INTRODUCTION 



IN all that John Burroughs writes the 

 personal element is very marked. He is 

 not in the least akin to those writers who, 

 in what they describe, leave themselves out. 

 Neither is he like those others who put them- 

 selves in, yet are so self-conscious about it, 

 or have in themselves so little of attractive- 

 ness, that the reader wishes they had not. 



Not only is Mr. Burroughs present in 

 what he writes, but we are glad to have him 

 present. We enjoy what he says, and we 

 enjoy him. He is a thoroughly good com- 

 panion, unaffected, keen - minded, pictur- 

 esque in his expression. We meet him in 

 his books face to face, we get acquainted 

 with him almost as if the walks and talks 

 were living realities in which we shared. 



In preparing the illustrations for the pres- 

 ent volume of essays, the plan has been to 

 carry the personal feature of the text a step 

 farther, to make the sense of companion- 

 ship one feels as he reads still more vivid 

 and real. To do this, I made several visits 

 vii 



