14 
INTRODUCTION 
his father’s property near Philadelphia. 
Among his own recollections of this pe¬ 
riod we find this curious sentence, 
"It was one of my fancies to be ridicu¬ 
lously fond of dress; to hunt in black 
satin breeches, wear pumps when shoot¬ 
ing, and dress in the finest ruffled shirts 
1 could obtain from France/' 
On the other hand, he showed the brav¬ 
est spirit in all the hardships of pioneer 
life. He was cheated out of his share In 
his father's fortune and taught drawing 
and .dancing for a living—playing the 
fiddle for the dancers. His wife was a 
great help to him, both in earning money 
and in stimulating his faith and courage. 
He took his drawings to England, where 
he was fortunate in finding the Havells, 
father and son. These admirable engrav¬ 
ers, especially Robert, junior, made possi¬ 
ble the presentation of his great work. 
It was a magnificent success, but during 
its progress, Audubon was more than 
once on the verge of bankruptcy. 
In his later years he returned to 
America. One who saw him then gives 
this report: "To make him happy you 
