Recollections of John Muir 



19 



would come to prove that Muir was not so absorbed in his stud- 

 ies as to forget his friends, and on his visits to Berkeley, shin- 

 ing gold pieces would be slipped almost shyly into the children's 

 hands. 



Here was a real man, one who would get lost on the city 

 streets, but could find his way through any unmapped wilder- 

 ness; one who had the outward bearing of an unsophisticated 

 farmer but was at home with the most polished man of the 

 world. Devoid of all shams and affectations, sincere to the very 

 roots of his being, his deadly earnestness was saved by that 

 touch of Scotch humor and that deep tenderness and sympathy 

 which shone through his being despite the habitual absorption 

 in impersonal matters. And that Muir was able to fight, those 

 who know with what zeal and single-minded devotion to a cause 

 he carried on his campaign to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley, 

 can testify. Recluse and devotee of nature though he was, he 

 could come out among men and with unflinching courage, un- 

 tiring energy and rare practical sense, work to save his beloved 

 trees and mountains from being despoiled. 



Others may praise him for his keen eye, his grasp of nature's 

 laws, his enthusiasm as an explorer, his grace and charm of liter- 

 ary style, but for me he was a personality that defies analysis — 

 a great soul, a genuine friend, and I am grateful to share, with 

 all who touched his life closely, in the consciousness that we are 

 better and closer to the great primal things because we knew 

 and loved him. 



