CHAPTER VIII
TO THE TEACHER
In “Winter” I put a chapter called “The Missing Tooth,” showing the dark and bitter side of the life of the wild things; here I have taken that thought as most people think of it (see Burroughs’s essay, “A Life of Fear” in “Riverby”) and in the light of typical examples tried to show that wild life is not fear, but peace and joy. The kernel of the chapter is found in the words: “The level of wild life, the soul of all nature, is a great serenity.” Let the pupils watch and report instances of fear (easy to see) and in the same animals instances of peace and joy.
FOR THE PUPIL
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gray harrier: so named because of his habit of flying low and “harrying,” that is, hunting, catching small prey on or near the ground. “Harry” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for army.
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“He looketh as it were a grym leoun”: from Chaucer’s description of the Cock in the story of the Cock and the Fox.
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terrible pike: closely related to the pickerel.
kingfisher: builds in holes in sand-banks near water. Its peculiar rattle sounds like the small boys’ “clapper.”
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“The present only toucheth thee!”: Burns’s poem “To a Mouse.”
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“The fair music that all creatures made”: from Milton’s poem “To a Solemn Music,” “solemn” meaning “orchestral” music.
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then doubling once more: This is all figurative language. I am thinking of myself as the fox. The dogs have run themselves to death on my trail, and I am turning back, “doubling,” to have a look at them and to rejoice over their defeat.
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pine marten: The marten is so rare in this neighborhood that I am inclined to think the creature was the large weasel.
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the heavy bar across their foreheads: a very unusual way of yoking oxen in the United States. The only team I ever saw here so yoked.
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San Francisco: alluding to the earthquake and fire which nearly wiped out the city in 1906.