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Show 481. he remembered when he wrote Breaking New Ground, over fifty years later, that Muir had not fished because "He said fishing wasted too much time," and Muir wouldn't let Pinchot kill a tarantula at the Grand Canyon, because it had its own rights. Still later, Muir enjoyed the company of Theodore Roosevelt, despite the obvious differences in their concepts of wilderness manners. If Robert Underwood Johnson's memoirs are accurate, Muir even lectured Theodore Roosevelt on the "boyishness of killing things," though it is unlikely that he unleashed the full fury of which he was capable. One can imagine Muir laughing and teasing Roosevelt, "Now just because you're a short fellow, there's no reason to go around with a big gun killing stronger and wilder citizens of the universe, Teddy." Maybe he did. But Muir got along well with Roosevelt, and was favorably disposed toward the man as a result of their three-day camping trip. Muir had great faith in the powers of Nature to redeem even Presidents, and he was willing to put that faith to the test. All of this suggests that Muir was thoroughly sincere in 1895 when he told the Sierra Club, Few are altogether deaf to the preaching of pine-trees. Their sermons on the mountains go to our hearts; and if people in general could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish. |