Under The Apple Trees

UNDER THE APPLE-TREES BY . JOHN BURROUGHS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUCrHTON MIFPLIN COMPAN 1916 JOHN BURRonJJIS From sttfdicttr by, A 1 . Iicfro PREFACE I AM quite certain that the majority of my read ers would have me always stick to natural his tory themes. I sympathize with them. I am myself never so well pleased as when I can bring them a fresh bit of natural history, or give them a day with me in the fields and woods or along the murmuring streams. Birds and squirrels come home to us al in a way that speculative ideas do not. While writ ing my more philosophical dissertations, my mind often turns longingly toward the simple outdoor subjects which have engaged me so many years s and doubtless the mind of my reader does also when he is perusing them. But one cannot always choose at such times. Natural history is a matter of obser vation it is a harvest which you gather when and where you find it growing. Birds and squirrels and flowers are not always in season, but philosophy we have always with us. It is a crop which we can grow and reap at all times and in all places, and it has its own value and brings its own satisfaction. We are all philosophers, we all delight in finding the reason of things and in tracing the relation of things, and to know, for instance, what part chance plays in our lives, and what part is played by rigid law, is a worthy and engaging problem. I do not y PREFACE flatter myself that I can resolve it, or any oilier similar question, but I find the effort stimulating, and now and then I get a gleam of light. We live in a wonderful world, and the wonders of the world without us are matched and more than matched by the wonders of the world within us, This interiorworld has its natural history also, and to observe and record any of its facts and incidents, or trace any of its natural processes, is well worthy of our best moments. I have given the name of the initial chapter, Under the Apple-Trees, to the whole collection, because most of the essays were written in my camp under the trees, in the old orchard where I gathered apples as a farm-boy. The wild life about me appealed to my love of natural history, while thoughts and suggestions from beyond the horizon occupied my more philosophical meditations. JOHN BURROUGHS. CONTENTS I. UNDER THE APPLE-TREES . . . . . 1 II. THE FRIENDLY ROCKS ...... 40 HI. THE MASTER INSTINCT . 65 IV. DAME NATURE AND HER CHILDREN . . 82 V. OLD FRIENDS IN NEW PIACES . 90 VI. THE STILL SMALL VOICE . .... 105 VII. NATURE LEAVES . . . . . . .112 I. IN WAEBLKH TIME v . ., .112 II. A SHORT WALK . . . .110 III. IN 8OTJTHEBN CALIFORNIA ., . . .117 IV. ABB THERE COtTNTEBFEITS IN NATTOE . . 121 VOL THE PEIMAL MIND ...... 125 IX. FATEI TO BE FREE ..... . 142 X, SCIENTIFIC FAITH ONCE MORE, . 159 XI. LlTEEATUBE AND SCIENCE . 176 XII. 4i A FKOPHBT OF THE SOUL 197 XIII. LIFE AND CHANCE ...... 28 XIV. LIFE TOE TKAYELBK vli CONTENTS XV. GKEAT QUESTIONS m LITTLE . 289 I. THE ETHBB ........ 28 II. NATUKAL SELECTION . . . . . .291 III. SPECULATION AND BXFEBIMKNT . . 29U IV. EARLY MAN ........ 295 V. ASTRONOMIC GEANDEUB . . .,297 VI. WffT AND HOW ...... 300 VII. LIMITATIONS OP SCI352NCE . . . . .301 VIII. BEGINNINGS ........ 303 IX. EVOLUTION ........ SOCI X. AN UNKNOWN FACTOB . SOS INDEX . 309 UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 1 PART I THERE are few places on the farm where there Is so much live natural history to be gathered as in the orchard. Allthe wild creatures seem to feel the friendly and congenial atmosphere of the or chard. The trees bear a crop of birds, if not of apples, every season. Few are the winged visitors from distant climes that do not, sooner or Iater 9 tarry a bit in the orchard. Many birds, such as the robin, the chippy, the hummingbird, the cedar-bird, the goldfinch, and some of the flycatchers, nest there. The great crested flycatcher loves the old hollow limbs, and the little red owl often, lives in a cavity in the trunk...