ne Bake well Family, i\ 



not a single dish to my taste. I cared nothing for sump- 

 tuous entertainments. Pies, puddings, eggs, and milk or 

 cream was the food I liked best; and many a time 

 was the dairy of Mrs. Thomas, the tenant's wife of Mill 

 Grove, robbed of the cream intended to make butter for 

 the Philadelphia market. All this while I was fair and 

 rosy, strong as any one of my age and sex could be, and 

 as active and agile as a buck. And why, have I often 

 thought, should I not have kept to this delicious mode of 

 living ?" 



Note here a curious incident in connection with his 

 love of skating and his proficiency as a marksman. Hav- 

 ing been skating down the Perkiomen Creek, he met Miss 

 Bakewell's young brother William, and wagered that he 

 would put a shot through his cap when tossed into the air, 

 while Audubon was passing full speed. The experiment 

 was made, and the cap riddled. A. still more striking 

 incident is thus related. " Having engaged in a duck- 

 shooting expedition up the Perkiomen Creek with young 

 Bakewell and some other friends, it was found that the ice 

 was full of dangerous air-holes. On our upward journey 

 it wa'i easy to avoid accident, but the return trip was at- 

 tended with an event which had nearly closed my career. 

 Indeed, my escape was one of the inconceivable miracles 

 that occasionally rescues a doomed man from his fate. 

 The trip was extended too far, and night and darkness 

 had set in long before we reached home. I led the party 

 through the dusk with a white handkerchief made fast to 

 a stick, and we proceeded like a flock of geese going to 

 their feeding ground. Watching for air-holes, I generally 

 avoided them ; but increasing our speed, I suddenly 

 plunged into one, was carried for some distance by the 

 stream under the ice, and stunned and choking I was 

 forced up through another air-hole farther down the stream. 

 I clutched hold of the ice and arrested my downward 



