Wilderness Ways

Wilderness Ways

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilderness Ways, by William J Long
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Wilderness Ways
Author: William J Long
Illustrator: Charles Copeland
Release Date: May 31, 2005 [EBook #15950]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
WILDERNESS WAYS ***

Produced by Ted Garvin, Melissa Er-Raqabi, Sankar Viswanathan and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.

[Illustration: frontispiece]

WILDERNESS WAYS
BY
WILLIAM J. LONG

SECOND SERIES

BOSTON, U.S.A.
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
The Athenæum Press
1900

TO KILLOOLEET, Little Sweet-Voice, who shares my camp and
makes sunshine as I work and play.

PREFACE.
The following sketches, like the "Ways of Wood Folk," are the result of
many years of personal observation in the woods and fields. They are
studies of animals, pure and simple, not of animals with human motives
and imaginations.
Indeed, it is hardly necessary for genuine interest to give human traits
to the beasts. Any animal is interesting enough as an animal, and has
character enough of his own, without borrowing anything from man--as
one may easily find out by watching long enough.
Most wild creatures have but small measure of gentleness in them, and
that only by instinct and at short stated seasons. Hence I have given
both sides and both kinds, the shadows and lights, the savagery as well
as the gentleness of the wilderness creatures.
It were pleasanter, to be sure, especially when you have been deeply
touched by some exquisite bit of animal devotion, to let it go at that,
and to carry with you henceforth an ideal creature.
But the whole truth is better--better for you, better for children--else
personality becomes confused with mere animal individuality, and love
turns to instinct, and sentiment vaporizes into sentimentality.
This mother fox or fish-hawk here, this strong mother loon or lynx that
to-day brings the quick moisture to your eyes by her utter devotion to
the little helpless things which great Mother Nature gave her to care for,
will to-morrow, when they are grown, drive those same little ones with
savage treatment into the world to face its dangers alone, and will turn
away from their sufferings thereafter with astounding indifference.
It is well to remember this, and to give proper weight to the word, when
we speak of the love of animals for their little ones.
I met a bear once--but this foolish thing is not to be imitated--with two
small cubs following at her heels. The mother fled into the brush; the

cubs took to a tree. After some timorous watching I climbed after the
cubs, and shook them off, and put them into a bag, and carried them to
my canoe, squealing and appealing to the one thing in the woods that
could easily have helped them. I was ready enough to quit all claims
and to take to the brush myself upon inducement. But the mother had
found a blueberry patch and was stuffing herself industriously.
And I have seen other mother bears since then, and foxes and deer and
ducks and sparrows, and almost all the wild creatures between, driving
their own offspring savagely away. Generally the young go of their
own accord as early as possible, knowing no affection but only
dependence, and preferring liberty to authority; but more than once I
have been touched by the sight of a little one begging piteously to be
fed or just to stay, while the mother drove him away impatiently.
Moreover, they all kill their weaklings, as a rule, and the burdensome
members of too large a family. This is not poetry or idealization, but
just plain animal nature.
As for the male animals, little can be said truthfully for their devotion.
Father fox and wolf, instead of caring for their mates and their
offspring, as we fondly imagine, live apart by themselves in utter
selfishness. They do nothing whatever for the support or instruction of
the young, and are never suffered by the mothers to come into the den,
lest they destroy their own little ones. One need not go to the woods to
see this; his own stable or kennel, his own dog or cat will be likely to
reveal the startling brutality at the first good opportunity.
An indiscriminate love for all animals, likewise, is not the best
sentiment to cultivate toward creation. Black snakes in a land of birds,
sharks in the bluefish rips, rabbits in Australia, and weasels everywhere
are out of place in the present economy of nature. Big owls