Ernest Thompson Seton

How it was that in the 10,000 years that followed that, native people largely managed to preserve biological diversity in America.

How naturalists with names like Mark Catesby, William Bartram, John James Audubon, Ernest Thompson Seton, Vernon Bailey and Florence Merriam Bailey, Adolf and Olaus Murie, Aldo Leopold, and Rachel Carson unlocked the secrets of America's wild animals.

Why, from the first, Americans were so committed by their religions and Old World traditions to destroying the continent's wolves.

Why bison aren't wild animals in modern America, and how, in the process of creating what we've long called the greatest nation on Earth, America's market-based economy made possible 400 years of the most widespread orgiastic destruction of animals in world history, and then pronounced that an act of civilization.

But when the cat played with the mouse, that was quite another thing and was never permitted.

Although no one appreciates more deeply than I the debt to which we owe Thompson Seton and writers of his kind, who have placed before the public the animal story from the animal point of view and thus set us all to thinking, yet it is certainly wrong to impress this view too strongly upon the young and sensitive child.

In fact, this process should not begin until the judgment and the understanding is well developed.

For we all know that although seeing the other fellow's standpoint is a source of strength and breadth of mind, yet living the other fellow's life is, at best, an enfeebling process and a futile waste of energy.

Through it, she may discover where the child's attention impinges upon the realm of nature, and thus may know where to find the starting point for cultivating larger intelligence and a wider interest.

I have examined many field notebooks kept by pupils in the intermediate grades and have been surprised at their plentitude of accurate observation and graphic illustration.

These books ranged from blank account books furnished by the family grocer up to a quarto, the pages of which were adorned with many marginal illustrations made in passionate admiration of Thompson Seton's books and filled with carefully transcribed text that showed the direct influence of Thoreau.

These books, of whatever quality, are precious beyond price to their owners.

But when the cat played with the mouse, that was quite another thing and was never permitted.

Although no one appreciates more deeply than I the debt to which we owe Thompson Seton and writers of his kind, who have placed before the public the animal story from the animal point of view and thus set us all to thinking, yet it is certainly wrong to impress this view too strongly upon the young and sensitive child.

In fact, this process should not begin until the judgment and the understanding is well developed.

For we all know that although seeing the other fellow's standpoint is a source of strength and breadth of mind, yet living the other fellow's life is, at best, an enfeebling process and a futile waste of energy.

Through it, she may discover where the child's attention impinges upon the realm of nature, and thus may know where to find the starting point for cultivating larger intelligence and a wider interest.

I have examined many field notebooks kept by pupils in the intermediate grades and have been surprised at their plentitude of accurate observation and graphic illustration.

These books ranged from blank account books furnished by the family grocer up to a quarto, the pages of which were adorned with many marginal illustrations made in passionate admiration of Thompson Seton's books and filled with carefully transcribed text that showed the direct influence of Thoreau.

These books, of whatever quality, are precious beyond price to their owners.