4/j 6 Life of Auduhon. 



under the same roof, in the short interval between his re- 

 turn from his last earthly expedition, and the time when 

 his sight and mind began to grow dim, until mental 

 gloaming settled on him, before the night of death came. 

 He was very fond of his grandchildren, and used often to 

 take them on his knees and sing to them amusing French 

 songs that he had learned in France when he was a boy. 



His loss of sight was quite peculiar in its character. 

 His glasses enabled him to see objects and to read, long 

 after his eye was unable to find a focus on the canvas. 

 The first day he found that he could not adjust his glass- 

 es so as to enable him to work at the accustomed dis- 

 tance from the object before him, he drooped. Silent, 

 patient sorrow filled his broken heart. From that time 

 his wife never left him ; she read to him, walked with him, 

 and toward the last she fed him. Bread and milk were 

 his breakfast and supper, and at noon he ate a little fish 

 or game, never having eaten animal food if he could 

 avoid it. 



He took great pleasure in listening to reading and to 

 the singing of one of his daughters-in-law, who had an 

 exceedingly sweet and well cultivated voice. He found 

 much amusement too in walking through his grounds. 

 His home, on the banks of the Hudson, was just such 

 a spot as a lover of Nature would choose for his closing 

 days. It was a piece of land extending from where the 

 Tenth Avenne now is, to the river ; it contained twenty- 

 four acres, about half of which was high level ground, the 

 other half a gradual slope to the river. There was no 

 Hudson River Railroad then, and the waves dashed 

 upon the sandy beach near the house. From a little pro- 

 jection called The Point, there was a beautiful and exten- 

 sive view down the river ; the view towards the north was 

 obstructed by Fort Washington. On the hill were corn- 

 fields and a peach orchard, and two or three little cot- 



