RAMBLES WITH JOHN BURROUGHS

R. J. H. De LOACH

Illustrated with photographs by the Author

RICHARD G. BADGER

THE GORHAM PRESS
BOSTON

Copyright 1912 by Richard G. Badger
All Rights Reserved

The Gorham Press, Boston, Mass.

To
THE DEAR OLD
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
and her Noble faculty who have ever inspired me
I dedicate this little volume

PREFACE

There is a longing in every student'slife some time or other to share hispleasure with the world, and if hehappens to find himself in the properenvironment he cannot forego that pleasure. Hisstudies, his anxieties, his loves and his devotionsare a part of him and he cannot give himself tothe world without giving these.

My personal contact with John Burroughs hasmeant a great deal to me and these papers representin a measure what I have enjoyed, thoughthey come far short of what I would like them tobe. Some of them were written among hisnative hills and it is hoped they will give theflavor of his own experiences. Others werewritten at odd times on trains, on boats, and inmy study here, where I have enjoyed re-readingso many times his essays on Nature. Thequalities of the man and his papers have alwaysmade a direct appeal to me, and I love to comein 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 scrapbook and studied them. Their simplicity andbeauty combined with their perfect rhythmimpressed me and almost at one reading I wasable to remember them line for line.[6]

The names of Burroughs and Whitman areforever linked together and one can hardly thinkof one in certain relations without thinking ofthe other. To the literary public they havemany ideals in common, and their bonds of sympathyhave been knit together forever in Burroughsessays. To be associated with Burroughsis therefore to get many interesting and valuablehints on the life and works of Whitman.While I write this preface Mr. Burroughs talkswith me in the evenings on the possible futureinfluence of Whitman on American literary methodsand criticism. The reader will not be surprisedtherefore, 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 verybest one. In writing the papers, I have had inmind only just what he has meant to me. Howhe has affected me and changed the course of mylife. How he has given me new eyes with whichto see, new ears with which to hear, and a newheart with which to love God's great out-o'-doors.

Athens, Ga. January, 1911.

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