12 AUDUBON 



> taken from any one once the possessor of such valuable means." 

 Therefore, notwithstanding all my mother's entreaties and her 

 tears, off to a school I was sent. Excepting only, perhaps, mili- 

 tary schools, none were good in France at this period ; the thun- 

 ders of the Revolution still roared over the land, the Revolutionists 

 covered the earth with the blood of man, woman, and child. But 

 let me forever drop the curtain over the frightful aspect of this 

 dire picture. To think of these dreadful days is too terrible, and 

 would be too horrible and painful for me to relate to you, my 

 dear sons. 



The school I went to was none of the best ; my private teachers 

 were the only means through which I acquired the least benefit. 

 My father, who had been for so long a seaman, and who was then 

 in the French navy, wished me to follow in his steps, or else to 

 become an engineer. For this reason I studied drawing, geog- 

 raphy, mathematics, fencing, etc., as well as music, for which I 

 had considerable talent. I had a good fencing-master, and a 

 first-rate teacher of the violin ; mathematics was hard, dull work, 

 I thought ; geography pleased me more. For my other studies, 

 as well as for dancing, I was quite enthusiastic ; and I well recol- 

 lect how anxious I was then to become the commander of a corps 

 of dragoons. 



My father being mostly absent on duty, my mother suffered me 

 to do much as I pleased ; it was therefore not to be wondered at 

 that, instead of applying closely to my studies, I preferred asso- 

 ciating with boys of my own age and disposition, who were more 

 fond of going in search of birds' nests, fishing, or shooting, than 

 of better studies. Thus almost every day, instead of going to 

 school when I ought to have gone, I usually made for the fields, 

 where I spent the day ; my little basket went with me, filled with 

 good eatables, and when I returned home, during either winter or 

 summer, it was replenished with what I called curiosities, such as 

 birds' nests, birds' eggs, curious lichens, flowers of all sorts, and 

 even pebbles gathered along the shore of some rivulet. 



The first time my father returned from sea after this my room 

 exhibited quite a show, and on entering it he was so pleased to 

 see my various collections that he complimented me on my taste 



