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Show 437. rather believe that there were real transcendent issues involved, But biographies of Mather, Albright, Lukens, and others, and even Wolfe's biography of Muir when it reaches the nineties, seem particularly inadequate reminders of the true spiritual significance of the struggle between preservation and conservation in the nineties and beyond. Muir always knew that a true understanding of issues required going to the mountains themselves. His best work was done when he was fortunate enough to confer with Taft, Roosevelt, Johnson, Lukens, and others, while in Yosemite. This seems hardly surprising. The Text was written there, in characters plain enough for anyone to read. Thus I am dismayed to see so many otherwise good books being written which seem to be founded on false, because humanistic, principles. They are books about men - as all books are about men - but they fail to remember that mountains are "fountains of men," and so they become books only about men. it is probably impossible to think like a mountain, but it is possible to think like a man in the mountains, and the environment makes all the difference, even in little things. Muir knew the importance of a campfire, for instance. It matters a great deal, that two nights ago I was cooking my dinner in the shadows of towering canyon walls over a fire made of oak and cedar; their taste got into my tea, and into my dreams. It matters a great deal that I slept by the Tuolumne River and heard "the sound of mountain water." And even now, when embarking on a discussion of Muir's politics |