. . . All my nature craved for knowledge of these 

 things, but there were neither books nor birdmen to 

 help me. I wonder if other boys suffer so. ... 



ERNEST THOMPSON SETON * 



I The education of a Seton Indian 



I no longer have a copy of Ernest Thompson Seton's Two Lit- 

 tle Savages on my bookshelf, having lent it out years ago, but it is 

 a book that held between its covers the very essence of life for me 

 when I was a boy of ten. Forty years ago boys of that age were 

 much the same as they are today, but the world itself was certainly 

 a different place. Perhaps the total lack of diversions made us a 

 little more self-sufficient. We were never at a loss for things to do. 

 And because my brother John and I spent most of our spare time 

 in the woods and swamps and along the river, Two Little Savages, 

 when it came finally into our hands, was the perfect textbook. We 

 became Seton Indians, sitting cross-legged around tiny campfires, 

 Indian-fashion, discussing important current events in the Tutnee 

 language and planning expeditions and cruises to far places (three 

 or four miles away!) for the purpose of adding to our knowledge 

 of local natural history. Our little world was filled with reality and 

 with a high regard for birds, first spring flowers, woodcraft, canoe 

 * Boyhood Days in Canada. 



