Rambles With John Burroughs

There is a longing in every student's life some time or other to share his pleasure with the world, and if he happens to find himself in the proper environment he cannot forego that pleasure. His studies, his anxieties, his loves and his devotions are a part of him and he cannot give himself to the world without giving these.


My personal contact with John Burroughs has meant a great deal to me and these papers represent in a measure what I have enjoyed, though they come far short of what I would like them to be. Some of them were written among his native hills and it is hoped they will give the flavor of his own experiences. Others were written at odd times on trains, on boats, and in my study here, where I have enjoyed re-reading so many times his essays on Nature. The qualities of the man and his papers have always made a direct appeal to me, and I love to come in contact with him and spend days with him.


Long before they were printed in book form, I had collected most of his poems in my old scrap book and studied them. Their simplicity and beauty combined with their perfect rhythm impressed me and almost at one reading I was able to remember them line for line.


The names of Burroughs and Whitman are forever linked together and one can hardly think of one in certain relations without thinking of the other. To the literary public they have many ideals in common, and their bonds of sympathy have been knit together forever in Burroughs essays. To be associated with Burroughs is therefore to get many interesting and valuable hints on the life and works of Whitman. While I write this preface Mr. Burroughs talks with me in the evenings on the possible future influence of Whitman on American literary methods and criticism. The reader will not be surprised therefore, to find in this collection of papers, one on the relation of these two grand old men.


I have not attempted to interpret John Burroughs. He is his own interpreter and the very best one. In writing the papers, I have had in mind only just what he has meant to me. How he has affected me and changed the course of my life. How he has given me new eyes with which to see, new ears with which to hear, and a new heart with which to love God's great out-o'-doors.