[1] The western prairies, except in the very center of the Mississippi Valley, are beautifully rolling, and they meet every stream with deeply carved bluffs. In the early days every stream was fringed with woods; and prairie and woodland, alike, knew nothing beyond the evenly balanced contest of indigenous life. There came, however, a succession of strange epidemics, as one after another of our noxious weeds gained foothold in that fertile land. I remember well several years when dog-fennel grew in every nook and corner of my home town in Kansas; then, after a few years, a variety of thistle grew to the exclusion of every other uncultivated thing; and then followed a curious epidemic of tumble-weed, a low spreading annual which broke off at the ground in the Fall and was rolled across the open country in countless millions by the Autumn winds. I remember well my first lone "beggar louse," and how pretty I thought it was! And my first dandelion, and of that I have never changed my opinion!

[2] Road-Song of the Bander-Log.

(From Kipling's Jungle-Book.)

Here we go in a flung festoon,

Half way up to the jealous moon!

Don't you envy our pranceful bands?

Don't you wish your feet were hands?

Wouldn't you like if your tails were—so—

Curved in the shape of a cupid's bow?

Now you're angry, but—never mind—

Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

Here we sit in a branchy row,

Thinking of beautiful things we know;

Dreaming of deeds we mean to do,

All complete in a minute or two—

Something noble and grand and good,

Done by merely wishing we could.

Now we're going to—never mind—

Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

All the talk we ever have heard

Uttered by bat, or beast, or bird—

Hide or scale or skin or feather—

Jabber it quickly and altogether!

Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!

Now we are talking just like men.

Let's pretend we are—never mind—

Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

This is the way of the Monkey-kind.

Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines,

That rocket by where light and high the wild grape swings.

By the rubbish in our wake, by the noble noise we make,

Be sure, be sure, we're going to do some splendid things.

[3] The site of an abandoned zinc mine, where a few of the Bethlehem boys go to swim.

[4] Popular Science Monthly, October, 1910.

[5] Science as young people study it has two chief aspects, or in other words, it may be roughly divided into two parts, namely, the study of the things which come upon us,, as it were, and the study of the things which we deliberately devise. The things that come upon us include weather phenomena and every aspect and phase of the natural world, the things we cannot escape; and the things we devise relate chiefly to the serious work of the world, the things we laboriously build and the things we deliberately and patiently seek.

[6] See discussion on Bacon's New Engine on Page 52.

[7] Opens the mind, that is, for those things which are conformable to or consistent with the ideas. The history of science presents many cases where accepted ideas have closed the mind to contrary evidences for many generations. Let young men beware!

[8] See Page 72.

[9] A volcanic mass of rugged spurs radiating from a great central core; points and ridges rising, beautifully red, from immense fields of snow. D. and the writer call it Mt. McDonald, but having made no survey, the purely sentimental report which we could send to the map makers in Washington would not suffice as a record there.

[10] The crater of Specimen Mountain is worn away on one side by water, and the crater now forms the head of a ragged gulch. Near the head of this gulch is a slope of loose stone, as steep as loose stone can lie, which has a vertical height of 1500 or 2000 feet.

[11] Among the Greeks an idiot was a man who thought only of his private affairs, a privately minded man.

Transcriber's Notes:

Some illustrations' captions have been moved out of the paragraph.

Some text has been rejoined to correct paragraphs.

Spelling has been made consistent throughout but reflects the author's preference.

Anchors for Page Numbers placed in line for each paragraph.

Page 22, 61, and 88 are blank pages and no page anchor was provided.

Supplement to Preface was included in the Preface.

Additional pages (to face page etc.) replaces orginal page.

Footnotes were moved to the end of the book.

Footnote [8] reference to Gric should refer to page 72 not page 71

The illustration of Specimen Mountain (pg 79) was generously made available by Internet Archive.