FOREWORD xiii 



timber- wolf. It is the writer's hope — a modest 

 one, surely — that other lovers of that wildness which 

 has largely disappeared from our Eastern country- 

 side, and which is such a refreshment to the spirit 

 when we can get back to it, will be glad, at least, to 

 know that the foxes still bark and the deer browse 

 up here in our hills, and each year, in Berkshire 

 County, we kill almost a score of wildcats. 



Many of the chapters that follow have appeared 

 in Harper's Magazine, from which they are re- 

 printed with some additions. The editors of The 

 Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The Boston 

 Transcript have kindly given their permission, also, 

 for the inclusion of certain other chapters originally 

 printed in those publications. The author regrets 

 that the absence of Mr. Stone with the Y. M. C. A. 

 in France has prevented his co-operation in selecting 

 and arranging the illustrations. 



W. P. E. 

 Twin Fires, 

 Sheffield, Massachusetts, 1920. 



