His first Visit to America. 17 



On landing at New York he caught the yellow fever, 

 by walking to the bank in Greenwich Street to cash his 

 letters of credit Captain John Smith, whose name is 

 gratefully recorded, took compassion on the young 

 emigrant, removed him to Morristown, and placed bin: 

 under the care of two Quaker ladies at a boarding-house, 

 a id to the kindness of these ladies he doubtless owed his 

 .ife. His father's agent, Mr. Fisher, of Philadelphia, 

 knowing his condition, went with his carriage to his 

 lodging, and drove the invalid to his villa, situated at 

 some distance from the city on the road to Trenton. Mr. 

 Fisher was a Quaker, and a strict formalist in religious 

 matters ; did not approve of hunting, and even objected 

 to music. To the adventurous and romantic youth this 

 home was little livelier than a prison, and he gladly 

 escaped from it. Mr. Fisher, at his request, put him in 

 possession of his father's property of Mill Grove, on the 

 Perkiomen Creek ; and from the rental paid by the tenant, 

 a Quaker named William Thomas, the youth found him- 

 self supplied with all the funds he needed. 



At Mill Grove young Audubon found "a blessed 

 spot." In the regularity of the fences, the straight and 

 military exactness of the avenues, Audubon saw his fa- 

 ther's taste, nay, his very handiwork. The mill attached 

 to the property was to him a daily source of enjoyment, 

 and he was delighted with the repose of the quiet milldam 

 where the pewees were accustomed to build. "Hunting, 

 fishing, and drawing occupied my every moment," he 

 writes ; adding, " cares I knew not, and cared nothing for 

 them." 



In simple and unaffected language he relates his 

 introduction to his wife, the daughter of William Bake- 

 well, an English gentleman who had purchased .he ad- 

 joining property. Mr. Bakewell lived at Fatland Ford, 

 within sight of Mill Grove, but Audubon had avoided the 



