CHAPTER LVIII 



The Sunset. 



When Audubon returned from his expedition to the Western 

 Prairies he had reached nearly his seventieth year, yet he began, 

 at once to work with his usual energy and diligence. In a little 

 more than two years appeared the first volume of the " Quad- 

 rupeds of North America ;" and this was about his last work. 

 The second volume was prepared mostly by his son Victor, 

 and was published the year his father died, 1851. 



The interval of about three years which passed between the 

 time of Audubon's return from the West and the period when 

 his mind began to fail, was a short and sweet twilight to his 

 adventurous life. 



He was now an old man, and the fire which had burned so 

 steadily in his heart was going out gradually. Yet there are 

 but few things in his life more interesting and beautiful than 

 the tranquil happiness he enjoyed in the bosom of his family, 

 with his two sons and their children under the same roof, in the 

 short interval between his return from his last earthly ex- 

 pedition, and the time when his sight and mind began to grow 

 dim, until mental gloaming settled on him, before the night of 

 death came. 



His loss of sight was quite peculiar in its character. His 

 glasses enabled him to see objects and to read long after his 

 eye was unable to find a focus on the canvas. This fretted him 

 a great deal, and led to his relinquishing drawing and painting, 



