4 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 

 proved a rare exception among step- 

 mothers but she was too indulgent, 

 and, Audubon says, completely spoiled 

 him, bringing him up to live like a gen- 

 tleman, ignoring his faults and boasting 

 of his merits, and leading him to believe 

 that fine clothes and a full pocket were 

 the most desirable things in life. 



This she was able to do all the more 

 effectively because the father soon left 

 the son in her charge and returned to 

 the United States in the employ of the 

 French government, and before long 

 became attached to the army under La 

 Fayette. This could not have been later 

 than 1781, the year of Cornwallis 7 sur- 

 render, and Audubon would then have 

 been twenty-one, but this does not square 

 with his own statements. After the war 

 the father still served some years in the 

 French navy, but finally retired from 

 active service and lived at La Gerbetiere 

 in France, where he died at the age of 

 ninety-five, in 1818. 



