The True Citizen, How To Become One | Page 6

educated.
He entered cheerfully and earnestly upon his studies, and more than a
year was devoted to mathematics; but whenever it was possible he
rambled about the country, using his eyes and fingers, collecting more
specimens, and sketching with such assiduity that when he left France,
only seventeen years old, he had finished two hundred drawings of
French birds. At this period he tells us that "it was not the desire of
fame which prompted to this devotion; it was simply the enjoyment of

nature."
A story is told of his lying on his back in the woods with some moss for
his pillow, and looking through a telescopic microscope day after day
to watch a pair of little birds while they made their nest. Their peculiar
grey plumage harmonized with the color of the bark of the tree, so that
it was impossible to see the birds except by the most careful
observation. After three weeks of such patient labor, he felt that he had
been amply rewarded for the toil and sacrifice by the results he had
obtained.
His power of observation gave him great happiness, from the time he
rambled as a boy in the country in search of treasures of natural history,
till, in his old age, he rose with the sun and went straightway to the
woods near his home, enjoying still the beauties and wonders of Nature.
His strength of purpose and unwearied energy, combined with his pure
enthusiasm, made him successful in his work as a naturalist; but it was
all dependent on the habit formed in his boyhood,--this habit of close
and careful observation; and he not only had this habit of using his eyes,
but he looked at and studied things worth seeing, worth remembering.
This brief sketch of Audubon's boyhood shows the predominant traits
of his character,--his power of observation, the training of the eye and
hand, that made him in manhood "the most distinguished of American
ornithologists," with so much scientific ardor and perseverance that no
expedition seemed dangerous, or solitude inaccessible, when he was
engaged in his favorite study.
He has left behind him, as the result of his labors, his great book on
"The Birds of America," in ten volumes; and illustrated with four
hundred and forty-eight colored plates of over one thousand species of
birds, all drawn by his own hand, and each bird being represented in its
natural size; also a "Biography of American Birds," in five large
volumes, in which he describes their habits and customs. He was
associated with Dr. Bachman of Philadelphia, in the preparation of a
work on "The Quadrupeds of America," in six large volumes, the
drawings for which were made by his two sons; and, later on, published
his "Biography of American Quadrupeds," a work similar to the

"Biography of the Birds." He died at what is known as "Audubon
Park," on the Hudson, now within the limits of New York city, in 1851,
at the age of seventy.
[Footnote: For fuller information concerning Audubon, consult "Life
and Adventures of John J. Audubon," by Robert Buchanan (New York,
1869); Griswold's "Prose Writers of America" (Philadelphia, 1847);
Mrs. Horace St. John's "Audubon the Naturalist" (New York, 1856);
Rev. C. C. Adams's "Journal of the Life and Labors of J. J. Audubon"
(Boston, 1860), and "Audubon and his Journals," by M. R. Audubon
(New York, 1897).]

III.
OBEDIENCE.
MEMORY GEMS.
Love makes obedience easy.--T. Watson
The education of the will is the object of our existence.--Emerson
To learn obeying is the fundamental art of governing.--Carlyle
True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.--Francis Quarles
If thou wouldst be obeyed as a father, be obedient as a son. --William
Penn
By obedience is meant submission to authority, and to proper restraint
and control. It is the doing of that which we are told to do; and the
refraining from that which is forbidden. At its very best it may be
defined as the habit of yielding willingly to command or restraint.
As observation forms the first step in the culture of the mind, so
obedience forms the first step in the building of the character. It is as
important to the life as is the foundation to the house. Thomas Carlyle

has well said that "Obedience is our universal duty and destiny,
wherein whosoever will not bend must break." It is impossible to
escape from it altogether, and it is therefore wise to learn to obey as
early in life as possible.
It does not take very long for a child to learn that it cannot do
everything that it would like to do. The wishes of others must be
regarded. These wishes spring from a knowledge of what is best.
Children, with their limited experiences, cannot always foresee the
consequences of their doings. For their