INTRODUCTION 



the wide-reaching view down the vales and across 

 to the ridges that rise height on height until they 

 blend with the sky in the ethereal distance, is just 

 what it always has been. 



That the Catskills have proved an inspiration to 

 Mr. Burroughs cannot be doubted. Possibly we 

 should never have had him as a nature writer at all, 

 had he spent his impressible youthful years in a less 

 favored locality. It is, however, a curious fact that 

 the town which produced this lover of nature also 

 produced one other man of national fame, who was 

 as different from him as could well be imagined. I 

 refer to Jay Gould. He was born in the same town 

 and in the same part of the town, went to the same 

 school, saw the same scenes, was a farm boy like 

 Burroughs, and had practically the same experi- 

 ences. Indeed, the two were a good deal together. 

 But how different their later lives ! It seems easy to 

 grant that environment helped make the one; but 

 what effect, if any, did that beautiful Catskill coun- 

 try have on the other ? 



There are two seasons of the year when Mr. 

 Burroughs is particularly fond of getting back to 

 his old home. The first is in sap-time, when maple 

 sugar is being made in the little shack on the borders 

 of the rock-maple grove. The second is in midsum- 

 mer, when haying is in progress. Both occasions 

 have exceptional power for arousing pleasant mem- 

 ories of the past, though such memories have also 



