Literature of American Big-Game Hunting 



the old traditions of the American stock on this 

 continent, and have taken dehght in the wild sports 

 of the wilderness. 



Yet there have been fewer books written by 

 Americans about life in the American wilderness 

 and the chase of American big game than one 

 would suppose, — or at least fewer books which are 

 worth reading and preserving ; for there does not 

 exist a more dismal species of literature than the 

 ordinary cheap sporting volume. This paucity of 

 good books is, however, not unnatural. In a new 

 country, where material needs are very pressing, 

 the men who do the things are apt to be more 

 numerous than those who can write well about 

 them when done. This is as it should be. It is a 

 good thing to write books, but it is a better thing 

 still to do the deeds which are worth being written 

 about. We ought to have both classes, and highest 

 of all comes he who belongs to both; but if we had 

 to choose between them, we would of course choose 

 the doer rather than the writer. 



Nevertheless the writer's position is very im- 

 portant ; and there is no delusion more hopeless 

 than the belief of many excellent people to the 

 effect that the man who has done most is necessa- 

 rily he who can write best. The best books are 

 those written by the rare men who, having actually 

 done the things, are also capable of writing well 

 about them when done. It is as true of hunting- 



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