BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



or out. The duties were not arduous, and 

 in his long intervals of leisure his mind 

 wandered far afield. It dwelt on the charm 

 of flitting wings and bird melodies, on the 

 pleasures of rambling along country roads 

 and into the woodlands ; and, sitting be- 

 fore the Treasury vault, at a high desk and 

 facing an iron wall he began to write. There 

 was no need for notes. His memory was 

 all-sufficient, and the result was the essays 

 which make ** Wake-Robin," — his first 

 book. 



By 1873 Burroughs had had enough of 

 the routine of a Government clerkship, and 

 he resigned to become the receiver of a 

 bank in Middletown, New York. Later 

 he accepted a position as bank examiner 

 in the eastern part of the State. But his 

 longing to return to the soil was growing 

 apace, and presently he bought a little farm 

 on the west shore of the Hudson. He at 

 once erected a substantial stone house and 

 started orchards and vineyards, yet it was 

 not until 1885 that he felt he could relin- 

 quish his Government position and dwell 

 on his own land with the assurance of a 

 safe support. 



He has never been a great traveler. 



xi 



