I have given a paraphrase of this "Episode" as a further illustration of Audubon's tales of adventure. There is doubtless a certain amount of invention, and it reads like the setting of a dime novel incident, but we see no reason to doubt the substantial truth of either the local coloring or the fact. In answer to the question of a recent commentator,[261] "Did remote prairie cabins have grindstones and carving knives?" we would reply that the knife and the ax have followed man to the frontier posts of civilization everywhere, and without the grindstone the ax is useless. As a concrete instance in point, compare this minute entered in the Proprietors' Book of Records of Perrytown, afterwards Sutton, New Hampshire,[262] for the third day of September, 1770: "Voted a grindstone of about 8 shillings to be sent up to Perrystown, for the use of the settlers there"; the first settler had entered that wilderness but three years before, and at the time this vote was taken the number was five. CHAPTER XIX AUDUBON AND RAFINESQUE The "Eccentric Naturalist" at Henderson—Bats and new species—The demolished violin—"M. de T.": Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (Schmaltz)—His precocity, linguistic acquirements and peripatetic habits—First visit to America and botanical studies—Residence in Sicily, and fortune made in the drug trade—Association with Swainson—Marriage and embitterment—His second journey to America ends in shipwreck—Befriended—Descends the Ohio in a flatboat—Visit with Audubon, who gives him many strange "new species"—Cost to zoology—His unique work on Ohio fishes—Professorship in Transylvania University—Quarrel with its president and trustees—Return to Philadelphia—His ardent love of nature; his writings and fatal versatility—His singular will—His sad end and the ruthless disposition of his estate. Audubon's humorous sketch of "The Eccentric Naturalist" has often been quoted, and it presents a picture which is amusing, however short of the truth it may fall or however it may fail in doing justice to its subject. Though his real hero is not named, no doubt as to his identity has ever been entertained. This episode occurred at Henderson in the late summer of 1818, and was published thirteen years after in the _Biography_ of birds.[263] Since the story was not fully told then and the after-effects were productive of much harsh criticism, it cannot be overlooked if we would do justice to both the writer and his subject.