THIRD PAGE OF THE SANSON BILL, SIGNED AS ACCEPTED BY JEAN AUDUBON, OCTOBER 12, 1786, AND RECEIPTED BY THE DOCTOR, WHEN PAID, JUNE 7, 1787.
This physician's chief resources are seen to have been ipecacuanha, purgative decoctions, including such as the tamarind tree provided, manna, mineral waters, lotions, plasters, and kino, an astringent juice derived from different leguminous plants, which gave a red color to the saliva, not to speak of "other medicines," the nature of which is not revealed, which were liberally supplied to whites and blacks, both old and young, alike. It will be noticed further that the slaves of African birth when not named are referred to as "bossals" though many young blacks and mulattoes are called "Joue";[37] that a cooper, attached presumably to the Audubon sugar refinery, was dosed thrice daily with kino on four days in succession; and that this favorite treatment was repeated a month later. A clerk in the establishment, Monsieur Aubinais, is mentioned as requiring frequent attention, as well as Jean Audubon himself, who was once bled at the arm.
In the entry for March 27, 1784, there is this interesting reference: "Inoculated Cæsar, Jupiter, and Rose, at thirty francs each, ninety francs"; and if there were any doubt why Cæsar had been inoculated, a hint is immediately given under May 11: "For attention, visits, and remedies, during the smallpox (la petite vérole) of the mulatto Joue, sixty francs"; again we read: "June 30, inoculated a little negro bossal, named Joue, thirty francs." Every fresh batch of negroes landed in the colonies led to a new outbreak of this terrible scourge, and but one other disease, la grosse vérole,[38] was more common or more fatal among the blacks. For a long period it had been a common practice to inoculate both whites and blacks directly with the smallpox in order to secure some degree of protection against its most virulent form, but this method of fighting the devil with fire had its disadvantages. By the end of the eighteenth century opinion was about equally divided upon the advisability of continuing the measure, since induced variola or smallpox was apt to be virulent, and was often quite as infectious as when manifested in the usual and natural way. Then came Edward Jenner's grand discovery, made twelve years before this date but not announced until 1798, that vaccinia would prevent variola. Almost immediately vaccination spread like wild fire over Europe, and it has never been appreciated more fully or more highly lauded by the best representatives of the medical profession everywhere than at the present day.
The most interesting references in this historic document are to "Mlle. Rabin," whose name occurs no less than seventeen times, beginning May 21, 1784, and closing with the entry for the seventeenth of August, 1785. We learn that the physician spent the nights of April 24 and 25, 1785, at the woman's bedside, and that her child was born on the twenty-sixth day of that month, probably in the morning. It will be noticed further that she had been bled previously at the arm, that she had suffered also from the erysipelas, and that later she was treated for abscesses. These frequent attentions of the physician, extending over several months, the last record being for August 17, show only too clearly that at this time Audubon's mother was in feeble health. All that is further known about her is that she died either at the close of 1785 or in 1786, when her infant son was probably less than a year old.[39]
A daughter of Jean Audubon, Rosa, who was first called Muguet (in English, "Lily of the Valley"), was also born in Santo Domingo, and probably at Les Cayes, on April 29, 1787. Her mother, Catharine Bouffard, "créole de Saint-Domingue," who subsequently went to France, had another daughter, born also at Les Cayes, named Louise, who was living at La Rochelle in 1819.[40]
When Captain Audubon finally left the West Indies in the autumn of 1789, he took with him, in the care of trustworthy slaves, these two children, Fougère or Jean Rabin, aged four and a half years, and Muguet or Rosa, an infant of less than two. We know that he visited Richmond, Virginia, to collect a long outstanding claim against David Ross, then engaged in an iron industry near that city (see [Chapter VIII, p. 121]), and it is possible that he traveled by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. After spending some time at the close of this year in the United States, he went to France and made a home for his children at Nantes. This city became essentially their permanent abode until their father's retirement from the navy on January 1, 1801, when he finally settled in the little commune of Couëron, on the north bank of the Loire. The storm that burst over Nantes soon after their arrival revealed the true colors of Jean Audubon's patriotism, and the man was seen at his best, as will be related in the following chapter.
Madame Audubon, who had no children of her own, tenderly received the little ones, thus wafted from over the sea to her door in the Rue de Crébillon.[41] As the story proceeds we shall see that she was a most kind, if over-indulgent, foster mother, and became excessively proud of her handsome boy. "The first of my recollective powers," said the naturalist when writing of himself in 1835,[42] "placed me in the central portion of the city of Nantes ... where I still recollect particularly that I was much cherished by my dear stepmother ... and that I was constantly attended by one or two black servants, who had followed my father to New Orleans and afterwards to Nantes."
Jean Audubon, who spent a good part of his life at sea and in a country almost totally devoid of morals, must be considered as the product of his time. He was better, no doubt, than many who made greater professions, better certainly than a Rousseau, who gave excellent advice to parents upon the proper methods of rearing their children but sent his own offspring to orphan asylums. As most men have their faults, said the son, the father "had one that was common to many individuals, and that never left him until sobered by a long life"; but, he added, "as a father, I never complained of him; his generosity was often too great, and his good qualities won him many desirable friends." Whatever his faults, Jean Audubon was just, generous and possessed of a kind heart. He was in reality a truer father than many who give their children their name but deny them sympathy and a wise oversight. Jean Audubon not only cherished the two children but made them his heirs. On March 7, 1793, Fougère at the age of eight and Muguet at six were legalized by a regular act of adoption in the presence of witnesses at Nantes as the children of Jean and Anne Moynet Audubon.