So Shakespeare has come to his own, as an English man of letters; he has been separated from his fellows, and recognised for what he is: perhaps the greatest poet of all time; one who has said more about humanity than any other writer, and has said it better; whose works are the study and admiration of divines and philosophers, of soldiers and statesmen, so that his continued vogue upon the stage is the smallest part of his immortality; who has touched many spirits finely to fine issues, and has been for three centuries a source of delight and understanding, of wisdom and consolation. One of the statements in the article on National Parks in the March issue of the Monthly Bulletin brought an interesting comment part of which we print here because it gives added information and helps to correct a looseness of statement which is misleading. The statement concerned is: "According to Enos A. Mills this park was originally called Estes Park because Joel Estes was the first settler to build a cabin there, and in 1915 the official name became Rocky Mountain National Park." The comment upon this is as follows: "As a matter of fact Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park do not exactly cover the same ground. The former is somewhat vague, of course, while the latter has exact boundaries, but the village of Estes Park is not in the Rocky Mountain National Park at all. The boundary is between Bald Pate Inn and Enos Mills's place, Mills's Long's Peak Inn being inside the National Park. Incidentally, the word 'park' in the two titles means different things. In Estes Park it has the technical Rocky Mountain meaning of a wide, relatively level space, surrounded by mountains-what is called an 'intervale' in New Hampshire-and in the phrase Rocky Mountain National Park, it means a government reservation of a specific character, as it does in the name Yellowstone Park." John Burroughs The death on March twenty-ninth of John Burroughs took from the world one with whom many people felt an intimate friendliness though some of them had neither seen him nor had even made use of that other means of knowing a man-reading his books. It is given to few individuals to inspire such a feeling without any actual acquaintance and this quality speaks strongly of the individuality of the man. Possibly some who are not familiar with Mr. Burroughs's contribution to literature will be interested in the following brief sketch taken from an article by Henry Litchfield West, in the "Bookman" for June 1919. Mr. Burroughs's first published literary work was not of nature. It was an essay which appeared in "The Atlantic Monthly" in 1860, entitled "Expression;" and to use Mr. Burroughs's own words, it was double distilled Emersonianism. In fact the editor of "The Atlantic" fancied that he had been imposed upon, and searched through Emerson's writings to find if the manuscript had been copied... Although Mr. Burroughs's first book, "Notes on Walt Whitman," was published in 1867, he did not begin his outdoor series until 1871, when "Wake Robin" appeared. This book was written while Mr. Burroughs was a vault keeper in the Treasury Department in Washington. With nothing but a steel door in front of him, his mind went wandering over the hills and fields. "I had very little to do, except to go in and out of the vault," he said when I asked him how he came to write his first book, “and so I began to write down my experiences; I wrote because I had an itching to write. I do not know any other way to express it. I remember I was pleased when the book began to sell, rather slowly at first, but soon with a steady increase." He did not say, what I can say for him, that men and women everywhere heralded the coming of a prophet of nature whose message they could understand. As the years have gone by, the number of his disciples has increased, until now his nineteen volumes, and the innumerable articles not preserved in book form, have given comfort and wisdom to thousands of unwarped and natural souls... The period between “Wake Robin" (1871) and “Field and Study" (1919) covers nearly half a century. It would be strange, therefore, if there was not a noticeable contrast between the earlier and the later work. A volume might be written on the evolution of Mr. Burroughs, but the facts can be condensed into a single sentence. In his initial book, Mr. Burroughs was objective; today he is reflective and introspective. He is still the keen and patient observer of nature, but he sees further into the meaning of things. His mind has expanded. The faculty of criticism and analysis has developed. His thoughts do not lie so much upon the surface, but reach down into the subsoil of his mind. His horizon is wider; the note which he sounds is still clear and distinct, but richer and deeper; and his discernment has been so developed by experience that he possesses almost the sense of divination. He has become more than a mere historian of nature. He has constructed a philosophy of life-a philosophy so sane, so optimistic, so serene, that it fastens itself to humanity like a lichen to a rock. The form of his message wins us with its charming style. He is not mystical like Emerson, nor rugged like Carlyle, nor given to exaggeration like Thoreau. His utterance is a model of simplicity and directness, absolutely steeped in his own individuality. It goes from his heart into ours. The dominating note of Mr. Burroughs's books is sincerity. The man himself is real and genuine. You can always take him at more than face value. "One may write," he says, "from the outside of his mind, as it were, glibly and learnedly, and make no impression; but when one speaks from real insight and conviction of his own, men are always glad to hear him, whether they agree with him or not." This is the solid foundation underlying all of Mr. Burroughs's work... Perhaps one reason why Mr. Burroughs writes with such apparent ease is the fact that his thoughts lie fallow in his mind for long periods. "I ruminate and saturate," he said to me, adding that frequently he will think over an essay for three or six months before he attempts to put his ideas into written form. Even then he will rewrite an essay many times before he regards it as a finished product. Nor can he write to order... Passion and extravagance, impetuosity and turbulence are foreign to all that Mr. Burroughs thinks and does. "Sensational, intemperate books," he says, "set the world on fire for a day and then end in ashes and forgetfulness." He is content to be simple and wholesome, like bread or meat or milk. One does not go to his books for condiments or confectionery. Instead, there is the fragrance of the pine and the flavor of the wild strawberry. His sentences stir the heart rather than the blood, but their stimulus is none the less healthy... Even the most general characterization of Mr. Burroughs's literary work would be incomplete without reference to his poems, collected and published in "Bird and Bough." It is but natural that a man so gifted with poetic instinct should find in the forms of poetry a vehicle for the expression of his fancies, but as he laughingly remarked, “I have always thought that there was more truth than poetry in my poems." With this frank and semihumorous confession we may agree without the least disparagement of the author, because his verse, thoroughly natural and unstrained, would undoubtedly receive more attention if he had not written so much better prose. The latter is often thoroughly poetical... John Burroughs has been the forerunner of a new dispensation— a dispensation of love and humanity in nature. Unlike Thoreau who spurned goodness, asked no favors, and sought no friends, Burroughs has taught a pleasanter and saner, a warmer and more genial creed. He has been neither stoic nor recluse. He has not shunned his fellow men, but has journeyed with them toward the consecrated places where he has found solace for his own soul... Above all, he has been eyes for the blind and ears for the deaf, so that he has enabled us to see and hear the things which, before his coming, were hidden behind the inner veil. New Publications of the Library Catalogue of the Carnegie Library School The "Catalogue of the Carnegie Library School" for the year 1921-22, the twenty-first year of the school, has been issued and will be sent free on request. Technical Book Review Index The number of the "Technical Book Review Index" which lists reviews for the quarter ending with December 31, 1920 is off the press. This number contains a supplement to the "List of Publishers Referred to in the Technical Book Review Index" which brings the list up to date. The supplement has also been printed as a separate pamphlet. New Periodicals The following periodicals have recently been added to the list of those regularly received in the Periodical Room: Administration. New York. Affiliated Engineering Societies of Minnesota. Bulletin. St. Paul. Agricultural Engineering. Ames, Ia. American Bureau of Shipping. Bulletin. New York. American Church Monthly. New Brunswick, N. J. American Dyestuff Reporter. New York. American Exporter. New York. Chinese Students' Monthly. Baltimore. Combustion. New York. Drug & Chemical Markets. New York. Economic Review. London. Freight Handling and Terminal Engineering. New York. Holy Cross Magazine. West Park, N. Y. Labour Overseas. London. Law and Labor. New York. Mailbag. Cleveland. Millard's Review of the Far East. Shanghai, China. Municipal Record. Pittsburgh. Nation and the Athenæum. London. National Provisioner. New York. New American. Pittsburgh. 100%-The Efficiency Magazine. Chicago. Our Missions. Techny, Ill. Postage. New York. Prison Journal. Philadelphia. Professional Engineer. Mt. Morris, Ill. Public Health Nurse. Cleveland. Revue de Géologie et des Sciences Connexes. Liège. Sales Management. Chicago. Suffragist. Washington. Textile World. New York. Trunks, Leathergoods and Umbrellas. Philadelphia. Woman's Leader and Common Cause. London. |