Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Our Friend John Burroughs By: Clara Barrus (1864-1931) |
---|
![]()
By Clara Barrus (Illustration of John Burroughs. From a photograph by Theona Peck
Harris) CONTENTS OUR FRIEND JOHN BURROUGHS THE RETREAT OF A POET NATURALIST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
ANCESTRY AND FAMILY LIFE
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
SELF ANALYSIS THE EARLY WRITINGS OF JOHN BURROUGHS A WINTER DAY AT SLABSIDES BACK TO PEPACTON CAMPINGING WITH BURROUGHS AND MUIR JOHN BURROUGHS: AN APPRECIATION
OUR FRIEND JOHN BURROUGHS
We all claim John Burroughs as our friend. He is inextricably blended
with our love for the birds and the flowers, and for all out of doors;
but he is much more to us than a charming writer of books about nature,
and we welcome familiar glimpses of him as one welcomes anything which
brings him in closer touch with a friend. A clever essayist, in speaking of the "obituary method of appreciation,"
says that we feel a slight 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, we will tag and label them and confer
immortality upon him." But Mr. Burroughs has not had to wait till the
daisies cover him to be appreciated. A multitude of his readers has
sought him out and walked amid the daisies with him, listened with him
to the birds, and gained countless delightful 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 man, and as a writer, Mr. Burroughs has been in the public eye for
many years. At the age 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 columns. Early in his career he
received marked recognition from able critics, and gratifying 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 charm
that Mr. Burroughs's later books have. A critic in 1876 speaks of his
"quiet, believing style, free from passion or the glitter of rhetoric,
and giving one the sense of simple eyesight"; and now, concerning one
of his later books, "Time and Change," Mr. Brander Matthews writes: "In
these pellucid pages so easy to read because they are the result of
hard thinking he brings home to us what is the real meaning of the
discoveries and the theories of the scientists.... He brings to bear
his searching scientific curiosity and his sympathetic interpreting
imagination.... All of them models of the essay at its best easy,
unpedantic, and unfailingly interesting." From school children all over the United States, from nearly every
civilized country on the globe, from homes of the humble and of the
wealthy, from the scholar in his study, from the clergyman, the
lawyer, the physician, the business man, the farmer, the raftsman, the
sportsman, from the invalid shut in from the great outdoors (but, thanks
to our friend, not shut out from outdoor blessings), have come for
many years heartfelt letters attesting the wholesome and widespread
influence of his works. President Roosevelt a few years ago, in dedicating one of his books to
"Dear Oom John," voiced the popular feeling: "It is a good thing for our
people that you have lived, and surely no man can wish to have more said
of him." Some years ago, the New York "Globe," on announcing a new book by Mr.
Burroughs, said, "It has been the lot of few writers of this country or
of any country to gain such good will and personal esteem as for many
years have been freely given to John Burroughs." 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 warm,
sure, firm." Mr. Burroughs has been much visited, much "appreciated," much rhymed
about, much painted, modeled, and photographed, and much loved... Continue reading book >>
|
Genres for this book |
---|
Biography |
Literature |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Clara Barrus |
Wikipedia – Our Friend John Burroughs |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|