LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 
deep problem of human life to listen to the 
note of a lark in the sky. 
By the time he had reached the age of 
twelve he had come to a knowledge of the 
outward forms of nature such as few lads ever 
attain at such an age. All the books he could 
command bearing upon any phase of science 
or nature he read and reread. The habit thus 
acquired has lasted. He may not be able to 
tell you the plot of the latest novel, but be 
sure he will be able to talk with you about the 
latest discovery of the scientists and to dissect 
their conclusions with consummate art. I can 
in no way better illustrate the trend of the 
lad’s mind at that time than to say that in 
his maturer years the author which he has 
read most and which he quotes more often 
than any other is Ralph Waldo Emerson. 
As a lad, he was not indifferent to the sports 
of other children, and entered heartily into 
many of them, though there was ever a 
greater fascination for him in the open page of 
a book than in rod or gun or ball. And great- 
est of all was the fascination of the natural 
world opening to him as it opens to the heart 
of a poet. 
