Trail of an Artist-Naturalist

Ernest Thompson Seton

Description

“Trail of an Artist-Naturalist” is the 1940 Autobiography of Ernest Thompson Seton. Ernest Thompson Seton (1860 – 1946) was an English author and wildlife artist who founded the Woodcraft Indians in 1902. He was also among the founding members of the Boy Scouts of America, established in 1910. He wrote profusely on this subject, the most notable of his scouting literature including “The Birch Bark Roll” and the “Boy Scout Handbook”. Seton was also an early pioneer of animal fiction writing, and he is fondly remembered for his charming book “Wild Animals I Have Known” (1898). This volume constitutes a fascinating look into the life of a person who played an important role in the environmental and naturalist movement of a young North America, and it is not to be missed by those with an interest in the history of American Scouting. Other notable works by this author include: “Lobo, Rag and Vixen” (1899), “Two Little Savages” (1903), and “Animal Heroes” (1911). Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

Sujets

• Special Interest
• Literary
• Travel

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 14 juillet 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528767149
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

TRAIL OF AN ARTIST-NATURALIST
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
with illustrations by the author
Copyright 2017 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Ernest Thompson Seton
Ernest Thompson Seton was born on 14 th August 1860, in South Shields, County Durham, England. He grew up to be a pioneering author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, and one of the originators of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).
The Seton family emigrated to Canada when Ernest was just six years old, and most of his childhood was consequently spent in Toronto. As a youth, he retreated to the woods to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father - a practice which shaped the rest of his adult life. On his twenty-first birthday, Seton s father presented him with a bill for all the expenses connected with his childhood and youth, including the fee charged by the doctor who delivered him. He paid the bill, but never spoke to his father again.
Originally known as Ernest Evan Thompson, Ernest changed his name to Ernest Thompson Seton, believing that Seton had been an important name in his paternal line. He became successful as a writer, artist and naturalist, and moved to New York City to further his career. Seton later lived at Wyndygoul , an estate that he built in Cos Cob, a section of Greenwich, Connecticut. After experiencing vandalism by some local youths, Seton invited the young miscreants to his estate for a weekend, where he told them what he claimed were stories of the American Indians and of nature.
After this experience, he formed the Woodcraft Indians (an American youth programme) in 1902 and invited the local youth to join (at first just boys, but later girls as well). The stories that Seton told became a series of articles written for the Ladies Home Journal , and were eventually collected in The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians in 1906. Seton also met Scouting s founder, Lord Baden-Powell, in 1906. Baden-Powell had read Seton s book of stories, and was greatly intrigued by it. After the pair had met and shared ideas, Baden-Powell went on to found the Scouting movement worldwide, and Seton became vital in the foundation of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and was its first Chief Scout (from 1910 - 1915). Despite this large achievement, Seton quickly became embroiled in disputes with the BSA s other founders, Daniel Carter Beard and James E. West.
In addition to disputes about the content of Seton s contributions to the Boy Scout Handbook, conflicts also arose about the suffrage activities of his wife, Grace, and his British citizenship (it being an American organization). In his personal life, Seton was married twice. The first time was to Grace Gallatin in 1896, with whom he had one daughter, Ann (who later changed her name to Anya), and secondly to Julia M. Buttree, with whom he adopted an infant daughter, Beulah (who also changed her first name, to Dee). Alongside his work with the Woodcraft Indians and the BSA, Seton also found time to pursue his primary interest - that of nature writing.
Seton was an early pioneer of animal fiction writing, his most popular work being Wild Animals I Have Known (1898), which contains the story of his killing of the wolf Lobo. He later became involved in a literary debate known as the nature fakers controversy, after John Burroughs published an article in 1903 in the Atlantic Monthly attacking writers of sentimental animal stories. The controversy lasted for four years and included important American environmental and political figures of the day, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Seton was also associated with the Santa Fe arts and literary community during the mid-1930s and early 1940s, which comprised a group of artists and authors including author and artist Alfred Morang, sculptor and potter Clem Hull, painter Georgia O Keeffe, painter Randall Davey, painter Raymond Jonson, leader of the Transcendental Painters Group, and artist Eliseo Rodriguez.
In 1931, Seton became a United States citizen. He died on 23 rd October, 1946 (aged eighty-six) in Seton Village in northern New Mexico. Seton was cremated in Albuquerque. In 1960, in honour of his 100th birthday and the 350th anniversary of Santa Fe, his daughter Dee and his grandson, Seton Cottier (son of Anya), in a fitting tribute to the man who loved his surrounding countryside so much, scattered his ashes over Seton Village from an airplane.
TRAIL OF AN ARTIST-NATURALIST
by
ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
author of
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY
WILD ANIMALS AT HOME
WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN
LIVES OF THE HUNTED
WILD ANIMAL WAYS
WOODLAND TALES
THE TRAIL OF THE SANDHILL STAG
CHINK and Other Stories
FOAM RAZORBACK and Other Stories
LOBO and Other Stories
RAGGYLUG and Other Stories
OLD SILVER GRIZZLE
BILLY THE DOG THAT MADE GOOD
JOHNNY BEAR and Other Stories

THE BEST OF ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
A collection of the most famous wild animal stories by the world s most popular naturalist
From a photograph copyright by Jane Hardcastle
E RNEST T HOMPSON S ETON , 1936
CONTENTS
PART I
CHILDHOOD
I.
T HE M OULD THAT S HAPED THE M IND
II.
A N EW H OME IN C ANADA
III.
P IONEER L ESSONS
IV.
L OG - FIRE M EMORIES
V.
F RONTIER L IFE
VI.
O LD D UKE
VII.
S PRING AMONG THE W ILD T HINGS
VIII.
P RIMITIVE H OME L IFE
PART II
BOYHOOD
IX.
T ORONTO S CHOOL - DAYS
X.
T HE C REATIVE U RGE
XI.
C HANGING S CHOOLS
XII.
W ILD L IFE IN A C ITY
XIII.
T ORONTO M ARSH AND I SLAND
XIV.
P ARADISE
XV.
B ACK TO THE O LD F ARM
XVI.
I N THE B ACKWOODS
XVII.
B EGINNINGS IN A RT
PART III
YOUTH
XVIII.
L IFE IN L ONDON
XIX.
H OME A GAIN
XX.
W ESTWARD B OUND
XXI.
T HE L AND OF M Y D REAMS
XXII.
S PRINGTIME ON THE P RAIRIES
XXIII.
F IELD N OTES
XXIV.
R EADING THE T RAIL
PART IV
MY GOLDEN DAYS
XXV.
B IRD A DVENTURES
XXVI.
O N THE A SSINIBOINE
XXVII.
I N N EW Y ORK
XXVIII.
F REEDOM AND J OY
XXIX.
T HE M OOSE - HUNT
PART V
FROM PRAIRIES TO PARIS
XXX.
E AST A GAIN
XXXI.
P ARIS AND A RT
XXXII.
B ACK TO THE W EST
PART VI
AMONG THE WOLVES
XXXIII.
T HE P LAINS OF THE C URRUMPAW
XXXIV.
T HE D UDE AMONG THE C OW - HANDS
XXXV.
L OBO, THE K ING W OLF
PART VII
PARIS AND THE PRAIRIES
XXXVI.
M ARRIED
XXXVII.
M Y F IRST B OOKS AND L ECTURES
XXXVIII.
T HE P ACING M USTANG
XXXIX.
J OHN B URROUGHS
XL.
T HE W OODCRAFT M OVEMENT

L E NVOI
APPENDIX

T HE N AME OF S ETON
P OEMS
I NDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
E RNEST T HOMPSON S ETON , 1936
C HIPPING S PARROW
T HE A UTHOR AT F OURTEEN Y EARS OF A GE
T HE A UTHOR AT T WENTY - ONE Y EARS OF A GE
P OTATO -M ILL
R ABBIT
P LEASE GIVE ME A P EANUT
M AP OF T ORONTO I SLAND AND M ARSH IN 1870, DRAWN FROM MEMORY IN 1930
C LAW OF G ALLINULE
F RONT OF C ABIN IN G LENYAN
S ELF -P ORTRAIT OF E RNEST T HOMPSON S ETON , 1879
S HRIKE
P IGEON F ALCON
A S AMPLE P AGE OF THE A UTHOR S K EY TO F AMILIES AND G ENERA OF C ANADIAN B IRDS
T HE A UTHOR S K EY TO THE B IRDS OF P REY
B IRD F LOCK F ORMS
D RAWING OF A H AND, ILLUSTRATING THE A UTHOR S C AREFUL AND M INUTE M ETHODS
T HE W INNIPEG W OLF
T AILS OF B REWER S B LACKBIRD DURING VARIOUS S TAGES OF G ROWTH
D OG , F OX AND C AT T RACKS IN THE S NOW
F OX T RACKS IN THE S NOW
F OX T RACKS TRAILING P RAIRIE C HICKENS
S ONG S PARROW
M EADOW L ARK DRAWN THROUGH A T ELESCOPE
T RACKS IN THE S NOW MADE BY A C OTTONTAIL
T HE A UTHOR TRIES TO S TALK A F OX INTO THE B USHES
S PEAR - GRASS
S PRING ON C HASKA -W ATER
T HE T HUNDER M OON (J ULY ) ON C HASKA - WATER
S MOKING D AYS ON C HASKA - WATER (A UTUMN )
C HRISTMAS ON C HASKA - WATER -T HE D EMON D ANCE
A S KUNK
T HE F OX AND THE G ROUSE
T HE W OLVES T RIUMPH
W INNIPEG W OLF
M OTHER P ANTHER AND B ROOD OF F OUR C UBS
C ARBERRY B UCK
T HE T RAIL WITH H IDDEN T RAPS
B EAR C UB
M Y S HANTY ON THE Y ELLOWSTONE
A NTELOPE P OSES
S ILVERSPOT
T HE O RIGINAL W ILD R OCK D OVE AND SOME OF ITS D OMESTIC D ESCENDANTS
C AT AND C OTTONTAIL
S ETON C ASTLE
PART I
Childhood
I
THE MOULD THAT SHAPED THE MIND
IN the north of England, sixty-odd miles south of the Scottish Border, is the famous river Tyne, running easterly to empty into the North Sea. Nine miles up this is the great commercial city of Newcastle; and at the mouth of this river is the seaport of South Shields, famous for its harbour, its commerce, and its vast exports of coal. This was the home of my people, although nearly all were of Scottish origin. They had fled from Scotland after risking all and losing all in the Stuart Rebellion of 1745. Most were here hiding under assumed names and were slowly re-establishing t