The Saint Paul globe., 1903-03-16

the field of nature are legion, but Mr..
Burroughs takes up only very few Of
the most successful, judged from the
sales of their books. To the surprise of
many he has strong terms of condem-
nation for the most successful of all,
Mr Thomas Seton. The veteran poet
of nature, whose imagination must be
powerful, says that Mr.. Seton has sur
iDasSed all the other writer's in imagi-
native literature about animals Mr..
BurrOughs has studied life in the woods
bnd in the open for many years and he
IS unable to discover the remarkable
Auman intelligence which Mr.. Seton
represents in his book. wild Animals
Which I Alone Have Known" is the re-
.vised title which Mr.. Burroughs applies
TO the best known book of that author.
Mr.. Thompson Seton says in capital
letters that his stories are true" writes
Mr.. Burroughs in the Atlantic Monthly,
and il is this emphatic assertion that
makes the judicious grieVe. True as ro-
nance, true in their artistic effects, true
in their power to entertain the young
reader, they certainly are; but true as
natural history they as certainly are
not. Are we to believe that Mr.. Thomp-
son Seton, in his few years of roaming
in the West, has penetrated father into
the secrets of animal life than all the
observers who have gone before him?
mere are llO SlOIleS VI animal liilSlil-
gence and cunning on record that [ am
aware of, that match his. Gilbert
White, Charles st. John, Waterloo,
Wallace, Darwin, Jefferies and other in
England-all expert students and OBJ
servers; Bates in South America, Au-
dubon roaming the whole country,
Thoreau in New England, John Muir
in the mountains of California and in
the Wilds of Alaska, have nothing to
report that comes within gunshot of
what appear to be Mr. Thompson Sc
tons daily experiences.
Such dogs, wolves, foxes, rabbits,
mustangs, crows, as he has known, it is
safe to say, no other person in the
world has ever known. Fact and fic-
tion are so deftIy blended in his work
that only a real WOodsman can sepa-
rate them. For instance, take his story
of the fox. Every hunter knows that
the fox, when pursued by the hound,
viii often resort to devices that look
like cunning tricks to confuse and mis-
lead the dog. How far these devices
are the result Of calculation we do not
know, but hunters generally look upon
them as such. Thus a fox hotly pur-
sued viii run through a flock of sheep.
This dodge probably delays the hound
a little, but it does not often enable the
fox to shake him. Mr.. Thompson Sc
ton goes several better, and makes his
fox jump upon the back of q sheep and
ride several hundred yards. Of course
no fox ever did that. Again, the fox
will sometimes take to the railroad
track and walk upon the rail, doubt
less with the vague notion of eluding
his pursuerS. Mr.. Thompson Seton
makes his fox so very foxy that he de-
liberately lures the hounds upon the
long trestle where he knows they will
be just in time to meet and be killed by
passing train, as they are. The pre-
sumption is that the fox had a watch
and a time table about his person. But
such are the ways of romancers. The
incident of the mother fox coming near
the farmhouse at night to rescue her
chain, digging a hole and burying the
chain, thinking she had thus set him
free, is very touching and pretty, and
might well be true. 1t shows how linn
tied the wit of the fox really is. But,
finding herself unable to liberate her
offspring, that she should then bring
him poison is pushing the romantic to
the absurd. In all the animal stories
of Mr.. Thompson Seton that l have
read the same liberties are taken with
facts.
In his story of the rabbit, Raggy-
lug, he says: Those who do not know
the animal well may think l have hu-
them, but those who have
thing Of their ways and their minds
will not think So This is the old trick
of the romancer; he SWears his tale is
true, because he knows his reader
wants this assurance; it makes the
thing taste better. But those who
know the animals are just the ones Mr..
Thompson Seton cannot FOOL
Mr.. Burroughs is rather severe. There
are thousands of admirers of Mr. Seton
who have not minded being deceived.
They were delighted with the stories
and they have had aroused more in
terest in natural history and sympathy
for the animals of the wild.
For the animal story books of Charles
G. d. Roberts and William Davenport
Hubert, Mr.. Burroughs has the highest
praise.
A Coming Western Writer.
Mr.. Frank L. Mason. whose END of
the Trail attracted so much attention
last year, is coming Western writer
His Blue Goose" just published,
seems likely to eclipse his former sue
cess. 1t is a story of mining camps in
the Rockies, a country in which the
author has made his home for years
Mr. Mason is now in New York city
hard at work on a third Western novel
which will be brought out next year.
Stories on the Coal Oil King.
A tempest in a teapot was started
the other day by one Of the New
York newspapers which came out with
the glaring headline announcement that
James Weber Linns novel was an at
tack on John D. Rockefeller. THE
Chameleon" as the book is called, tells
OF the mastery Of a very wealthy man
obtained over a college by giving it
several millions of dollars Now Mr..
Linn is professor in Chicago univer-
sity, and at once an imaginative re-
porter jumped to the conclusion that
the author was picturing Mr.. Rockefel-
Ter in his story. AS a matter of fact,
there is no foundation for the news
paper story yet it is likely to cause
the author of the novel some trouble
Mr.. Rockefeller IS suspicious, partic-
ularly just now that Miss Tarbell
is showing up his business life so
mercilessly in her great series of ar
icles on the Standard oil, and he may
desire Mr.. Linn's dismissal from the
faculty of the college which he has
assisted so much.
Writing of Mr.. Rockefeller recalls a
story of him which is claimed to be
entirely true. The president of a snail
college near Cleveland, Ohio, approach
ed Mr.. Rockefeller not long ago, with
the request that he assist the strug-
Cling seat of learning. 1t happened that
this particular college was named after
Its original benefactor.
No replied Mr.. Rockefeller to the
appeal, Il don't believe in perpetuating
the name of man in connection with
college. When 1 give money to an
institution Of learning prefer to give
it to one not named after any man.
like Yale or Harvard, for example,
Shades of Eli and John, hover over
the oil fields.
More of the Cabbage Patch.
The leading book of the season his
far is 'IIOVeV MarV'i hV Alice Cafd dr,,nll