274 The Wilderness Hunter 



known and historic ground like the Swiss Alps ; but 

 the victory would be a hundred-fold better worth 

 winning. 



The dweller or sojourner in the wilderness who 

 most keenly loves and appreciates his wild surround 

 ings, and all their sights and sounds, is the man who 

 also loves and appreciates the books which tell of 

 them. 



Foremost of all American writers on outdoor life 

 is John Burroughs; and I can scarcely suppose that 

 any man who cares for existence outside the cities 

 would willingly be without anything that he has 

 ever written. To the naturalist, to the observer and 

 lover of nature, he is of course worth many times 

 more than any closet systematist ; and though he has 

 not been very much in really wild regions, his pages 

 so thrill with the sights and sounds of outdoor life 

 that nothing by any writer who is a mere profes 

 sional scientist or a mere professional hunter can 

 take their place, or do more than supplement them 

 for scientist and hunter alike would do well to re 

 member that before a book can take the highest rank 

 in any particular line it must also rank high in lit 

 erature proper. Of course, for us Americans, Bur 

 roughs has a peculiar charm that he can not have 

 for others, no matter how much they, too, may like 

 him ; for what he writes of is our own, and he calls 

 to our minds memories and associations that are very 



