Saturday, January 06, 2007

Woodland Walk

This essay contains the following memory of reading Wild Animals I Have Known as a child... (from nj.com)

Moving along the woodland path, I see a rotted tree stump. It is in the final stages of decay, provid ing a winter home for a hibernating ground hog and countless insect residents. That old stump once supported a huge Norway Maple. I recall Joyce Kilmer's classic poem as I pass by:

A tree that may in summer wear, a nest of robins in her hair ...

And indeed it did. I remember the boy who climbed up to its farthest limits, and in his curiosity, caused the limb to spill out four blue eggs. I remember how pangs of conscience pained him for his terrible deed; albeit an accident.

That old stump once supported the tree I used to sit under as I read "Wild Animals I Have Known" and many of the other wonderful wildlife stories of Ernest Thompson Seton.

Read it all at http://www.nj.com/living/times/community/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1168060142299560.xml&coll=5

1 comment:

pwax said...

I have lots or memories of reading Seton. Probably the most imporant one is the phrase "What you seek is seeking for you". This means that the more you pursue an interest the more you are rewarded by it. I take this as a philosophy of life.

I think Seton used the phrase somewhere in his books about tracking, but I cannot find the exact reference.