Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-07-10
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NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
WILD ANIMAL HOMEsTEADS. .Enos
"A. Mills. Doubleday. Page e. Co.

"A. Mills. Doubleday. Page IL Co.
Man Is not the only interesting
animal. 1t Is not certain even that
he 10 the most interesting of animals.
We are coming. gradually. to know
more about this since the rise OF the
new order OF huntsman. The old
Nimrod type. the mighty hunter
brand. passed with the passing of the
world frontiers. The man-animal is
now in practical possession of the
earth. The wild natives are now con-
fined to such remote corners as this
super-creature has not yet set his
desiring eye upon. The work of the
Nimrods was that OF pure destruction,
determination. Therefore, the scat
tering descendants of this line are
driven to the far waste places of the
world for satisfactions of the hero
complex handed down to them by this
mighty man of valor. A few. only, of
these remain. Still. at intervals we
do read about Them. of valiant men
and women-going cut into O distant
somewhere. "to shoot big game" And
later we are likely to see pictures of
these men--and gwomen-standing
SNUG and triumphant, each with a
conqueror's foot set in easy adjust
ment to the neck OF naughty tiger or
lion or elephant, now laid low By the
prowess of these vaiorous sons of
men. Mighty Nimrods! One is re-
minded right hero that the only time
when the Prince Of Wales failed to
the world was In a picture of him,
looking down. bit shame-faced one
thought-upon a splendid tiger which,
without doubt, had been carefully
rounded up for this other prince of a
kingiy line to shoot in complete
sportin', that.
And what about this new order of
huntsman? What In he like? AS lit
tie like the other kind as can be
imagined. He has not q shred of hero
stuff about him. He is shabby. not
dressed for a part, unpicturesque, no
sense of spectacle anywhere in his
makeup. Appearances make no ap-
peal whatever to him. He Is not over
soeiable, that is, with his own kind.
Not erusty. mind you-just preoceu-
absolutely possessed by a passionate
and absorbing interest. That Is his
mark. Somewhere, some time. this
modern hunter began to notice queer
things about the animals right around
him. And gradually the notion that
these were not. In very many re-
spects, SO different from himself
from man. They made homes, raised
families. provided for the future,
were positively great at minding their
own business, and quite to be emu
lated in their respect for the rights
cations. A pretty good start our way,
all this. In the new hunters mind
the vague notions grew to settled
convictions. No matter what the
kind of animal-these Fundamental
facts held good. Birds? Insects? The
bigger and wilder animals of the
west? The very big or alien ones
coming this way through the circus
or the zoo? Yes, these facts applied
to all--except the last-since neither
men can live up to his nature any
more than can the innocent man sent
to prison and living behind its bars.
All the others, however-all the free
animals-lived under the same prf-
mary impulses that moved man him.
his own neighborhood, or thereabout,
captivated by the wonders of its ma
tive wild life. No gun-nothing like
that. INST food, against the pos sfble
long trail that some one Of these
might set. and an extra coat for a
night or so in the open. And out OF
this sort OF hunting we are learning
many things-the chief of which is
that man is not the only created be-
ing, coupled with a complete lack of
NJ I
theory that all the other animals
were made for the use of man. Then,
the daily life of these various orders
is a fascinating and suggestive thing.
Out of this kind of hunting we have
Henri Fabre. wizard of the insect
world, and John Burroughs and Enos
Mills and Roberts and Long and Cur
wood. and others and others, who
have this new point of view, This new
angle of approach.
wild Animal Homesteads" is just
day here and there gathered out. of
the busy and interesting life of the
beloved and iamented Enos Mills,
friend OF the west country animals
bear, mountain lion, coyote, deer,
beaver, skunk, squirrel and the rest.
Just the same fundamental urge
with these creatures as with the man
animal-food. shelter, procreation
And so, under the guidance of this
loiterer along the animal paths. we
come upon one or another OF these
engaged much as we are-getting
food, choosing mates, building homes
rearing children, teaching them how
to go on in the endless progression
each kind has, in a marvellous way,
developed a social technic of its own
The beaver, for instance. looks much
like our own homesteader. He, with
out doubt, chose the preferred spot,
staked out his claim. set up mo
and, we hope, lived happy. ever after.
A creature of hitherto unsupported
wisdom, the beaver. Busy as bea-
ver' is, according to-. MIR. Mills
working about as little as any ami
modern efficiency- man" all over
again. He has little to do. That lit:
tie he does in a way calculated to
make Henry Ford sit up and look
beaverward. An Intelligent animal
of working. So the beaver has a
large play time. which suits him
down to the ground. He belongs to
the leisure cass, if"eyer an animal
did Every summer ne taxes a. Ione
vacation away from home-three
months of it. Travel and play, new
scenes, new interests keep him alive
and At The beaver is master of the
fine art Of living.""y The long absence
from home airs out the empty house
and reinforces the advantages Of the
summer expedition. 1t In difficult to
see how folks can do much better
than that. All OF the animals appear
to have hit upon an economy of ex-
istence that the mere human has lost
To be sure, things, just things, have
been our undoing-clothes, and
houses, and motors, music boxes, and
travel, and rivalries with all the
other undone folks. These the wiser