~ LETTER FROM MR. LONG 
In a personal letter regarding the contro- 
cersy with Mr. Burroughs many interesting 
truths were told by Mr. Long, and his position 
was possibly more strongly expressed than it 
has been in the published articles. Mr. Long 
has gicen his permission to reproduce the 
personal letter sent to the editor of the “ Con- 
necticut Magazine’’ directly following Mr. 
Burroughs’ attack. 
THANK you heartily for the kindly spirit of your 
letter and editorial (see page 2) and for the cour- 
tesy which submits the latter to me before publica- 
tion. I could wish that your contemporary, which first 
published Mr. Burroughs’ attack, had been governed by 
a like courtesy and consideration. 
Mr. Burroughs falls into a very natural 
mistake in his criticism, —the mistake of a 
man who assumes final authority in a matter 
of which he has not sufficient knowledge. 
I say this advisedly; for, notwithstanding 
Mr. Burroughs’ observations on the farm, and 
his nature book, which I read with delight and 
to which I give full measure of praise, all 
our animals and birds differ widely in habits 
and intelligence, and no man has sufficient knowledge 
of any class of animals to affirm or deny absolutely 
what other animals of the same class will do in a dif- 
ferent locality under different circumstances. Curiously 
enough his mistake and spirit are precisely those of 
the New England theologians following Calvin’s good 
example. They discovered a certain amount of truth 
undoubtedly. Then they built a fence around it; called 
it a creed; limited the divine wisdom and ordination to 
their own small horizon ; and sent all those to endless 
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