CHAPTER VII 
FIRST VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES, AND LIFE AT 
“MILL GROVE” 
Audubon is sent to the United States to learn English and enter trade— 
Taken ill—Befriended by the Quakers—Settles at “Mill Grove” farm— 
Its history and attractions—Studies of American birds begun—En- 
gagement to Lucy Bakewell—Sports and festivities. 
Tf there were ever a time when Lieutenant Audubon 
wished to see his son following the victorious eagles of 
Napoleon, whom he is said to have idolized, the hated 
conscription of that day, which was robbing every home 
in France of its best blood, might well have brought 
counsels of prudence. Little could the father have 
thought that by following other eagles of his own choice, 
his son was destined to add a far greater luster to the 
family name. Whatever may have turned the scale, in 
1803 a decision was quickly reached, and the issue was 
fortunate for the future of natural science in America; 
it was decided that young Audubon should emigrate 
at once to the United States, with what end in view we 
shall soon see expressed in the sailor’s own words. Ac- 
cordingly, to his “intense and indescribable pleasure,” 
the future naturalist, who had now passed his eighteenth 
birthday, eagerly prepared for the journey, the first of 
many that were later to become memorable in the annals 
of American science. No record of this voyage has been 
preserved, but from evidence derived from a variety of 
sources we can fix the time as the autumn of 1803." 
*Audubon, writing in 1820, described himself at this time as “a 
young man of seventeen, sent to America to make money (for such 
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