In the summer he enjoys the trip itself, in the fall he 

 looks back at it, in the winter he dreams of it, and in 

 the spring he begins to plan for the trip to come. .The 

 first such trip brings a new leaven into a man's life. 



But after all, everything is a matter of comparison. 

 The freedom of the woods is not absolute freedom. 

 The restraints of the city are there, only in a less ob- 

 trusive form. Apparently you can throw a stone when- 

 ever you please because there are very few people to 

 hit, but when a passing cruiser comes within your 

 range your privileges immediately become limited. If 

 you don't believe it, hit him once. Property rights are 

 there also, and the personal rights of others both of 

 this generation and of posterity. 



A man cannot let his morals go, even though he may 

 his whiskers, simply because he is in the woods. The 

 laws are there, both moral and legal; it is only the en- 

 forcement of them that is lacking, the enforcement 

 of them by public opinion and the officers of the law. 

 But shall we ignore the law simply because the police- 

 man is not in sight? "We did not break away from a 

 monarchial government to get away from law, but that 

 we might have self-government. No more do we go to 

 the woods to break the laws, but rather to be our own 

 policemen. We throw off the irksome rule of a cop to 

 take up a moral obligation. It is to that moral obliga- 

 tion that I wish to call your attention. 



The woods, even the more civilized parts of it, too. 

 often seem to the city man a wilderness, where few 

 white men have ever been before and none will ever 

 come again. He blazes or hacks a tree whenever the 

 fancy strikes him. He eats his lunch and scatters the 



10 



