JOHN MUIR 

 By Enos Mills 



In December, 1914, John Muir vanished into that mysterious 

 realm into which all trails inevitably lead. He rendered man- 

 kind a vast and heroic service. His triumphs were the very 

 greatest. They were made in times of peace for the eternal 

 cause of peace. We are yet too close to the deeds of this magnifi- 

 cent man to comprehend the helpfulness of his work to human- 

 ity. His books and his work are likely to be the most influential 

 force in this century. The twentieth century promises to be for 

 mankind the beautiful century of scenery. 



The grandest character in national park history and in nature 

 literature is John Muir. He has written the great drama of the 

 outdoors. On Nature's scenic stage he gave the wild life local 

 habitation and character — did with the wild folk what Shake- 

 speare did with man. He puts the woods in story, and in his 

 story you are in the wilderness. His prose poems illuminate the 

 forest, the storm, and all the fields of life. He has set Pan's 

 melody to words. He sings of sun-tipped peaks and gloomy 

 canons, flowery fields and wooded wilds. He has immortalized 

 the Big Trees. His memory is destined to be ever with the silent 

 places, with the bird songs, with wild flowers, with the great 

 glaciers, with snowy peaks, with dark forests, with white cas- 

 cades that leap in glory, with sunlight and shadow, with the 

 splerxiid national parks, and with every song that Nature sings 

 in the wild gardens of the world. 



