REVIEWS 997 



The Forest Ranger. Collected and edited by John D. Guthrie. The 

 Gorham Press, Boston. $1.50. 



These are reclassification days — "sure enough" in Washington, to 

 all intents and purposes elsewhere — and the old embarrassing question 

 of "what is a forester?" is again before us. To herd all the unruly 

 views offered into a short definition that will satisfy everyone is 

 work for a genius. Such a definition must show forestry not as a 

 formula but as an intensely "human" occupation. There being, in 

 forestry, nothing more admittedly human than the forest ranger, 

 there is something opportune in the appearance at this time of the 

 first published book of verse of, by, and about the forest ranger. 

 "This little book," says the compiler, "is sent out with no literary 

 aspirations whatever, but only with the desire to bring together and 

 put on record these expressions of the spirit of the men who have 

 heard the call of the forest and of distant places, and in the hope that 

 they may bring back pleasant memories of many a forest camp or 

 meeting." 



The compiler dedicates his book to the enjoyment of the men in the 

 profession. Its service is really greater than this, for it gives to us 

 and to the "outside public" the first glimpse — whimsical, fantastic, 

 fragmentary, but apparently authentic — of what forestry means to the 

 man on the job. The job, in fact, is the dominant feature in the 95 

 selections collected by Mr. Guthrie. It appears both as "statement 

 rendered" and "payment submitted." Under such titles as "The Busy 

 Ranger," "The Forest Loafer," "When the Ranger's Feet Get Cold," 

 it is the propelling force — the source of inspiration, profanity, and 

 achievement. In "This Job," "The Suping Supervisor," and "The 

 Desking Districter," it is the mandate handed down and the results 

 footed up. If the ranger's tribulations are sometimes set forth in a 

 way that might suggest — to the uninitiated — a Society for the Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Forest Rangers, the same is the sad case of the 

 supervisor, who appears, after all, only a sort of glorified ranger. 

 It is apparent that the book is a sidelight not so much on forestry 

 as on the U. S. Forest Service. It frankly reflects a common organi- 

 zation as well as a common aim. Those who find this limitation 

 unfortunate should consider that no other working organization of 

 American foresters has so large or so close-knit a personnel to draw 

 upon. With its morale and traditions already formed and forming, 

 it is not strange that the first collection of verse should come so 

 largely from the Forest Service. The compiler's hope that it "may 



