190 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



the work, that I felt as if I were in the woods of 

 America among the pigeons, and my ears were 

 filled with the sound of their rustling wings. 

 After sleeping a few hours, I rose and corrected it. 

 . . . Captain Hall expressed some doubts as to my 

 views respecting the affection and love of pigeons, 

 as if I made it human, and raised the possessors 

 quite above the brutes. I presume the love of the 

 mothers for their young is much the same as the 

 love of woman for her offspring. There is but one 

 kind of love ; God is love, and all his creatures 

 derive theirs from his : only it is modified by the 

 different degrees of intelligence in different beings 

 and creatures." 



With all this attention, his heart was never 

 callous to suffering. " I was sauntering along the 

 streets," he says, " thinking of the beautiful aspects 

 of nature, meditating on the power of the great 

 Creator, on the beauty and majesty of his works, 

 and on the skill he had given man to study them, 

 when the whole train of my thoughts was suddenly 

 arrested by a ragged, sickly-looking beggar boy. 

 His face told of hunger and hardship, and I gave 

 him a shilling and passed on. But turning again, 

 the child was looking, after me, and I beckoned to 

 him to return. Taking him back to my lodgings, I 

 gave him all the garments I had which were worn, 

 added five shillings more in money, gave him my 

 blessing, arid sent him away rejoicing, and feeling 

 myself as if God had smiled on me." 



There is no sympathy so sweet as that born of 



