Great Falls tribune., 1921-03-30

preston" was at one time widely mis-
taken for the work of Emerson, close
reader of whom Burroughs had been
from youth. His later works on nature
suggested something Of Thoreau, but,
as critics said, Burroughs was the
more sociable writer.
Jay Gould Classmate.
He learned to love nature when he
drove cows at his birth place farm,
Roxbury, among the Catskills, in New
York state, but anything like literary
composition was bugbear to him as
youth The story is told Of how when
he was fourteen, in common with the
members of his class at school, he was
required to write twelve lines of orig
inal composition. He copied something
out of comic almanac. His theft was
detected Again in desperation upon
his second trial he paid Jay Gould, his
classmate, sixty cents for twelve line
verse which he handed in as his .soo own.
He was born in 1887. In 1863 he
went to Washington with something
of an inclination to enlist in the Union
army, but he decided to seek govern
ment office. 1t is related that with
only few Of his poems as credentials
he walked into the treasury depart
ment and asked for a job. It was
agreed that his vernal verses really
smelt of the woods. and smacked of
sincereity. He would be a safe man
to watch the treasury vaults. lie
agreed to take the place. At little
desk, facing the huge iron vault where
he kept tabs on those who went to
handle the S50,0OO,OOO stored there,
he began writing of the birds, to re-
lieve his homesckness. The result
was his first book Wake Robin.
Moves Into Woods.
Some years later, after work as
treasury clerk and a national bank
examiner had netted him some savings,
he bought few acres at West Park
on the Hudson. where among the load
ed trellises Of a vineyard he found
more pleasure than in the closets
Of greenbacks." There he renewed
his emotional intercourse with nature.
building real house overlooking the
river-just above Poughkeepsie. When
rural civilization pressed a little close
about him. he built his ''Slabsides''
cabin mile Or two back in the woods.
He did not 60 at his studies with
the set determination Of an herbalist.
but took life easily, and wrote brecz-
lily when the spirit moved him, of the
secrets of nature He never made
much of the discovery Of new spe2'es.
and nothing Of catalogung them, but
delighted in finding for himself anc
revealing to others the charms of close
contact with the birds. bees and flow
ers. The essence of his philosophy
was always bright, in agreement with
Browning. that "Alrs well with the
world"
"Study Of Our National Parks"
The titles Of his books included
"Winter Sunshine "Locusts and Wild
Honey. Fresh Fields, ''Indoor
Studies, Birds and Poets. "Signs
and Seasons "The Light of Day-Re-
ligious Discussions from the Stand
point of the Naturalist. Literary
Values, and ways Of Nature. H.
was friend Of Walt Whitman and
one of his books was an appreciation
of him. He was also a boon compan-
ion of Theodore Roosevelt in nature
studies. During Col Rooseyelt's
occasional clashes with mature TAX
ers" and those who charged him with
the venerable Burroughs always came
to the colonel's. defense. With John
Muir, the naturalist of the west, Bur-
roughs once tourned the canyons and
collaborated with Muir in Study
Of Our National Parks"
''Riverby' and 'Slabsides'', Bur-
roughs' retreat on the Hudson, be-
came shrines for his many admirers,
and those who made pilgrimages there
were invariably received in the most
democratic fashion by the celebrated
naturalist.
On his 10Th birthday he said
Growing old is a kind Of letting 20.
The morning has it's delights and its
enticements, the noon has it's triumphs
and satisfactions, but there are a
charm and a tranquility and spiritual
uplift about the close Of the day that
belong to neither
LEFT PASADENA FRIDAY
Pasadena, March 29-.Iohn Bur-
John Burroughs left here Friday for
roughs left here Friday for his home
at West Park, N. Y, where he