LIFE AT "MILL GROVE" 101 



you Morristown, and look for a good and decent familly in that 

 place to recommend him to her as your own Son. This service 

 from you will deserve my everlasting gratitude. I am Sir, with 

 consideration. 



Yr Mo ob Ser . 



Mr. Miers Fisher, who evidently received a copy of this 

 letter, no doubt considered his own family as good as 

 the best, and in detaining young Audubon at his home, 

 we must credit him with the desire of following the in- 

 structions thus received. 



"Mill Grove," which was finally reached in the spring 

 of 1804, 4 was a new-found paradise to the young natu- 

 ralist. Here, however, he was destined to spend but little 

 over a year, though it was doubtless the happiest year 

 of his life. The farm was then conducted by a Quaker, 

 named William Thomas, who was installed as tenant 

 with his wife and family. It was arranged, said Audu- 

 bon, that he should receive from them a quarterly allow- 

 ance in ready money, in a sum that "was considered 

 sufficient for the expenditure of a young gentleman." 5 



Well might any youth fond of wild life in the country 

 have fallen in love with this secluded spot, the beauty 

 and charm of which are suddenly revealed to the visitor 

 of today as he approaches it from the old Philadelphia 

 road. Standing high on the rugged banks of the Perkio- 

 ming Creek, which empties into the Schuylkill River 

 just below this point, the old house, facing west, com- 

 mands a wide and diversified scene, extending from the 

 living waters below, over bottom lands of the valley, to 

 the dim, undulating lines of the Reading hills in the far- 



4 See Note, Vol. I, p. 98. 



5 The yearly rent of "Mill Grove" in 1804, according to the accounts 

 of Francis Dacosta, who had then acquired a half interest in it, amounted 

 to $353.34. 



