AUDUBON—THE HUNTER-NATURALIST, 101 
my favorite pursuits was a barrier opposed to the adnftsion 
of gentler sentiments. Nature, which had turned my young 
mind toward the bird and the flower, soon proved her influ- 
ence upon my heart. Be it enough to say, that the object 
‘of my passion has long since blessed me with the name of 
husband. And now let us return, for who cares to listen te 
the love-tale of a naturalist, whose feelings may be supposed 
to be as light as the feathers which he delineates ! 
For a period of nearly twenty years, my life was a succes- 
sion of vicissitudes. I tried various branches of commerce, 
but they all proved unprofitable, doubtless because my whole 
mind was ever filled with my passion for rambling and ad- 
miring those objects of nature from which alone I received 
the purest gratification. I had to struggle against the will 
of all who at that period called themselves my friends. I 
must here, however, except my wife and children. The re- 
marks of my other friends irritated me beyond endurance, 
and, breaking through all bonds, I gave myself entirely up 
to my pursuits. Any one acquainted with the extraordinary 
desire which I then felt of seeing and judging for myself, 
would doubtless have pronounced me callous to every sense 
of duty, and regardless of every interest. I undertook long 
and tedious journeys, ransacked the woods, the lakes, the 
prairies, and the shores of the Atlantic. Years were spent 
away from my family. Yet, reader, will you believe it, I 
had no other object in view, than simply to enjoy the sight 
of nature. Never for a moment did I conceive the hope of 
becoming in any degree useful to my kind, until I accidentally 
formed acquaintance with the PRINcE or MusieNnano, at Phi- 
ladelphia, to which place I went, with the view of procecding 
eastward along the coast. 
(oe * # * 
In April, 1824, he sought for patronage in Philadelphia, 
and failing there, went to New York, with some better suc- 
cess; but weary and depressed, on the whole, he returned tu 
