18 THROUGH GLADE AND MEAD. 
is this part which the reader, anxious to see how the 
plot ends, passes quickly and thoughtlessly over, yet 
not without loss to himself, for he thus neglects some 
of the author’s best work. It is the setting to the gem, 
the frame to the picture, the binding to the book; it 
enhances its value and beauty. 
Our American literature is so recent that its names 
are fewer, but they hold a high place. As types I will 
mention only Thoreau and Burroughs among our prose 
writers, and Bryant and Emerson among our poets. 
There has yet been no finer description of a naturalist 
as distinguished from a biologist than that given by 
Emerson of Thoreau: 
“And such I knew, a forest seer, 
A minstrel of the natural year, 
Foreteller of the vernal ides, 
Wise harbinger of spheres and tides, 
A lover true who knew by heart 
Each joy the mountain dales impart.” 
Thoreau led the way, and the number of his dis- 
ciples is increasing, though they follow the master with 
unequal steps. Where a hundred persons read one of 
Thoreau’s books on their publication, a thousand have 
now learned to look forward with pleasure to a new 
outdoor book by Burroughs. It is one of the signs of 
the times. 
