JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 53 

 structed by Audubon in turn in chalk 

 drawing. 



There appear to have been no sacri- 

 fices that Mrs. Audubon was not willing 

 and ready to make to forward the plans 

 of her husband. { i My best friends, J J he 

 says at this time, "solemnly regarded 

 me as a mad man, and my wife and fam- 

 ily alone gave me encouragement. My 

 wife determined that my genius should 

 prevail, and that my final success as an 

 ornithologist should be triumphant." 



She wanted him to go to Europe, and, 

 to assist toward that end, she entered 

 into an engagement with a Mrs. Percy 

 of Bayou Sara, to instruct her children, 

 together with her own, and a limited 

 number of outside pupils. 



Audubon, in the meantime, with his 

 son Victor, and his new artist friend, 

 Stein, started off in a wagon, seeking 

 whom they might paint, on a journey 

 through the southern states. They wan- 

 dered as far as New Orleans, but Audu- 



