"I have no genius for making gifts," Mr. Burroughs once said to me,
but how his works belie his words! In these letters, and in many others
which his unknown friends have received from him, are gifts of rare
worth, while his life itself has been a benefaction to us all.
One day in recounting some of the propitious things which have come to
him all unsought, he said: "How fortunate I have always been! My name
should have been 'Felix.'" But since "John" means "the gracious gift of
God," we are content that he was named John Burroughs.