JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 131 
tentious in its architecture, and beau- 
tifully embowered amid elms and oaks. 
Several graceful fawns, and a noble 
elk, were stalking in the shade of the 
trees, apparently unconscious of the 
presence of a few dogs, and not caring 
for the numerous turkeys, geese, and 
other domestic animals that gabbled 
and screamed around them. Nor did 
my own approach startle the wild, 
beautiful creatures, that seemed as 
docile as any of their tame compan- 
ions. 
“¢Ts the master at home?’ I asked 
of a pretty maid servant, who answered 
my tap at the door; and who, after in- 
forming me that he was, led me into a 
room on the left side of the broad hall. 
It was not, however, a parlour, or an or- 
dinary reception room that I entered, 
but evidently a room for work. In one 
corner stood a painter’s easel, with the 
half-finished sketch of a beaver on 
the paper; in the other lay the skin 
