Lntroduction 
good-bye. When they asked where I was going 
I said, ‘Oh! I don’t know — just anywhere in 
the wilderness, southward. I have already had 
glorious glimpses of the Wisconsin, Iowa, Mich- 
igan, Indiana, and Canada wildernesses; now 
I propose to go South and see something of the 
vegetation of the warm end of the country, and 
if possible to wander far enough into South 
America to see tropical vegetation in all its 
palmy glory.’ 
“The neighbors wished me well, advised me 
to be careful of my health, and reminded 
me that the swamps in the South were full of 
malaria. I stopped overnight at the home of 
anold Scotch lady who had long been my friend 
and was now particularly motherly in good 
wishes and advice. I told her that as I was 
sauntering along the road, just as the sun was 
going down, I heard a darling speckled-breast 
sparrow singing, “The day’s done, the day’s 
done.’ ‘Weel, John, my dear laddie,’ she re- 
plied, ‘your day will never be done. There is 
no end to the kind of studies you like so well, 
{ xvii ] 
