1813; learned 
engraving under his father; was employed by the U. S. Coast 
Survey at Washington from 1841 to 1851, and died in Philadelphia, 
September 6, 1854. 
The surviving sisters, Miss Malvina and Mrs. Mary L. Birck- 
head, removed to West Chester, Pa., in 1872, where the former died 
on April 6, 1884. Mr. R. P. Sharples of West Chester, to whom I 
am indebted for much information, was well acquainted with the 
sisters and recognized them as ladies of great refinement and 
culture. Among the family treasures was a handsome oil painting 
by Miss Malvina of her three sisters and a sketch book containing 
the work of all members of the family. Miss Lawson was born 
about 1806; she possessed a strong personality, a vigorous mind and 
was most loyal to her friends; yet it is to be feared that certain 
unfortunate events resulting in the loss of long cherished family 
treasures, somewhat embittered her later days. Mrs. Birckhead, 
a a 
