38 



AUDUBON 



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li'^i 



This infant daughter we buried in our garden at Henderson, 

 but after removed her to the Holly burying-ground in the same 

 place. 



Hundreds of anecdotes I could relate to you, my dear sons, 

 about tiiose times, and it may happen that the pages that I am 

 now scribbling over may hereafter, through your own medium, or 

 that of some one else be published. I shall try, should (lod 

 Almighty grant me life, to return to these less inij)ortant portions 

 of my history, and delineate them all with the same faithfulness 

 with which I have written the ornithological biographies of the 

 birds of my beloved country. 



Only one event, however, which possesses in itself a lesson 

 to mankind, I will here relate. After our dismal removal from 

 Henderson to Ix)uisville, one morning, while all of us were sadly 

 desponding, I took you both, Victor and John, from Shijipingport 

 to Louisville. I had purchased a loaf of bread and some apples ; 

 before we reached Louisville you were all hungry, and by the 

 river side we sat down and ate our scanty meal. On that day the 

 world was with me as a blank, and my heart was sor ly heavy, for 

 scarcely had I enough to keep my dear ones alive ; and yet through 

 these dark ways I was being led to the development of the talents 

 I loved, and which have brought so much enjoyment to us all, 

 for it is with deep thankfulness that I record that you, my sons, 

 have passed your Hves almost continuously with your dear mother 

 and myself. But I will here stop with one remark. 



One of the most extraordinary things among all these adverse 

 circumstances was that I never for a day gave up listening to the 

 songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineat- 

 ing them in the best way that I could ; nay, during my deepest 

 troubles I frequently would wrench myself from the persons 

 around me, and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests ; 

 and many a time, at the sound of the wood-thrush's melodies 

 have I fallen on my knees, and there prayed earnestly to our God. 



This never failed to bring me the most valuable of thoughts and 

 always comfort, and, strange as it may seem to you, it was often 

 necessary for me to exert my will, and compel myself to return to 

 my fellow-beings. 



