2^irb=ltore 



A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol. XXIII May— June, 1921 No. 3 



John Burroughs 



1837-1921 



MORE than a quarter of a century has passed since first I met John 

 Burroughs, and when, less than a year ago, I saw him last he seemed 

 no older. His joy in life was ever so fresh and keen that he seemed to 

 embody the spirit of everlasting youth. There are but few people living who 

 can remember a world without him. 



Mentally he was no older in 1920 than in 1895; indeed, if increasing age is 

 marked by waning interest in one's surroundings, he was younger. And if 

 the John Burroughs of 1920 was the John Burroughs of 1895, I believe that 

 we may go back another quarter of a century and with equal truth say that 

 he was the John Burroughs of 1870. 



Certain it is that he was as much the author of 'Wake Robin' on the day 

 of his death as on the day of its publication, and in this fact lies the incontro- 

 vertible evidence of the absolute sincerity which formed the dominant char- 

 acteristic of John Burroughs' nature. Simple, direct, genuine, unself -conscious, 

 he not only sought to discover the truth but to express it. He posed no more 

 in print than in person. He did nothing for effect; there was no 'playing to 

 the gallery' and he avoided any situation where he could not be his own natural, 

 everyday self. It is this fundamental characteristic of truthfulness in the man 

 and in his works that have won for him an enduring place among the great 

 teachers. What he wrote had the unmistakable ring of honest conviction. 

 He won the confidence of his readers who found in his printed page a reflection 

 of the eternal verity of nature itself. 



It was this uncompromising love of truth that accentuated Burroughs' 

 hatred of falsehood. What contempt and loathing he had for the so-called 

 nature writer who, playing upon the credulity of the public, presented fiction 

 as fact I How he scourged these nature fakers ! With what righteous indigna- 

 tion he protested against this wanton defilation of the temple of nature ! All 

 estimates of Burroughs' achievements must accept this inherent honesty as 



