"
Occasionally he is a little severe with a correspondent, especially
if one makes a preposterous statement, or draws absurd conclusions
from faulty observations. But he is always fair. The following
letter explains itself:--
Your first note concerning my cat and hog story made me as mad as a
hornet, which my reply showed. Your second note has changed me into
a lamb, as nearly as a fellow of seventy-five can become one. . . .
I have read, I think, every book you ever wrote, and do not let any
production of yours escape me; and I have a little pile of framed
copies of your inimitable "My Own" to diffuse among people at
Christmas; and all these your writings make me wonder and shed
metaphorical tears to think that you are such a heretic about
reason in animals. But even Homer nods; and it is said
Roosevelt has moments of silence. S. C. B.
The questions his readers propound are sometimes very amusing. A
physician of thirty years' practice asks in all seriousness how
often the lions bring forth their young, and whether it is true
that there is a relation between the years in which they breed
and the increased productivity of human beings. One correspondent
begs Mr. Burroughs to tell him how he and his wife and Theodore
Roosevelt fold their hands (as though the last-named ever folded
his), declaring he can read their characters with surprising
accuracy if this information is forthcoming.
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