Forestry as a Profession 255 



are sufficient to cope with the subject, no pedants 

 of the school or of the workshop, nor men with the 

 day laborer's mind, counting their wages. Nor 

 have we room to spare for the dealer in words, — the 

 boaster, the flighty hero of the mass meeting or 

 the political convention. Men are needed of quiet 

 enthusiasm, courage, strength, and knowledge, men 

 who have a sense of the dignity of their task, who 

 deem their work far greater than themselves, who 

 take rewards gladly when they come, but do not 

 shape their course for them. Never yet has the 

 American nation failed to find such men when 

 they were needed. Here they are needed to do 

 work that is not picturesque like that of the soldier 

 or sailor, nor done in the sight of all like the 

 orator's and statesman's, but work that is drudgery, 

 — not a little of it — and will never earn the ac- 

 claims of the multitude. Shall America be de- 

 serted in this need of hers ? 



Our survey of American forests and forestry has 

 come to its end. Imperfect though the work 

 undoubtedly is, the author trusts that it may ac- 

 complish some of the purposes for which it was 

 written. It is not intended to serve as a manual 

 of forestry or any branch of it. But it has been 

 our aim to give a comprehensive insight into one 

 of the most important of the phases of our na- 

 tional life to the large number of Americans who 

 feel that they must understand these phases in 

 order to become true citizens. 



It is not necessary to impress upon Americans 



