. Bird-lore . ought to discover the truth but to express it. He posed no morein print than in person. He did nothing for effect; there was no playing tothe gallery and he avoided any situation where he could not be his own natural,everyday self. It is this fundamental characteristic of truthfulness in the manand in his works that have won for him an enduring place among the greatteachers. What he wrote had the unmistakable ring of honest won the confidence of his readers who found in his printed page a reflectionof the eternal verity of nature itself. It was this uncompromising l
. Bird-lore . ought to discover the truth but to express it. He posed no morein print than in person. He did nothing for effect; there was no playing tothe gallery and he avoided any situation where he could not be his own natural,everyday self. It is this fundamental characteristic of truthfulness in the manand in his works that have won for him an enduring place among the greatteachers. What he wrote had the unmistakable ring of honest won the confidence of his readers who found in his printed page a reflectionof the eternal verity of nature itself. It was this uncompromising love of truth that accentuated Burroughshatred of falsehood. What contempt and loathing he had for the so-callednature writer who, playing upon the credulity of the public, presented fictionas fact I How he scourged these nature fakers! With what righteous indigna-tion he protested against this wanton defilation of the temple of nature! Allestimates of Burroughs achievements must accept this inherent honesty as. John Burroughs 121 their cornerstone. It is not open to discussion. For the rest, so far as his placeas a naturalist is concerned, annotators will continue to compare him withGilbert White and Thoreau, Muir or even Darwin, and the comparison willshow that with each he possessed certain attributes in common. Like White, he had a strong and abiding love of the everyday life about hishome. Both found an endless source of interest and pleasure in the miracle ofthe changing seasons, the unfolding leaf and opening blossom, in the return ofthe birds. But to Burroughs in much greater measure was given the poetstemperament, the power of interpretation, and the gift of expression. His wasthe more subjective mind. Thoreau, on the other hand, had no lack of temperament, or of power tointerpret and express, but his nature was far more complex than Burroughs. Even in his journals there is frequent suggestion of pose wholly lacking inBurroughs books. He wrote as though someone were loo
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsperiodicals
