2 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



roaming, some are washing off sins and cobweb 

 cares of the devil's spinning in all-day storms on 

 mountains ; sauntering in rosiny pinewoods or 

 in gentian meadows, brushing through chaparral, 

 bending down and parting sweet, flowery sprays ; 

 tracing rivers to their sources, getting in touch 

 with the nerves of Mother Earth ; jumping from 

 rock to rock, feeling the life of them, learning 

 the songs of them, panting in whole-souled exer- 

 cise, and rejoicing in deep, long-drawn breaths 

 of pure wildness. This is line and natural and 

 full of promise. So also is the growing in- 

 terest in the care and preservation of forests 

 and wild places in general, and in the half wild 

 parks and gardens of towns. Even the scenery 

 habit in its most artificial forms, mixed with 

 spectacles, silliness, and kodaks ; its devotees 

 arrayed more gorgeously than scarlet tanagers, 

 frightening the wild game with red umbrellas, 

 — even this is encouraging, and may well be 

 regarded as a hopeful sign of the times. 



All the Western mountains are still rich in 

 wildness, and by means of good roads are being 

 brought nearer civilization every year. To the 

 sane and free it will hardly seem necessary to 

 cross the continent in search of wild beauty, 

 however easy the way, for they find it in abun- 

 dance wherever they chance to be. Like Tho- 

 reau they see forests in orchards and patches of 

 huckleberry brush, and oceans in ponds and 



