diverted to become
a case of sympathy and interest with nature and mankind." That this
sensibility in Mr. Burroughs has been so diverted, all who are familiar
with his widespread influence on our national life and literature will
agree.

In a bright descriptive article written a few years ago, Miss Isabel
Moore dispels some preconceived and erroneous notions about Mr.
Burroughs, and shows him as he is--a man keenly alive to the human
nature and life around him. "The boys and girls buzzed about him," she
says, "as bees about some peculiarly delectable blossom. He walked with
them, talked with them, entranced them... the most absolutely human
person I have ever met--a born comrade, if there ever was one; in daily
life a delightful acquaintance as well as a philosopher and poet and
naturalist, and a few other things." She describes him riding with a lot
of young people on a billowy load of hay; going to a ball-game, at which
no boy there enjoyed the contest more, or was better informed as to the
points of the game. "Verily," she says, "he has what Bjornson called
'the child in the heart.'"

It is the "child in the heart," and, in a way, the "child" in his books,
that accounts for his wide appeal. He often says he can never think of
his books as _works_, because so much play went into the making of them.
He has gone out of doors in a holiday spirit, has had a good time, has
never lost the boy's relish for his outings, and has been so blessed
with the gift of expression that his own delight is communicated to his
reader.

And always it is the man behind the book that makes the widest appeal.
In 1912, a Western architect, in correspondence with the writer
concerning recent essays of Mr. Burroughs, said:--

I have had much pleasure and soul-help in reading and re-reading "The
Summit of the Years." In this, and in "All's Well with the World," is
mirrored the very soul of the gentlest, the most lovable man-character I
have ever come across in literature or life....To me all his books, from
"Wake-Robin" to "Time and Change," radiate the most joyous optimism....
During the past month I have devoted my evenings to re-reading
(them).... He has always meant a great deal more to me than merely
intellectual pleasure, and, next to Walt Whitman, has helped me to keep
my life as nearly open to the influences of outdoors and the stars as
may be in a dweller in a large town.

As I write, a letter comes from a Kansas youth, now a g