almost everything that boys do, except making a racket.

Youth and age have not much to do with years. You are young so
long as you keep your interest in things and relish your daily
bread. The world is "full of a number of things," and they are
all very interesting.

As the years pass I think my interest in this huge globe upon which
we live, and in the life which it holds, deepens. An active interest
in life keeps the currents going and keeps them clear. Mountain
streams are young streams; they sing and sparkle as they go, and our
lives may be the same. With me, the secret of my youth in age is the
simple life--simple food, sound sleep, the open air, daily work, kind
thoughts, love of nature, and joy and contentment in the world in
which I live. No excesses, no alcoholic drinks, no tobacco, no tea
or coffee, no stimulants stronger than water and food.

I have had a happy life. I have gathered my grapes with the bloom
upon them. May you all do the same.

With all good wishes,
John Burroughs


"I have no genius for making gifts," Mr. Burroughs once said to
me, but how his works belie his words! In these letters, and in
many others which his unknown friends have received from him, are
gifts of rare worth, while his life itself has been a benefaction
to us all.