AUDUBON AND DANIEL WEBSTEB, 



197 



mals, and he developed this love amid all the changes of 

 Lis political career. Amid all the weary hours that he 

 passed over the portfolios of State, his heart turned to 

 Marshfield. He was in Washington the man who shaped the 

 destiny of the nation and of nations, but at Marshfield he 

 was simply Farmer Webster, and it is said that all the 

 farmers for miles around his estate looked happier when he 

 was among them. 



Did Audubon love the mocking-bird? Webster's favor- 

 ite in the realm of nature was quite different: he came 

 to make the ox — the strong, docile ox — his favorite repre- 

 sentative of the animal world. 

 To raise great oxen and to plow 

 was his delight. He liked to 

 hold the plow and with his own 

 hands to break the soil. 



Marshfield salt meadows 

 were full of sea-birds. Web- 

 ster loved them, and to study 

 their haunts and habits. 



He delighted in the morn- 

 ing hours — the hours of the 

 birds and animals of the woods. 



Would you know what a 

 soul of the naturalist he had? Let us illustrate it in his 

 own glowing words, and you will see how Audubon and 

 he were brothers in heart even bef ore. they met : 



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