74 



AUDUBON 



and his pleasant smile was so cordial that all the villagers 

 and work-people far and near, knew and liked him. He 

 painted a little after his return from the Yellowstone 

 River, but as he looked at his son John's animals, he said : 

 ' Ah, Johnny, no need for the old man to paint any more 

 when you can do work like that.' He was most affection- 

 ate in his disposition, very fond of his grandchildren, and 

 it was a pleasant sight to see him sit with one on his 

 knee, and others about him, singing French songs in his 

 lively way. It was sweet too, to see him with his wife; 

 he was always her lover, and invariably used the pro- 

 nouns ' thee ' and ' thou ' in his speech to her. Often have 

 I heard him say, ' Well, sweetheart ! always busy; come 

 sit thee down a few minutes and rest.' " 



My mother has told me that when the picture of the 

 Cougars came from Texas, where my father had painted it, 

 my grandfather's delight knew no bounds. He was be- 

 side himself with joy that " his boy Johnny " could paint 

 a picture he considered so fine ; he looked at it from every 

 point, and could not keep quiet, but walked ip and down 

 filled with delight. 



Of these years much might be said, but much has 

 already been written of them, so I will not repeat.^ Many 

 characteristics Audubon kept to the last ; his enthusiasm, 

 freshness, and keenness of enjoyment and pain were never 

 blunted. His ease and grace of speech and movement 

 were as noticeable in the aged man as they had been in 

 the happy youth of Mill Grove. His courteous manners 

 to all, high and low, were always the same ; his chivalry, 

 generosity, and honor were never dimmed, and his great 

 personal beauty never failed to attract attention; always 

 he was handsome. His stepmother writes from Nantes 

 to her husband in Virginia : " He is the handsomest boy 

 in Nantes, but perhaps not the most studious." At Mill 



* Reminiscences of Audubon, Scribner's Monthly, July, 1876, p. 3335 

 Turf, Field, and Farm, Nov. i8, 1881. 



