The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-30
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON.
BORN IN LOUISIANA, MAY 4, 1880.


ica." was received by the Royal Academy
of Scencics Of Paris. Baron Cuvier, to
whom it was referred, said, in his report
1T can be described ouly by calling it the
most magificenL monument art has ever
raised to ornithology." Audubon was born
of French parents, near New Orleans, and
is now past his roth year. His father, and
enthusiast for liberty, was with Washing
ton at Valley Forge; and the Audubon
family still possess the portraits Of both,
painted in the camp-that of Washington
being the first ever taken Of him. At n
worry early age, Audubon was sent to France
and educated in art and science, under the
best master, among whom was David.
The love Of birds, which has been the
passion Of his life, manifested itself in in
fancy; and when he returned from France,
he betook himself to his native woods, and
began collection of drawings. which
made the germ Of the Birds Of America"
His father gave him n plantation OH the
rich banks Of the SchuykiIl, Pa, and luz
ury and fortune offered their Establishments
to wcan him from his love Of adventure
But his heart was in the forests; and in
1910, with young wife anil infant son,
and his unf,ling rifle, he embarked in an
open sklff OF the Ohio, to find new home.
Tie mellow lights and shadows Of our In
| dian summer had fallen along the shores of
that queen of rivers at long intervals, the
axo of the sqnatter was beginning to dis
turb the solemn ring Of nature
lie settled in Kentucky; and in the CEN
trail region of that vast valley through
which the Mississippi rolls into the sea, he
pursued his studies and roamings. We
can hardly give an idea in these few words of
the forest and prairie life lie led lie has
found space TO do it but imperfectly, in his
five ponderous volumes Of Ornithological
Biography. He has spent more years in
the forest than most men live. Among the
great lakes of the North, he sees bcyond
the reach of his rifle, strange, gigantic
! bird, sweeping over the waters. He hunts
tor that bird ten years, and finls it ag,i,
three thousand miles from the spot where
he saw it first. Meanwhile, he has been
chilled with eternal frosts, and burned with
perpetual heats. He has slept many nights
across the branches Of trees. walked by par
ther screams, and many nights he has
passed i'll cane-brakes, where he did not
dare to sleep. lie has seen the knife of the
savage whetted for him-stepped on veno-
nous serpents-started the cougar from his
secret lair-swam swollen streams, with his
gun, ammunition, drawings and journals
lashed on his head-on equatorial rivers,
| aligators started at him rs he landcd-in
| polar regions, the water turned TO ice as it
fell from his benunmed limbs when he
struck the bank-his tongue has parched
with thirst on deserts, and he has laid him.
self down furnishing, to wait, like Elijah,
till he was fed by the birds of heaven.
This was his history, during the life of a
generation. And yet, through this long
pilgrimage of peril and suffering, which
Cesar would not have borne to have heard
the tramp Of his legions in three-quarters
of the globe. his courage never cooled, his
reverence for God, whose illimitable uni
verse he was exploring, deepened the longer
he gazcd. Nor did he lose throb of hu-
name feeling for civilized man, from whose
habitations he had exiIed himself. And
yet this man had nobler pleasures, "a we'll
as nobler hardships, than other men. He
had gone with one of his sons-both of
whom, from hoyhood, have been his forest
companions and scholars-and with other
young men of Boston, since distinguished,
on voyage to Labrador for new BIRDS
The expense would have built beautiful
villa. A pleasant morning they scared
from her nest the Black Poll Warbler =
"The enormous expense Of my voyage"
he says, was refunded in the sight" A
prouder triumph was reserved for the day
he at last captured the Sea Eagle. "Not
even Herschcl," he writes, "when he dis
covered the planet which bears his name,
could have experienced more rapturous
feelings. AS the new world gave me birth
and liberty, the great man who insured its
independence is next to my heart;" and
therefore he called the nonlest of eagles
after the noblest Of men. Other ornitholo-
gists had painted their birds after they
were stuffed. Audubon made accurate
drawings Of his In tho forests. before the
pluHage had lost its brilliancy, Or the mus
Giles their natural expression. He has ex-
hibited in perfection the highest attributes
of geological paiting, never before attempt-
ed. he has pictured the passions md feel
inoa az hinds No tandarlv sond t,,I. -