IUDUBON.

         HILE it gives me great pleasure to have
(QYi     been selected to present to you this
    brief record of the life, labors and achieve-
    ments of John James Audubon, the great nat-
    uralist of America, I do so with extreme diffi-
    dence; and, disclaiming for myself any origi-
    nality, learning or eloquence, will rely for the
    success of my effortssolely upon yourown warm
    interest in the man himself, and in the personal
    details of his remarkable career, 'i more in-
    structive than a sermon, more romantic than a
    romance."
      The name and fame of Audubon are world-
    wide, yet nowhere should they be more highly
    honored and cherished than here among us-
    here in the very State where his ardent spirit
    first saw the light. To me, especially, is there
    a charm in the very name of Audubon, inter-
    woven as it is with the earliest and dearest
    recollections of my childhood and of my old