"The Disillusionment of a Forest Assistant" 



There was once a Forest Assist- 

 ant whose name matters not, because 

 his story is much like that of all 

 Forest Assistants. Like them, know- 

 ing nothing of Forestry, he took up 

 the work because he liked the idea 

 of living in the beautiful out of 

 doors far from the haunts of men, 

 from the smoke and dirt of the 

 rities. And he pictured to himself 

 the forest primeval in all its beautv 

 and dignity, and dreamed dreams of 

 the time when he should ride thru the 

 "vasty silences," bringing order out 

 of chaos and be considered a bright 

 young man. For, like a true For- 

 est Assistant, he had many ideas, 

 both new and second-hand, about 

 the way things should be done 

 ideas which he knew would make 

 things right, and in his dreams he 

 saw himself winning rapid promo- 

 tion, looked up to as an authority, 

 and at la?t, for who can tell what 

 wonders Fickle Fortune may work, 

 becoming a National Figure. 



At Michigan he had learned manv 

 things. On the darkest night his 

 never-failing "bump of locality" 

 took him with unerring instinct to 

 those favorite bowers at Joe's and 

 Larry's where for a short time the 

 cares and perplexities of life could 

 be forgotten. But this was not all. 

 Somehow he acquired ide^s of the 

 proper formulae for the determina- 

 tion of Sr. and Yr. and duly copied 

 the index in Silviculture and 

 Mensuration and Dendrology from 

 I to XXX x 92 10 and he knew 

 all about the shelter woods system 

 of reproduction, capillary attraction, 

 and the amount of air space in the 

 soil and how to use Presslor's 

 method, and he realized the true 

 importance of the things he learned 

 and resolved to apply his knowledge 

 where it would do most good. 



By some whim of Fortune, it hap- 

 pened that he passed the C S. and 

 was sent West, and in his joy and 

 elation he felt more convinced than 

 ever of his own importance and 

 began to plan the things he would 

 do. He had visions of his silvical 

 reports being published, for he knew 

 that when it came to research work, 

 fie was some pumpkins, and he 



thought of the way he would teach 

 the rangers what real Forestry is. 



The first day, he sized his Super, 

 up as a pretty good scout, but when 

 on the second day he was sent out 

 to build fence he complained to him- 

 self that the Super, didn't know a 

 good man when he saw one. For 

 the next two weeks he worked with 

 a couple of rangers and was greatlv 

 surprised to find that they "didn't 

 give a damn" how much he knew, 

 and didn't care to be told. So he 

 hacked away at fence posts, cut his 

 foot and got pitch on his axe-handle 

 (to the detriment of his hands), and 

 he got mighty tired, and found that 

 the cool, preen woods of the storv 

 books could get pretty hot and dirty. 

 Be longed for the quiet and peace 

 and cool, of Joe's, but he stuck, and 

 while he didn't accomplish anything 

 in the way of work he learned manv 

 things, chief among which was the 

 fact that there is much in a Forest 

 Assistant's life besides writing sil- 

 vical reports. 



Then, after a while he was sent 

 to make a June llth examination 

 which he did and prepared a map 

 of many colors and a report and 

 sent them to the district office feel- 

 ing that the work had been well 

 done and was a credit to him. 



But, the next week the report and 

 map came back with a letter asking 

 for explanation, showing errors in 

 the field notes and inconsistencies 

 in the map and his recommenda- 

 tions and requesting a reconsidera- 

 tion. So he fixed it and sent it back 

 but in a week it had returned for 

 more corrections, which he made, 

 only to have it come back again 

 and again. 



And in the meantime he had other 

 troubles, for his Super, couldn't 

 "see" the ideas which were to make 

 things rieht, and wouldn't let him 

 dp the things he wanted to, ridiculed 

 his ideas on reproduction and criti- 

 cized his scientific timber working, 

 and sent him off on long trips when 

 he couldn't get his marl or write to 

 the little co-ed he had botanized 

 with on the Boulevard. Also the 

 District Fiscal Agent held up his 

 expense accounts, and the property 



