322 Deane, Letters of J. J. Audubon and S. F. Baird. \tnw 



Duly 



Baird to Audubon. 



Carlisle, Feb. 8th, 1842. 

 My dear Mr. Audubon. 



After a trial of two weeks I begin to find that I am getting over 

 the shock caused by the sudden transition from the bustle of Broad- 

 way to the lifelessnes of Carlisle, and hope that by the application 

 of the proper means I may in time perfectly recover. Philadelphia 

 seemed dull but Carlisle was death itself. My visit now however 

 seems but as a dream, and I have settled down into my old regular 

 monotonous life as if I never had been absent a day. When I 

 arrived my friends had a great many questions to ask of course, 

 but almost the first ones on every lip were about Mr. Audubon, — 

 how he looked? What was his age, whether the idea they had 

 formed of him from his writings was correct, many queries also 

 were respecting Mrs. A. and her sons; and all said that they would 

 ever be grateful to them for their kindness, to one away from home. 

 When I arrived in Philadelphia some unexpected intelligence 

 caused me to come almost immediately on, instead of spending 

 a week as anticipated. I however saw almost all of my acquaint- 

 ances, having by dint of hard exercise managed to traverse almost 

 the whole of the City without however having procured anything 

 in the "Quadrupedologius" line. I had not been long in Carlisle 

 before shouldering my gun I marched out to the creek and suc- 

 ceeded in compassing the death of a poor Golden eye, who unaware 

 of its dangerous proximity to a second "Long Tom" 1 came flying 

 calmly up stream, when "bang" went the gun, "splash" went the 

 duck and "plunge" went my favorite black Newfoundland. Be- 

 tween the three I had the duck in my hand in five or ten minutes 

 but as whisslers are never very good and not at all eatable now, I 

 gave it to a companion who seemed to think he would like to try the 



1 Audubon's favorite gun, which had very long barrels. He always called it " Long 

 Tom" and carried it on many of his expeditions. It is still in possession of the 

 family, but the barrels were cut off to more modern proportions by those who used 

 it after his death. It was not unusual for sportsmen of earlier days to give nick- 

 names to their guns. I have shot with an old duck hunter whose old fashioned arm 

 was familiarly known all over the country as "Old Betsie." There was a flint lock 

 pistol, called "Long Tom," such as were used by the highwaymen in England in 

 the early part of the 18th century. (R. D.). 



