186 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



month scouring the country for birds, and contin- 

 ued his drawings. Arriving at Cincinnati, he says, 

 " I was beset by claims for the payment of articles 

 which years before had been ordered for the 

 Museum, but from which I got no benefit. With- 

 out money, or the means of making it, I applied to 

 Messrs. Keating and Bell for the loan of fifteen 

 dollars ; but had not the courage to do so until I had 

 walked past their house several times, unable to 

 make up my mind how to ask the favor. I got the 

 loan cheerfully, and took a deck-passage to Louis- 

 ville. I was allowed to take my meals in the 

 cabin, and at night slept among some shavings 

 I managed to scrape together. The spirit of con- 

 tentment which I now feel is strange ; it borders 

 on the sublime ; and, enthusiast or lunatic, as some 

 of my relatives will have me, I am glad to possess 

 such a spirit." 



At last he reached Bayou Sara, and saw his wife ; 

 "and, holding and kissing her, I was once more 

 happy, and all my toils and trials were forgotten." 



Mrs. Audubon had been extremely fortunate. 



She was earning nearly six hundred pounds a 

 year. This she offered to her husband to help the 

 publication of the book. He was invited to teach 

 dancing, and a class of sixty was soon organised. 

 From this source he received about four hundred 

 pounds. The tide of fortune had turned at last, and 

 he began to prepare for a trip to England. He 

 was forty-six. Life had been indeed a struggle. 

 He had wandered over the country, with scanty 



