AMERICAN NATURE WRITERS
Toward spring clubs which have taken a heavy subject all winter will
enjoy a program of ten meetings on our own writers about nature. The
life of each should first be fully studied, and there may be many
readings from books.
The story of John James Audubon is as interesting as the most romantic
novel. Study this in full and describe his great book, "Birds of
America"; read from his granddaughter's (Maria B. Audubon) "Life of
Audubon" (Scribner).
Henry David Thoreau is a unique figure in our literary history. Read
some of his poems; also Stevenson's sketch in "Familiar Studies;" and
from "Thoreau," by F. B. Sanborn (Houghton Mifflin Co.).
John Burroughs is the most popular of our nature writers. Read "Wake
Robin," "Birds and Poets," and "Indoor Studies" (Houghton Mifflin Co.).
John Muir though not an American by birth, was our chief scientific
writer about nature. Read from "The Mountains of California" (Century
Co.); "Our National Parks" (Houghton Mifflin Co.).
Stewart Edward White writes of the mountains and forests. Read: "The
Forest" (Doubleday, Page), and "The Pass" (Outing Co.).
Select chapters from Ernest Thompson Seton's "The Biography of a
Grizzly" (Century Co.), "Lives of the Hunted" (Scribner).
Read from Theodore Roosevelt's "The Hunting Trips of a Ranchman,"
"Hunting the Grizzly" (Putnam), and "Good Hunting" (Harper).
Read briefly of Henry C. McCook's life, and then from "Nature's
Craftsmen" (Harper), and "Tenants of an Old Farm" (Jacobs).
Read selections from the books of Mabel Osgood Wright and Olive Thorne
Miller.
Have readings from "The Nature Lovers' Treasury," by Carrie T. Lowell
(The Page Company).