Sketches in Duneland

BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE VOICES OF THE DUNES Quarto Boards $6.00 Net ETCHING A PRACTICAL TREATISE Crown Quarto Cloth $2.50 Net THE DUNE COUNTRY Square Octavo Cloth $3.00 Net
The Ancient
COPYRIGHT, 1918 BY JOHN LANE COMPANY THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A
To THE MEMORY OF C. C. R.
In the dune region that extends along the wild coasts of Lake Michigan, and in the back country contiguous to it, is a land of allurement.
The strange human characters, whose little drift-wood shanties are scattered along the shore, and among the sandhills, and whose isolated retreats are further inland, are difficult to become acquainted with, except in a most casual way. They look upon the chance wayfarer with suspicion and disfavor.
Readers of “The Dune Country” will remember “Old Sipes,” “Happy Cal,” and “Catfish John,” the old derelicts living along the beach, further accounts of whose “doin’s” are in the following pages. As portraits of these worthies have already appeared, they are omitted in this volume. New characters are introduced, who, it is hoped, will be, as cordially welcomed.
The region is of important historical interest. Narratives of early exploration, and primitive Indian lore associated with it, have filled many pages of American history. The Pottowattomies have gone, but the romance of the vanished race still lingers among the silent hills. While many poetic legends, of unknown antiquity, have survived the red men, the Indian stories in these pages are entirely fanciful, except as to environment.
The nature loving public will be fortunate if the organized efforts succeed, which are being made to preserve the country of the dunes as a national park. In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, the Department of the Interior, through the able assistant to the Secretary, Mr. Stephen T. Mather, has recently made an exhaustive report on the subject, which is most favorable to the project. Momentous events have, for the time being, eclipsed minor considerations, and this, as well as many other measures for the public good, must wait until the shadow of the Hun has passed.