The editors of this volume have been struck many times with
the element of grouping that seems to have asserted itself in
Wisconsin literary efforts, as in those of America, or
England, or perhaps any country. Centers seem to be formed
from which radiate light and glow of literary activities.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, was the great literary center of
our country in the middle fifty years of the nineteenth
century. The Lake Region was such a center for English
production in the preceding fifty years. In Wisconsin,
naturally enough, the University has been the fountain from
which has flowed much that is most worth-while in the
literature of our state. It should be noted that not only
those who are formally grouped here with the University as
their center may justly be thought to be vitally indebted to
that institution for the impulse to write. Among the authors
first mentioned in this book, John Muir, Zona Gale, Mrs.
Willsie, and Professor Sanford all were students at the
University, and no doubt were profoundly influenced by their
Alma Mater.
The next most important source of inspiration to our authors
seems to have been our rivers. The beautiful bluffs bordering
the Mississippi; the charm and grace of the sweeping lines of
Lake Pepin; the tumbling, rushing waters of the Wisconsin,
with their thickly-wooded hills and their green slopes of
prairie and their October sunsets, seen through crimson oak
and maple leaves; or the numerous falls of the upper
Fox,--all have stirred the hearts of the fortunate people
privileged to live within their influence. Hence, at Stevens
Point, La Crosse, Appleton, and a few other cities in the
state with similar surroundings, we have a literature with
charming local flavor.
Elsewhere we quote Mr. Howard M. Jones's "When Shall We
Together," which faithfully depicts the "river feeling" of
those who love the Father of Waters.
We desire to acquaint our readers, at this point, however,
with a brief excerpt from what is perhaps the most careful
and faithful depiction of the Mississippi itself,--Mr.
Merrick's "Old Times on the Upper Mississippi." The author
lived for many years amid the scenes that he depicts, and for
nine years was a pilot on an upper Mississippi boat. The
romance and adventure of that life helped more to rouse and
challenge the imagination than any other single feature of
early pioneer days, and Mr. Merrick, though now what many
would consider "pretty well along in years," is still young
enough in the remembrance of those days. Like many another
hard-working pioneer, he caught the spirit of his work, and
he here has faithfully set down the most careful record of
river annals in existence, from a historical standpoint, and
at the same time one which grips the interest of the reader.