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Show 348 the role of philanthropist. Yet like Olmsted, he recognized that the class of people who could enjoy Nature also had to be changed. The rich always had a monopoly on recreation, a fact which he recognized while in San Francisco during the year he spent there. The poor children of Tar Flat needed a chance at something brighter in their lives. So his long-range mission was philanthropic: "No matter into what depths of degredation humanity may sink, I will never despair while the lowest love the pure and the beautiful and know it when they see it." When Muir's invitation went out from the front page of the Bulletin, when he said, "Come to Yosemite, where all places and seasons are fine," he was in practical terms not speaking to the poor. Though he had thrifty recommendations on how to "do" the Valley, and thought it would be better still to ride up into the forests, where "perfect was the oblivion that fell upon the fever-work of the far off town," where even Yosemite "was almost forgotten," still he could appeal to the tourist with leisure, leisure only possible to the moneyed. If "Going to the mountains is going home," as he claimed, then Tuolumne Meadows was the central camping ground "for those who have a summer to spend." Who had a summer to spend? Only the leisure class, Muir knew, and he said it: "Let those contemplating health journeys to fashionable Bathesdas bear Tuolumne in mind." But then the beauty of the mountains could not be exported to the towns. In an article which announced the interesting |