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Show 412, Americans could do the same. He would show his readers where and how to look, but not the magical thing itself. He was developing a public image of the trustworthy guide. What does the good guide do for us in the mountains? He does more than show us where to go or how to climb. He does more than ensure our safety. If he is a real guide, he becomes himself our example. For Muir to do this, he needed to accept the responsibility for making himself the hero of his narrative, in spite of his natural inclination toward self-effacement. Johnson had made him see that his "own personal private self" could be a useful device in making the public see the value of the wilderness. Yet his aim always was to make the reader come to his own discoveries. Just as he had seduced Johnson into his own observations, so he tried to show the reader that the primary, the hidden teacher, was Nature. Muir learned by careful observation, and so must his reader. So he tried to draw attention away from himself, to the phenomena worth seeing. He had been baptized in the waters of Yosemite, and would in turn baptize his readers. THE WATERS OF YOSEMITE Johnson's strategy required two essays, one visionary, the other practical. The first article, "to attract general attention," really did a good deal more than publicizing, since Muir had to teach his readers how to see the wilderness. |