334 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



utility and conservation for preservation. In that 

 period of abundant wilderness as compared with 

 now, the two ideals were not at war. Nor should 

 they be now. Nor will they be when their distinc- 

 tions are fully clarified to this generation, for both 

 are practical ideals inherent in every American. 



Meantime his acts, addresses and voluminous 

 popular writings on wild life defined the nature study 

 movement, which forthwith spread amazingly. 

 Reading clubs on nature subjects sprang up every- 

 where, and many thereafter specialized. Thus 

 evolved Audubon societies in cities, towns and vil- 

 lages the country over. Thus evolved the wild flow- 

 er clubs. Shooting and fishing clubs became nature 

 clubs, and sportsmen's magazines became education- 

 al. Newspapers devoted columns to bear stories 

 and wild life adventure. Magazines discovered the 

 natural beauties of the West. John C. Van Dyke 

 wrote a book on the Desert which gave Easterners a 

 thrill. Graded nature study supplanted Gray's "Bot- 

 any" in the schools. The How-to-Know books 

 on ferns, wild-flowers, trees, and birds, vied with 

 the best sellers. 



Thompson Seton's "Wild Animals I Have 

 Known," itself a best seller, became parent to a great 

 family of animal personality stories in magazines 

 and between covers; and when legitimate supply 

 failed demand the "nature fakers" (how well we re- 

 call them) rushed in and snuffed out demand by silly 

 exaggerations and fictions. Presently a solid litera- 



