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The Character of John James Audubon. 



was the turning point of Audubon's life. 

 Up to this moment all his labors as a natu- 

 ralist had been simply the enjoyment of his 

 leisure, and it would naturally have been 

 supposed that in the position in which he 

 was then placed he would have devoted 

 himself entirely to retrieving his position 

 and providing for his family. He made 

 the effort, and being a man of talent and 

 culture, soon secured a position in which 

 he was enabled to maintain his family in 

 comfort, but ere long he drifted away to the 

 woods again, and this time with a definite 

 purpose. The pastime of his leisure was 

 to become the business of his life. He 

 had now before him the definite task of 

 adding to his collections and completing 

 his observation of the birds of America, a 

 congenial task which should bring him 

 name and fame, in addition to the more 

 material reward of labor. 



But while we do justice to the enthusi- 

 asm with which he prosecuted the work, to 

 the dauntless spirit with which he confronted 

 all obstacles, to the sanguine temperament 

 which made him cheerful amid reverses, 

 and to the tireless industry with which he 

 diverted his intervals of leisure to procuring 

 means for carrying on his work, we should 

 never lose sight of the fact that it was his 

 wife's faith in his work and genius which 

 gave substance to his dreams, her prudence 

 which foresaw and prepared for the final 

 difficulties, her self-denial which devoted 

 him to the work, and furnished him with 

 the means of success, won by her own rare 

 energy and talents. 



That Audubon thoroughly appreciated 

 the devotion of his wife, and felt encour- 

 aged by her sympathy with his pursuits 

 and her faith in his ultimate success, goes 

 without saying; but when the day of tri- 

 umph came at last, it is very doubtful if he 

 realized that his success was in any way 

 due to his wife's efforts. He had such a 

 contempt for money, such a want of appre- 

 ciation of the self-denial necessary to its 



accumulation, and such an imperfect real- 

 ization of its importance, that he could 

 form no just estimate of the value of his 

 wife's cooperation. His work had been 

 submitted to the best judges of Europe, 

 had been appreciated and won distinction 

 for him. That work was his own; the pub- 

 lication of his book, the recognition and 

 reward of his genius. "His sweet Lucy 

 had believed in him from the first, and now 

 he had justified her faith in him by his 

 success," and could lay his well-earned 

 triumphs at her feet. But Audubon's was 

 one of those rare natures which success 

 only tended to expand and elevate. The 

 craving for appreciation, the keen sensi- 

 tiveness to the opinions of others which 

 characterized the period of his struggles, 

 was succeeded by the calm consciousness 

 that the labors of his life were dignified 

 and worthy, and recognized by all the world 

 as such. The whole character of the man 

 expanded in the sunshine of success, he 

 ceased to be concerned with what others 

 thought of him, and was better prepared 

 to appreciate the character of others. 



And now gradually there appears to have 

 dawned on him a correct estimate of the 

 character of his devoted wife, and of the 

 important part she had played in the 

 achievement of his success. He had never 

 meanly sought to disparage, he had simply 

 never realized it; he was the more blinded 

 by the fact that she had been foremost in 

 rendering homage to his genius; but when 

 his eyes were at length directed to the 

 truth, when he realized that he owed his 

 success to the self-denying devotion of the 

 wife whose proffered incense he had been 

 receiving as his due, the self-consciousness 

 of the man vanished, he was lifted out of 

 himself and constrained to bow down and 

 reverence a character whose unselfish great- 

 ness dawned on him as a new revelation. 

 Audubon was humbled by the discovery, 

 but elevated also; the emotion of reverence 

 pointed to an ideal standard of excellence 



