Part 1 (1/2)
Our Friend John Burroughs
by Clara Barrus
We all claihs as our friend He is inextricably blended with our love for the birds and the flowers, and for all out of doors; but he iswriter of books about nature, and elco which brings him in closer touch with a friend
A clever essayist, in speaking of the ”obituary ht sense of impropriety and insecurity in contemporary plaudits ”Wait till he is well dead, and four or five decades of daisies have bloomed over him, says the world; then, if there is any virtue in his works, ill tag and label thehs has not had to wait till the daisies cover hiht him out and walked amid the daisies with hihtful associations with all these things through this personal relation with the author; and these friends in particular will, I trust, welcome some ”contemporary plaudits”
As a hs has been in the public eye for e of twenty-three he had an article printed in the ”Atlantic Monthly,” and in 1910 that journal celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his contributions to its colunition fro responses from readers It is rare in the history of an author that his books after fifty years of writing have the freshness, lucidity, and charhs's later books have A critic in 1876 speaks of his ”quiet, believing style, free fro one the sense of si one of his later books, ”Tie,” Mr Brander Mattherites: ”In these pellucid pages--so easy to read because they are the result of hard thinking--he brings ho of the discoveries and the theories of the scientists He brings to bear his searching scientific curiosity and his syination All of them models of the essay at its best--easy, unpedantic, and unfailingly interesting”
From school-children all over the United States, frolobe, from homes of the humble and of the wealthy, froyman, the lawyer, the physician, the business man, the farmer, the raftsreat outdoors (but, thanks to our friend, not shut _out_ fros), have co the wholesome and widespread influence of his works
President Roosevelt a few years ago, in dedicating one of his books to ”Dear Oo for our people that you have lived, and surely no o, the New York ”Globe,” on announcing a new book by Mr
Burroughs, said, ”It has been the lot of feriters of this country or of any country to gain such good will and personal esteehs” If we ask why this is so, we find it answered by Whitman, who, in conversation with a friend, said, ”John is one of the true hearts--one of the true hearts--warhs has been much visited, much ”appreciated,” raphed, and--much loved
Because he has been so , it has seeliion who call him friend The exceptional opportunities I have enjoyed for e hs crave the personal relation with him Just as they want to own his books, instead ofthem from the public libraries, so they want to meet the man, take him by the hand, look into his eyes, hear his voice, and learn, if possible, what it is that has given hi joy in life, his serenity, his coht into the life of the universe They feel, too, a sense of deep gratitude to one who has shown them how divine is the soil under foot--veritable star-dust froardens of the Eternal He has made us feel at one with the whole cosmos, not only with bird and tree, and rock and flower, but also with the elemental forces, the pohich are friendly or unfriendly according as we put ourselves in right or wrong relations with them He has shown us the divine in the common and the near at hand; that heaven lies about us here in this world; that the glorious and the ht afar off, but are here and now; and that love of the earth-mother is, in the truest sense, love of the divine: ”The babe in the womb is not nearer itspowers of the universe, and to its spiritual entities, every s of such import to every hus that coh retiring in habit, naturally seeking seclusion, Mr Burroughs is not allowed overindulgence in this tendency One may with truth describe him as a conteenius who took more pains to avoid fame than others do to seek it” And yet he is no recluse When disciples seek out the herenial welcome, a simple, homely hospitality; find that the author iven him by a clever friend--”Man-not-afraid-of-coentleness of this author and his strong interest in people endear hi before ht and sympathy, and a quiet hu his writings for years, cherishi+ng also a confident feeling that we shall know him some day, we obey a sudden impulse, write to hi natural-history question, tell hi” is, what a joy his books have been; possibly rite some verses to hied our vision and opened up a neorld of thought Perhaps we go to see him at Slabsides, or in the Catskills, as the case may be; perhaps in some unexpected way he comes to us--stops in the sae where we are studying, or we encounter him in our travels In whatever way the personal relation coer hs
I question whether there is any other modern writer so approachable, or one we so desire to approach He has so written hi hier to claies seem to offer Because of his own unaffected self, our artificialities drop ae are with hi; to be our best selves; and one who brings out this in us is sure to win our love
(Illustration of Slabsides Frohs seems to have much in common with Edward FitzGerald; we may say of him as has been said of the translator of the ”Rubaiyat”: ”Perhaps soiven his unworthy, or even for things merely conventional”
Like FitzGerald, too, our friend is a lover of solitude; like hiets his exhilaration fro, a loiterer and saunterer through life; and could say of hi his own uneventful days in the country: ”Such is life, and I believe I have got hold of a good end of it” Another point of reselish brother in his extreme sensitiveness--he cannot bear to inflict or experience pain ”I lack the heroic fibre,” he is wont to say FitzGerald acknowledged this also, and, co on his own over-sensitiveness and tendency to melancholy, said, ”It is well if the sensibility that makes us fearful of ourselves is diverted to become a case of sympathy and interest with nature and hs has been so diverted, all who are familiar with his widespread influence on our national life and literature will agree
In a bright descriptive article written a few years ago, Miss Isabel Moore dispels sohs, and shows him as he is--a man keenly alive to the huirls buzzed about him,” she says, ”as bees about some peculiarly delectable blossom He walked with them, talked with them, entranced them the most absolutely human person I have ever met--a born cohtful acquaintance as well as a philosopher and poet and naturalist, and a few other things” She describes hi people on a billowy load of hay; going to a ball-game, at which no boy there enjoyed the contest ame ”Verily,” she says, ”he has what Bjornson called 'the child in the heart'”
It is the ”child in the heart,” and, in a way, the ”child” in his books, that accounts for his wide appeal He often says he can never think of his books as _works_, because so one out of doors in a holiday spirit, has had a good tis, and has been so blessed with the gift of expression that his own delight is communicated to his reader
And always it is the man behind the book that makes the widest appeal
In 1912, a Western architect, in correspondence with the writer concerning recent essays of Mr Burroughs, said:--
I have had”The Summit of the Years” In this, and in ”All's Well with the World,” is entlest, the most lovable man-character I have ever come across in literature or lifeTo e,” radiate thethe past(thereat deal more to me than merely intellectual pleasure, and, next to Walt Whitman, has helped me to keep my life as nearly open to the influences of outdoors and the stars as e town
As I write, a letter coraduate student at Yale, expressing the hope that he can see Mr Burroughs at Slabsides in April: ”There is nothing I want to say--but for a while I would like to be near hiood teacher and friend As you know, he is est, simplest, and serenest man I have met in all the East”
I suppose there is no literary land influence than Slabsides Flocks of youths and es have, for the past fifteen years, cliayety and enthusias lives But they have seenauthor; they have received a salutary impression made by the unostentatious life of a man who has made a profound impression on his day who has one their separate ith an awakened sense of the comradeshi+p it is possible to have with nature, and with an ennobling affection for the one who has oes with thelobe their destinies carry them It is transmitted to their children; it becomes a very real part of their lives
”My dear John Burroughs--Everybody's dear John Burroughs,” a friend writes hi experiences in the study of English birds And it is ”Everybody's dear John Burroughs” who stands in the wide doorway at Slabsides and gives his callers a quiet, cordial welcooes his way down the hill, he carries in his heart a new treasure--the surety that he has found a coe for the past twelve years of helping Mr
Burroughs with his correspondence, I have been particularly interested in the spontaneous responses which have co readers, not only in America, but from Europe, New Zealand, Australia