156 THE FACE OF THE FIELDS 



the wild nature undergoes a literary change — 

 by the addition of the writer's self to the nature, 

 while with the sweet-water it is by the addition 

 of the bee. 



One must be able to walk to an editorial office 

 and back, and all the way walk humbly with his 

 theme, as Mr. Burroughs ever does — not en- 

 tirely forgetful of himself, nor of me (because he 

 has invited me along) ; but I must be quiet and 

 not disturb the fishing — if we go by way of a 

 trout-stream. 



True to the facts, Mr. Burroughs is a great deal 

 more than scientific, for he loves the things — the 

 birds, hills, seasons — as well as the truths about 

 them; and true to himself, he is not by any means 

 a simple countryman who has never seen the city, 

 a natural idyl, who lisps in " Atlantic " essays, be- 

 cause the essays come. He is fully aware of the 

 thing he wants to do, and by his own confession 

 has a due amount of trouble shaping his raw 

 material into finished literary form. He is quite 

 in another class from the authors of " The Com- 

 plete Angler" and "New England's Rarities 

 Discovered." In Isaak Walton, to quote Leslie 

 Stephen, "<z happy combination of circumstances has 



