Anxious to Represent of the People endeavored to guide that thought aright. McKinley He had just been re-elected to the Presidency because the majority of our citizens, the the Wishes majority of our farmers and wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully upheld their interests for four years. They felt themselves in close and intimate touch with him. They felt that he represented so well and so honorably all their ideals and aspirations that they wished him to continue for another four years to represent them.-Ibid. Worth of It is well to keep alive the memory of those The High men who are fit to serve as examples of what is loftiest and best in American citizenship. Such a man was General Sherman. To very few in any generation is it given to render such services as he rendered; but each of us in his degree can try to show something of those qualities of character upon which, in their sum, the high worth of Sherman rested, -his courage, his kindliness, his clean and simple living, his sturdy good sense, his manliness and tenderness in the intimate relations of life, and, finally, his inflexible rectitude of soul, and his loyalty to all that in this free republic is hallowed and symbolized by the national flag.-Ibid. Gouver neur Morris Able, fearless, and cultivated, deeply devoted to his people, and of much too tough Able, Fear- fibre ever to be misled into losing his affecCultivated tion for things American because of American less, and John Writers faults and shortcomings, as was and is the case with weaker natures, he was able to render distinguished service to his country. Other American ministers have been greater and more successful diplomats than Morris was; but no one has better represented those qualities of generous daring and lofty disinterestedness which we like to associate with the name American, than did the minister who, alone among the foreign ministers, kept his residence in Paris through the "Terror." He stood for order. He stood for the honest payment of debts. Unlike many of his colleagues, he was a polished man of the world, whose comments on men and things showed that curious insight and power of observation which come only when to natural ability there is added special training. Gouverneur Morris Every lover of outdoor life must feel a sense of affectionate obligation to you. Your writings appeal to all who care for the life of the woods and the fields, whether their tastes keep them in the homely, pleasant farm country or lead them into the wilderness. It is a good thing for our people that you should have lived; and surely no man can wish to have more said of him. I wish to express my hearty appreciation of your warfare against the sham nature-writersthose whom you have called "the yellow journalists of the woods. From the days of Æsop to the days of Reinecke Fuchs, and from the days of Reinecke Fuchs to the present time, there has been a distinct and attractive place in literature for those who write avowed fiction in which the heroes are animals with semihuman attributes. This fiction serves a useful purpose in many ways, even in the way of encouraging people to take the right view of outdoor life and outdoor creatures; but it is unpardonable for any observer of nature to write fiction and then publish it as truth, and he who exposes and wars against such action is entitled to respect and support. You in your own person have illustrated what can be done by the lover of nature who has trained himself to keen observation, who describes accurately what is thus observed, and who, finally, possesses the additional gift of writing with charm and interest. Outdoor Pastimes. John Burroughs vs. Sham Nature Writers A Man of Letters who was an Ideal Citizen Like so many others, I have mourned the loss of Richard Watson Gilder as one of the truest, stanchest, and most delightful of friends, and one of the best of citizens. He combined to a singular degree sweetness and courage, idealismand whole some commonsense. It may truthfully be said that he was an ideal citizen for such a democracy as ours. He was a man of letters; he was a lover of his kind, who worked in a practical fashion for the betterment of social and economic conditions; and he took keen and effective interest in our public life. No worthier American citizen has lived during our time.-Letter to Austen G. Fox. Oliver Lived up to Oliver surely strove to live up to his lights as he saw them. He never acted in levity, his Lights or from mere motives of personal aggrandizement, and he saw, with sad piercing eyes, the dangers that rolled around the path he had chosen. He acted as he did because he conscientiously felt that only thus could he meet the needs of the nation. Oliver Cromwell. |