Joseph Cornell - John Muir: My Life with Nature

By Joseph Cornell

Author, Sharing Nature with Children

Illustrations by Elizabeth Ann Kelley
and Christopher Canyon

A Sharing Nature with Children Book

Dawn Publications

Dedication

May we all, like John Muir,
feel a spirit of wonder and joy in the natural world. Joseph Cornell

Copyright 2000 Joseph Cornell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted to any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Muir, John, 1838-1914.

John Muir : my life with nature / [compiled] by Joseph Cornell.
1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: A biography of the man known as father of Americas national parks and an influential conservationist, told in the first person, using Muirs own words.

ISBN 1-58469-009-7 (pbk.)

1. Muir, John, 1838-1914Juvenile literature. 2. NaturalistsUnited

StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. ConservationistsUnited

StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. [1. Muir, John, 1838-1914. 2.

Naturalists. 3. Conservationists.] I. Title: My life with nature.
II. Cornell, Joseph Bharat. III. Title.

QH31.M9 A3 2000

333.72092dc2100-008827

DAWN Publications

12402 Bitney Springs Road

Nevada City, CA 95959

800-545-7475

Email: nature@DawnPub.com

Website: www.DawnPub.com

Cover design by Elizabeth Ann Kelley

Design and computer production by Andrea Miles

Table of Contents

A Note from the Author4

I. Free As the Wind5

II.Backwoods Genius11

III.Only Wild Beauty16

IV.Favorite Animals22

V.Forever a Mountaineer27

VI.Snow Flowers, Ice Rivers and a Dog36

VII.Make the Mountains Glad45

VIII.Fellow Mortals52

IX.Natures Goodness57

Explore More62

Be True to Yourself63

One Large Family65

Joy in the Midst of Hardship66

This Whole Wide Beautiful World67

True Wealth71

What is the Secret of it All?72

John Muir: Who Was He?73

Close to Nature74

Further Reading76

A s a boy I was fond of everything that was wild. And all my life Ive grown fonder and fonder of wild places and wild creatures. Fortunately, around my native town of Dunbar, by the stormy North Sea, there was plenty of wildness. My playmates and I were as wild as the land itself. We loved to wander by the sea and through the fields to hear the birds sing. We often would run long races through the countryside, to see who was fastest. Or wed walk along the seashore and gaze in wonder at the shells and seaweed, eels and crabs. Best of all we liked to watch the winter storm-waves crash against the rocky shore.

In the spring we stood for hours enjoying the singing and soaring of the skylarks. From the grass where the nest was hidden, the male would suddenly rise as if shot up into the air. Hovering at thirty or forty feet, hed pour down the most delicious melody: sweet, clear and strong. Then he would soar higher and higher until lost to sight. To test our eyes, we watched the lark until he was but a faint speck in the sky. I see him yet! we would cry, I see him yet! Finally he would soar beyond all our sight, although we could still hear his glorious music. Then suddenly stopping, the singer would appear, falling like a bolt straight down to his nest.

One of our best playgrounds was the famous old Dunbar Castle. We tried to see who could climb the highest on the crumbling peaks and crags.

A favorite playground of mine was the abandoned Dunbar Castle, which was over a thousand years old. My friends and I would climb its crumbling walls to see how high we could go. If we did something that tested our courage or daring, we called it a scootcher.

One day when I was about nine, we discovered a way into the dungeons below the castle walls. When we came to a dark, deep pit, the other boys were too afraid to go in. I handed my small candle to a friend and lowered myself over the edge. Carefully I made my way down the rough rock walls. In the blackness I couldnt see the bottomthe hole seemed to go on forever. My friends kept calling, Are you doon, Johnnie, are you doon!? But I couldnt answer, because I was concentrating so hard on finding safe handholds and footholds. Finally I reached the bottom and called out, Aye, Im doon! They were greatly relieved, and when I finally climbed up again, they shouted, Hurrah for Johnnie! This was the greatest scootcher of them all!

One evening when I was eleven, my father announced to my brother David and me, Boys, you dont need to learn your lessons tonight, for were going to America in the morning! We were thrilled by the news, because wed been reading about the wonders of the American wilderness in school.

Pure wildernesshow utterly happy it made us! Nature streaming into us, teaching her glorious living lessons.