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Title: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth
Author: John Muir
Release date: May 9, 2006 [eBook #18359]
Most recently updated: July 15, 2022
Language: English
Credits: Juliet Sutherland, Jeannie Howse and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF MY BOYHOOD AND YOUTH ***
Transcriber’s Note:
A number of words have been inconsistently hyphenated in this text.
For a complete list, please see the end of this document.
THE STORY OF MY BOYHOOD AND YOUTH
BY
John Muir
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SKETCHES
BY THE AUTHOR
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1912 AND 1913, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY JOHN MUIR
Published March 1913
FOURTEENTH IMPRESSION
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
Contents
| I. | A BOYHOOD IN SCOTLAND | |
| Earliest Recollections—The “Dandy Doctor” Terror—Deeds of Daring—The Savagery of Boys—School and Fighting—Birds’-nesting. | ||
| II. | A NEW WORLD | |
| Stories of America—Glorious News—Crossing the Atlantic—The New Home—A Baptism in Nature—New Birds—The Adventures of Watch—Scotch Correction—Marauding Indians. | ||
| III. | LIFE ON A WISCONSIN FARM | |
| Humanity in Oxen—Jack, the Pony—Learning to Ride—Nob and Nell—Snakes—Mosquitoes and their Kin—Fish and Fishing—Considering the Lilies—Learning to Swim—A Narrow Escape from Drowning and a Victory—Accidents to Animals. | ||
| IV. | A PARADISE OF BIRDS | |
| Bird Favorites—The Prairie Chickens—Water-Fowl—A Loon on the Defensive—Passenger Pigeons. | ||
| V. | YOUNG HUNTERS | |
| American Head-Hunters—Deer—A Resurrected Woodpecker—Muskrats—Foxes and Badgers—A Pet Coon—Bathing—Squirrels—Gophers—A Burglarious Shrike. | ||
| VI. | THE PLOUGHBOY | |
| The Crops—Doing Chores—The Sights and Sounds of Winter—Road-making—The Spirit-rapping Craze—Tuberculosis among the Settlers—A Cruel Brother—The Rights of the Indians—Put to the Plough at the Age of Twelve—In the Harvest-Field—Over-Industry among the Settlers—Running the Breaking-Plough—Digging a Well—Choke-Damp—Lining Bees. | ||
| VII. | KNOWLEDGE AND INVENTIONS | |
| Hungry for Knowledge—Borrowing Books—Paternal Opposition—Snatched Moments—Early Rising proves a Way out of Difficulties—The Cellar Workshop—Inventions—An Early-Rising Machine—Novel Clocks—Hygrometers, etc.—A Neighbor’s Advice. | ||
| VIII. | THE WORLD AND THE UNIVERSITY | |
| Leaving Home—Creating a Sensation in Pardeeville—A Ride on a Locomotive—At the State Fair in Madison—Employment in a Machine-Shop at Prairie du Chien—Back to Madison—Entering the University—Teaching School—First Lesson in Botany—More Inventions—The University of the Wilderness. | ||
| INDEX | ||
Illustrations
| John Muir | Frontispiece |
| Muir’s Lake (Fountain Lake) and the Garden Meadow | 62 |
| Our First Wisconsin Home | 100 |
| Clock with Hand rising and setting with the Sun, invented by the Author in his Boyhood | 132 |
| Barometer invented by the Author in his Boyhood | 164 |
| Combined Thermometer, Hygrometer, Barometer, and Pyrometer, invented by the Author in his Boyhood | 196 |
| The Hickory Hill House, built in 1857 | 230 |
| Thermometer invented by the Author in his Boyhood | 258 |
| Self-Setting Sawmill. Model built in Cellar. Invented by the Author in his Boyhood | 258 |
| My Desk, made and used at the Wisconsin State University | 284 |