Mr. Long, Mr. Roberts, Mr. London, Mr. Thompson-
Seton, and the rest, have told stories about animals so that the
American interest in nature might be exploited. The difference is
essential. If the "Jungle Books" teach anything it is the moral
ideals of the British Empire. But our nature romancers--a fairer
term than "fakers," since they do not willingly "fake"--teach the
background and tradition of our soil. In the process they inject
sentiment, giving us the noble desperation of the stag, the
startling wolf-longings of the dog, and the picturesque outlawry
of the ground hog,--and get a hundred readers where Thoreau got
one.
This is the same indictment as that so often brought against the
stock American novel, that it prefers the gloss of easy sentiment
to the rough, true fact, that it does not grapple direct with
things as they are in America, but looks at them through
optimist's glasses that obscure and soften the scene.
Nevertheless, I very much prefer the sentimentalized animal story
to the sentimentalized man story. The first, as narrative, may be
romantic bosh, but it does give one a loving, faithful study of
background that is worth the price that it costs in illusion.
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