THE FOREST 



it must first pierce the outer shell, the veneer, and 

 filter into the subconscious depths, as the sunlight 

 penetrates the forest twilight and brings to life 

 dormant seeds lying there. A new class of ideas 

 comes to life. The seeds of thought planted long 

 ago in the nomadic period of evolution in the 

 hunter stage germinate under the forest influ- 

 ence and send forth shoots. It is memory the 

 race-memory coming blindly to the surface, and 

 amounts to a reversion, not so great, however, but 

 it may be wholesome. We speak of men being 

 animal when they are sensual or dissipated, un- 

 mindful that animals are neither, but eminently 

 sane, rendering a complete and unconscious obedi- 

 ence to the laws of Nature. Some men make the 

 mistake of trying to take the city to the wilder- 

 ness, and, as a result, get neither one nor the other. 

 The forest has its luxuries, and they consist, in a 

 measure, of freedom from those things considered 

 luxuries in the city. 



Here in the Sierras we live in a wickiup, a sort 

 of a roofless wigwam. The camp overlooks the 

 forest in which the canons and ranges are as folds 

 and wrinkles. Neighbors are few, for animals 

 conceal themselves, while song-birds are not 



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