The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-02
JOHN JAAfEs AUpuRoN.


In tx days when Louisiana was a
province Of Spain, a little, dark-eyed
boy used to wander among the fields
and groves Of his fathers plantation
studying with eager delight the works
OF nature around him.
Lying under the orange trees watch
ing the mocizing-hiTd, or learning from
his mothers lips the names of the
flowers that grew in every corner OF
the plantation, he soon came to feel
that he was part Of that beautiful
world, whose language was the songs
Of birds and whose boundaries extend
ed to every place where a blossom
lifted it's head above the green sod.
NO other companions suited him SO
well, and no roof seemed so secure as
that formed of the dense foliage, under
which the feathered tribes resorted,
or the caves and rocks TO which the
curlew and cormorant retired to pro-
tect themselves from the fury of the
tempest. In these woTsis we read the
first chapter of the life history Of John
James Audubon, the American latur-
aiist, and the. author of oGie of the early
classics of American literature.
In those early days his father was
AuduboIa's teacher, and hand in hand
they searched the groves for new spec
linens or fingered over the nests Wnere
lay the helpless young. 1t was the
father who taught him to look upon
The shining eggs as flowers in the bud
and to note the different characters
tics which distinguished them. These
excursions were seasons of joy, but
when the tinc came for the birds to
take their annual departure, the joy
was turned to corroN. To the young
naturalist a dead bird, though beau
tifully preserved and mounted, gave no
pleasure. 1t seemed but a mockery of
life and the constant care needed to
keep the specimens in good condition
brought an additional sense of loss.
Was there no way in which the MEM
Dry of these feathered friends, might
turned in his anxiety to his father,
who, in answer, laid before him a
volume of illustrations. Audubon
turned over the leaves with a new
hope in his heart, and although the
pictures were badly executed, the idea
satisfied him. Although he was I'M
conscious of it, it was the moment of
the birth of his own great life work.
Pencil in hand he began to copy ia
tQiS dllllOQSh iOI
time he produced what he himself
called but a family of cripples, the
sketches being burned regularly en-
his birthdays. But no failure could
stop him and he made hundreds of
sketches of birds every year, worth less
almost in themselves because CT lad
drawing, but valuable as studies Of
nature.
Meantime for education the boy had
been taken from Louisiana, 10 France,
the home of his father, who had wished
him 10 become a soldier, sailor OF en-
gineer. For a few hours ,laily Aucu-
bon now studied mathematics, drawing
and geography, only to disappear in
the country when study hours were
over and return with eggs, nests or
curious plants. His rooms looked like
a museum of natural history, ard the
walls were covered with drawings Of
French birds.
For one year he wrestlad GutifGlly
with problems and theore. ms, counting
himself happy if by chance 1e could
fly to the country for an hour - take
up his acquaintance with the BIZ Gs:
and then the father admitted the sLn's
unfitness for military pursuits and sent
him to America to take charge of some
property.
Audubon was then II years Of age
and had but one ambition IT, lEa--lo
live in the woods with mis- wild friends.
He was the best skater in all the
country side; at balls and parties he
was the amateur master of ceremonies,
gayly teaching the newest steps and
turns that obtained in France. In the
hunt it was Audubon, dressed, perhaps,
in satin breeches and pumps, for he was
a great dandy, who led the way through
the almost unbroken wilderness. Add