54 



AUDUBON 



Audubon engaged a room for Victor and himself, and 

 painted all winter (1823-24) at birds, landscapes, por- 

 traits, and even signs. 



Shippingport was then a small village with mill':, and 

 was largely owned by the Tarascons and Berthouds, the 

 latter living in the mansion of the place, and possessed of 

 a very beautiful garden. Steamers and boats for the river 

 traffic were built here, and it was a stirring place for its 

 size, situated on the Falls of the Ohio, about two miles 

 from Louisville then, but now part of that city. With 

 forests and river to solace his anxieties, another season was 

 passed by the man whose whole energies were now bent 

 on placing his work before the best judges in Europe. 

 This winter too, he lost one of his best and dearest friends, 

 Madame Berthoud; how he felt this parting his own words 

 best tell: "January 20, 1824. I arose this morning by 

 that transparent light which is the effect of the moon be- 

 fore dawn, and saw Dr. Middleton passing at full gallop 

 towards the white house ; I followed — alas ! my old friend 

 was dead ! What a void in the world for me ! I was 

 silent ; many tears fell from my eyes, accustomed to sor- 

 row. It was impossible for me to work; my heart, restless, 

 moved from point to point all round the compass of my 

 life. Ah, Lucy ! what have I felt to-day ! how can I bear 

 the loss of our truest friend? This has been a sad day, 

 most truly; I have spent it thinking, thinking, learning, 

 weighing my thoughts, and quite sick of life. I wished I 

 had been as quiet as my venerable friend, as she lay for 

 the last time in her room." 



As I turn over the pages of this volume ^ from which 

 only a few extracts have been taken, well do I understand 

 the mental suffering of which it tells so constantly. Pov- 

 erty for himself, Audubon did not mind, but for those he 

 loved it was a great and bitter trial to him. His keenly 

 sensitive nature was wounded on every hand ; no one but 

 ^ The before-mentioned journal, 1822-24. 



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