become what Europe already is. Europe is now a popu- 

 lous, and in parts a crowded, continent; you, too, will 

 some day be a populous, and ultimately, except in those 

 regions which the want of rain condemns to sterility, a 

 crowded continent ; and it is well to take thought at once, 

 before these days confront you, how you will deal with 

 the difficulties which have met us in Europe. So that you 

 may not find too late that the beauty, the freedom and 

 primitive simplicity of nature have been snatched from 

 you. 



Of all those pleasures the power to enjoy which has 

 been implanted in us, the love of Nature is the very 

 simplest and best. It is the most easily accessible; it is 

 one which can never be perverted ; it is one of which you 

 cannot have too much; and it lasts from youth to age. 

 Then, too, there are the literary associations which clothe 

 many a wild or lovely spot with poetry. The farther a 

 people recedes from barbarism, the more refined its 

 tastes, the more gentle its manners, the less sordid its 

 aims, so much the greater is its susceptibility to every 

 form of beauty, so much the more do the charms of 

 Nature appeal to it. Delight in them is a test of civiliza- 

 tion. 



Now, let us remember that the regions and spots cal- 

 culated to give enjoyment in the highest form are lim- 

 ited, and are being constantly encroached upon. 



Although you have set a wholesome example in creat- 

 ing the National Parks you have, there are still other 

 places where National Parks are wanted. There is a 

 splendid region in the Alleghenies, a region of beautiful 

 forests, where the tulip trees lift their tall, smooth shafts 

 and graceful heads one hundred and fifty feet or more 

 into the air, a mountain land on the borders of North 

 Carolina and East Tennessee, with romantic river val- 

 leys and hills clothed with luxuriant woods, primitive 

 forests standing as they stood before the white man 

 drove the Indians away, high lawns filled with flowers 



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