JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 17 
In later years he was assuredly nothing 
of the dandy; he himself ridicules his 
youthful fondness for dress, while those 
who visited him during his last years 
speak of him as particularly lacking in 
self-consciousness. 
Although he affected the dress of the 
dandies of his time, he was temper- 
ate and abstemious. ‘‘I ate no butcher’s 
meat, lived chiefly on fruits, vegetables, 
and fish, and never drank a glass of 
spirits or wine until my wedding day.’’ 
“All this time I was fair and rosy, 
strong and active as one of my age and 
sex could be, and as active and agile as 
a buck.”’ 
That he was energetic and handy and 
by no means the mere dandy that his ex- 
travagance in dress might seem to indi- 
cate, is evidenced from the fact that 
about this time he made a journey on 
foot to New York and accomplished the 
ninety miles in three days in mid- 
winter. But he was angry, and anger is 
better than wine to walk on. 
