THE CONVERSATION OF JOHN MUIR 
shelter for storm-bound man or beast; 
again plunging far down through the 
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talk of John Muir, dwelling much upon 
the heights, anon descending to pleasant 
shadowy forest to embowered stream- 
beds where the traveler pauses in the 
sheen and fragrance of the azalea, and 
where the water ouzel dances to the 
fluting and tinkling of the rivulet. Like 
such a trail in varying charm was the 
homely places, giving glimpses at times 
of Nature’s jealously guarded arcana, 
freely turning aside on the spur of every 
casual fancy, and when apparently most 
vagrant, bringing you at last safely into 
camp at the goal for which you started. 
Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Company 
4 
....1 wandered away [after four years’ study at the University of Wisconsin] on a glorious botani- 
cal and geological excursion, which has lasted nearly fifty years....always happy and free, poor and 
rich, without thought of diploma or of making a name, urged on and on through endless inspiring, 
Godful beauty.”’ 
Fame pushed its way however to John Muir. His books will live for many a generation to read with 
delight and with reverence for the man.— And he will be greatly missed in practical work. At the time 
of his death he was president of the Society for the Preservation of National Parks and vice-president 
of the California Associated Societies for the Conservation of Wild Life, and always his judgment and 
personal influence came as authority. [Photograph from The Story of My Boyhood and Youth] 
