AUDUBON 29 



Victor was born June 12, 1809, at Gwathway's Hotel of the 

 Indian Queen. We had by this time formed the acquaintance of 

 many persons in and about Louisville ; the country was settled 

 by planters and farmers of the most benevolent and hospitable 

 nature ; and my young wife, who possessed talents far above par, 

 was regarded as a gem, and received by them all with the great- 

 est pleasure. All the sportsmen and hunters were fond of me, 

 and I became their companion ; my fondness for fine horses was 

 well kept up, and I had as good as the country — and the coun- 

 try was Kentucky — could afford. Our most intimate friends 

 were the Tarascons and the Berthouds, at Louisville and Shipping- 

 port. The simplicity and whole-heartedness of those days I 

 cannot describe ; man was man, and each, one to another, a 

 brother. 



I seldom passed a day without drawing a bird, or noting 

 something respecting its habits, Rozier meantime attending the 

 counter. I could relate many curious anecdotes about him, but 

 never mind them ; he made out to grow rich, and what more 

 could he wish for? 



In 1 810 Alexander Wilson the naturalist — not the American 

 naturalist — called upon me. 1 About 181 2 your uncle Thomas 

 W. Bakewell sailed from New York or Philadelphia, as a partner 

 of mine, and took with him all the disposable money which I had 

 at that time, and there [New Orleans] opened a mercantile 

 house under the name of "Audubon & Bakewell." 



Merchants crowded to Louisville from all our Eastern cities. 

 None of them were, as I was, intent on the study of birds, but all 

 were deeply impressed with the value of dollars. Louisville did 

 not give us up, but we gave up Louisville. I could not bear to 

 give the attention required by my business, and which, indeed, 

 every business calls for, and, therefore, my business abandoned 

 me. Indeed, I never thought of it beyond the ever-engaging 

 journeys which I was in the habit of taking to Philadelphia or 

 New York to purchase goods ; these journeys I greatly enjoyed, 



1 This visit passed into history in the published works of each of the 

 great ornithologists, who were never friends. See " Behind the Veil," by 

 Dr. Coues in Bulletin of Nuttall Ornithological Club, Oct., 1880, p. 200. 



