296 Recreations of a Sportsman 



began to rain and Muir was called off by his 

 friend Sellers who was waiting in the motor 

 car, and in the rain, so we missed the story; 

 when I reminded him of it again he gave so 

 radiant an account of his trip to the big Austra- 

 lian forest, that I can only compare it to watch- 

 ing a great artist paint a picture. It is a 

 temptation to quote what he said, as I remember 

 it well, almost word for word, and I might do 

 so, if I did not hope that some lucky editor will 

 read these lines, take the hint, and write to Muir 

 of the Muir woods, the Hetch Hetchy, or the 

 Yosemite (any of these addresses will find him, 

 as he saved their lives), and so get him to tell 

 the story himself that all the world may read it. 

 You cannot walk through a forest in California 

 without thinking of Muir. He has stood be- 

 tween the unspeakable ones and the trees for 

 years, and all lovers of forests should read all 

 Muir has written, and join forces with him to 

 save the great forests for all the people. It 

 is mainly due to John Muir that California has 

 the most beautiful forests in the world, controlled 

 by the government, protected by it, and thrown 

 open to the public. Were it not for men like 

 Muir, and Gifford Pinchot, w r hose work is of 

 course of national importance and value, the 

 vandals we have with us would wipe the face of 

 the earth of its forests, as there are men with 

 souls so small that they can see a tree older than 



