The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-04-21
JOHN BURROUGHS

AZ IIlc iHceCIllS VI VIE oSu1Cy ~1u'
March % when the "Modern Essa.
and Essayists" was the general them'
for study Miss AUSTIN of the Depart
ment of Science, read the following
paper on John Burroughs, noted ma
turalist and writer. Since that dat
John Burroughs has died and the at
tention of his multitude of friends ha:
been centered on the great service hi
rendered to natural science, by his
patient and remarkably keen cbserva
tons and his ability to record them il
literary style of decided merit.
Someone has called John Burroughs
"The Dean of American Essayists,
and when we consider that he is now 8
hoary old man approaching his
eighty fourth birthday, that he has
been writing for over fifty years, ano
that throughout that time his essays
have been recognized as having true
literary value, then we may feel that
the title has been justly applied.
John Burroughs spent his boyhood
on the farm near Roxbury, New York.
where he was born April 3, 1887. His
life was that of any farm boy, spent
in the fields, the woods, the open air:
in contact with ordinary crops, or
chards, cattle, living and growing
things. But he was keenly alive and
observant and, as he says, he loved
nature in all it's aspects, ne was a part
of it, and this life in contact with the
out-of-doors was the foundation OF
the interests of all his later years. He
had little systematic education, but
attended the district school usually in
the winter terms when he had less
work to do at home. When about
seventeen he had a term or two at
nearby academy, and then leaving
the farm taught school for several
years, mostly in New York state.
At the outbreak of the civil war
when he was twenty-five years old, ne
went to Washington intending to en-.
list in the army, but instead, accepted
a position in the Treasury Department
as keeper Of the vaults. He lived lr
Washington, employed in dry. dead
ening clerical work for eleven years
then for ten more, he was nationa!
bank examiner, inspecting accounts
as a financial expert. One cannot
think of John Burroughs in such9a ca
pacity as he served for twenty years
in and about Washington, but as
someone reminds us, Washington was
not the city that we find it today, i
was more rural itself and the country
could be reached at any time by
short walk. There was scarcely q
day that Mr.. Burroughs did not find
time to get out into the open and
commune with his beloved nature: tie
turned his attention toward BIRDS
particularly, studied them sclentlf1c-
ally as we'll as in the field so that ne
came to know them both as an
and as NATURALIST.
At this period we, find him begin
ming his life as man of letters. He
had always enjoyed writing, so now
during the long idle hours when ne
was guarding the treasury vaults, ne
occupied his time with literary ven
lures. He had early become student
Of Emerson and read him so thor
oughly that his first published essay
in the Atlantic Monthly in
1860 called "Expression" was he says
himself 'double-stilled Emersonian-
ISM" He soon realized that his
writings were initiative and that to
gain independence, he must tell of the
things which were in his own heart.
He turned naturally toward the birds
which were his particular interest
and these recalled wildly his many
boyhood experiences on the farm; so
writing of these, his series of nature
ESSAYS was the result. His first out.
door volume "Wake Robin" appeared
in 1871, and this with other books and
articles in various mag.
azines have appealed to thousands OF
readers and have stamped Burroughs
As a great naturalist as we'll as great
~.
"The great episode of his Washing
ton residence" writes one, OF ms
friends, "was his association with
Walt Whitman" Burroughs had at
the age Of twenty-four come in con.
tact with Whitman's Leaves OF
Grass which had reused him greatly
and now the close friendship with the
past had lasting effect. In speak
ing of authors who had influenced his
writings, Burroughs says, "Whitma9
gave me a view of the largeness OF
life. He was cosmic and elemental
almost patriarchal. like. the men OF
The heroic age" His earliest book
published in 1867 was "Notes on Walt
Whitman which still stands out as
perhaps the best of his critical es-
saws. He has never ceased admiring
Whitman, and in his last published
Accepting the Universe
1920, his closing essay "A Poet OF
the Cosmos" pays further tribute to
him.
John Burroughs was man of forty
six when he definitely gave up his life
TO writing. He resigned from his
work at Washington and because ne
had always been and always would
be farmer at heart, he bought 9
tract of a hundred acres of land on
the west bank. of the Hudson River
near Riverby, built his home there and
settled where he is to be found today
Much Of the land has been sold, but
he still has his fruit farm, his home
and his studio where he continues his
writings. He is a kindly. lovable OLD
nan with many friends whom he en-
Joys always, but he has found that ne
must be out Of their path # he is to
write. HALF way up the Adirondac&s