While freely acknowledging his follies at this time, he was able to say that he was addicted to no vices. His usual custom was to rise with the dawn, when his bird studies would begin, in the early hours which are best for this purpose. According to his own account, Audubon was extremely abstemious in his youth, for he declared that he had lived on fruits, vegetables and milk, with only an occasional indulgence in game and fish, and that he had not swallowed a single glass of wine or spirits until his wedding day. This was the more remarkable in a youth coming from a country which flowed with good wine, where school children are still served with watered wine for lunch, and where the cooks, as Goldsmith believed, could concoct seven different dishes out of a nettle-top, and who, if they had enough butcher's meat (a want that has since been abundantly supplied), would be the best purveyors in the world. Audubon attributed his iron constitution to this simple regimen, which had been followed, he said, from his earliest recollection, though he admitted that while in France it was extremely annoying to all about him; for this reason he would not dine out when his peculiar habits were likely to be the subject of unpleasant comment. To follow this account of himself:
Pies, puddings, eggs, milk and cream, was all I cared for in the way of food, and many a time I have robbed my tenant's wife, Mrs. Thomas, of the cream intended to make butter for the Philadelphia market.... All this time I was as fair and rosy as a girl, though as strong, indeed stronger than most young men ... and why have I thought a thousand times, should I not have kept to that delicious mode of living, and why should not mankind in general be more abstemious than mankind is?[90]
William Gifford Bakewell, a younger brother of Lucy, has left this interesting record of a visit paid to "Mill Grove" in the summer of 1806:
Audubon took me to his house where he and his companion, Rozier, resided, with Mrs. Thomas, for an attendant. On entering his room, I was astonished and delighted to find that it was turned into a museum. The walls were festooned with all kinds of birds' eggs, carefully blown out and strung on a thread. The chimney-piece was covered with stuffed squirrels, racoons, and opossums; and the shelves around were likewise crowded with specimens, among which were fishes, frogs, snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. Besides these stuffed varieties, many paintings were arrayed on the walls, chiefly of birds. He had great skill in stuffing and preserving animals of all sorts. He had also a trick in training dogs with great perfection, of which art his famous dog, Zephyr, was a wonderful example. He was an admirable marksman, an expert swimmer, a clever rider, possessed of great activity, prodigious strength, and was notable for the elegance of his figure and the beauty of his features, and he aided nature by a careful attendance to his dress. Besides other accomplishments he was musical, a good fencer, danced well, and had some acquaintance with legerdemain tricks, worked in hair, and could plait willow baskets.
CHAPTER VIII
DACOSTA AND THE "MILL GROVE" MINE
Advent of a new agent at "Mill Grove"—Dacosta becomes guardian to young Audubon and exploits a neglected lead mine on the farm—Correspondence of Lieutenant Audubon and Dacosta—Quarrel with Dacosta—Audubon's return to France.
If young Audubon was playing the rôle of a prodigal son at the "Mill Grove" farm, which in a certain sense was doubtless true, an episode soon occurred which put a check to his carefree existence. Not long after the naturalist had arrived, William Thomas, the tenant, called his attention to the lead-ore deposits, which he thought had been discovered by a Mr. Gilpin in 1791, and the news of this prospect was promptly communicated to the elder Audubon in France. Though the presence of this mineral at "Mill Grove" had been known, as we have seen, at a much earlier day, its rediscovery excited great interest, and may have been a factor of influence in the steps which were soon to be taken. It should be noticed, however, that before May, 1803, a young Frenchman from Nantes, bearing the Portuguese name of Francis Dacosta, had preceded young Audubon to "Mill Grove," and apparently had acquired at that time a certain interest in the farm.[91] Dacosta soon succeeded Miers Fisher as Jean Audubon's agent, and becoming enthusiastic over the lead mine, was anxious to exploit it. Acting also upon the senior Audubon's request, he assumed a sort of guardianship over the son.
Dacosta began to dig for ore in the following year. News of his enterprise spread rapidly, and this long neglected mine was heralded in the newspapers as "one of the first discoveries yet made in the United States."[92] On December 15, 1804, Dacosta purchased a one-half undivided interest in "Mill Grove,"[93] giving, as we believe, a mortgage, and hoping to pay for his share out of the profits of the lead mine. Thereafter for about two years he continued to conduct the farm and develop the mine, upon the basis of a one-half interest, in addition to a small salary.[94] In case the mine proved a success, it was understood that young Audubon was to be taken into the business and thus obtain a means of self-support.