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Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com www.TheCatoctinBanner.com The Catoctin Banner Newspaper September 2016 Page 39
by Christine Schoene Maccabee
On The Wild Side during a hurricane.
Muir proclaimed
J o h n M u i r, N a t u r e ’s V i s i o n a r y his reverence for all
life forms, becoming
Choked in the sediments of society, so tired of the world, here a “voice for the
will your hard doubts disappear...and your soul breathe deep voiceless,”as he
worked to convince
and free in God’s shoreless atmosphere of beauty and love. others of the need to
preserve as much of
— John Muir, 1903 the untouched purity
of the natural world
The above quote was part of with his “early rising machine,” as possible. This month, we will meet on
John Muir’s impassioned invitation which tipped a person out of bed Saturday, September 3, from 10:00
to President Roosevelt and Vice at an appointed hour. His father Muir’s invitation a.m.-noon. Please come and join us
President Howard Taft to join accused him of the sin of vanity. to go out and become as we work on a variety of projects
him in Yosemite and camp out “steeped in the to help preserve the goodness of our
under the stars. Together, they He avoided the Civil War wonder of creation” planet for generations to come.
talked about protecting the giant on the grounds of passivism, was not only for
redwoods from timbering, as well as while attending the University of people back then. It With John Muir’s Vision as our
preserving the ecological wonders Wisconsin, which he dropped out is still an invitation to us all today. inspiration, we can make progress
only Muir, and the natives who of after his sophomore year, little My own life has been shaped by in spite of adversities. If he did it, so
had lived there, knew intimately. knowing that thirty-four years Muir and many other voices for the can we!
Upon returning East, the Roosevelt later he would receive an honorary voiceless; that is how I have come to
Administration created five national degree, Doctor of Laws, from that write of my own passion to preserve
parks and twenty-three national same college. With a beard as bushy and enhance wild places, allowing
monuments, and they added more and long as any had seen, he headed even more habitat on our properties
than 148-million acres of woodland to Canada on foot, “botanizing” and in our backyards.
to the national forest system. Muir along the way. The things of nature
was also founder of the Sierra Club, were always his first love. Fortunate for us, there is a
of which most of us are aware and monthly meeting of the Sierra Club
some of us members. After losing his eyesight due to at the Thurmont Regional Library.
a freak accident at a machinery
In my twenties, I knew next to factory, Muir gasped, “My right Christine is a member of Thurmont’s Green Team and a Master Habitat
nothing about the person of John eye is gone! Closed forever on all Naturalist. She would be happy to help you with habitat, particularly plant
Muir until I read a book, Baptized God’s beauty.” His left eye also ID, on your own property and can be reached at [email protected].
into Wilderness, which is filled with failed, leaving him blind. However,
many inspiring writings from his after endless nightmares and despair
years spent as caretaker in Yosemite. while convalescing in a darkened
How he managed to brilliantly room, his vision slowly returned.
overcome the trauma of living with Muir proclaimed “Now I have risen
his tyrannical father, a Scottish from the grave,” and he forever
Calvinist Minister of the worst sort shunned the work of factories.
who beat him daily, is nothing short Instead, he took to further journeys
of a miracle. As Muir wrote in his by foot, with his plant press on his
autobiography, “by the time I was 11 back, heading south to “anywhere
years of age I had about three-fourths in the wilderness,” which took him
of the Old Testament and all of the through the Appalachian Mountains
New by heart and by sore flesh.” and swamps of Georgia. He
sketched and journaled and pressed
Fortunate to be nurtured by the plants along the way.
love of his mother and sisters, and
due to his fascination with nature That first long walk of one
and inventing, he grew into a strong thousand miles took him to Florida,
young man, fully determined to along the Gulf of Mexico. However,
make his own way in life once the his longest journey by foot, which he
family moved from Scotland to called “my grand sabbath day three
Wisconsin. Helping to clear land years long” drew him West, climbing
and create their homestead was no Mt. Ranier, exploring glaciers in
easy life, but in his free time, Muir Alaska, and ultimately settling in
invented all sorts of crazy things the California Sierras. It was there
made from scraps of iron and wood. that he wrote his most inspiring
At age twenty-two, he decided to words, describing the beauty and
show his inventions at the state fair wonder of the plant life, animals,
in Madison and was a smash hit boulders, sequoias, and experiencing
ecstatic moments at the top of a tree
by Christine Schoene Maccabee
On The Wild Side during a hurricane.
Muir proclaimed
J o h n M u i r, N a t u r e ’s V i s i o n a r y his reverence for all
life forms, becoming
Choked in the sediments of society, so tired of the world, here a “voice for the
will your hard doubts disappear...and your soul breathe deep voiceless,”as he
worked to convince
and free in God’s shoreless atmosphere of beauty and love. others of the need to
preserve as much of
— John Muir, 1903 the untouched purity
of the natural world
The above quote was part of with his “early rising machine,” as possible. This month, we will meet on
John Muir’s impassioned invitation which tipped a person out of bed Saturday, September 3, from 10:00
to President Roosevelt and Vice at an appointed hour. His father Muir’s invitation a.m.-noon. Please come and join us
President Howard Taft to join accused him of the sin of vanity. to go out and become as we work on a variety of projects
him in Yosemite and camp out “steeped in the to help preserve the goodness of our
under the stars. Together, they He avoided the Civil War wonder of creation” planet for generations to come.
talked about protecting the giant on the grounds of passivism, was not only for
redwoods from timbering, as well as while attending the University of people back then. It With John Muir’s Vision as our
preserving the ecological wonders Wisconsin, which he dropped out is still an invitation to us all today. inspiration, we can make progress
only Muir, and the natives who of after his sophomore year, little My own life has been shaped by in spite of adversities. If he did it, so
had lived there, knew intimately. knowing that thirty-four years Muir and many other voices for the can we!
Upon returning East, the Roosevelt later he would receive an honorary voiceless; that is how I have come to
Administration created five national degree, Doctor of Laws, from that write of my own passion to preserve
parks and twenty-three national same college. With a beard as bushy and enhance wild places, allowing
monuments, and they added more and long as any had seen, he headed even more habitat on our properties
than 148-million acres of woodland to Canada on foot, “botanizing” and in our backyards.
to the national forest system. Muir along the way. The things of nature
was also founder of the Sierra Club, were always his first love. Fortunate for us, there is a
of which most of us are aware and monthly meeting of the Sierra Club
some of us members. After losing his eyesight due to at the Thurmont Regional Library.
a freak accident at a machinery
In my twenties, I knew next to factory, Muir gasped, “My right Christine is a member of Thurmont’s Green Team and a Master Habitat
nothing about the person of John eye is gone! Closed forever on all Naturalist. She would be happy to help you with habitat, particularly plant
Muir until I read a book, Baptized God’s beauty.” His left eye also ID, on your own property and can be reached at [email protected].
into Wilderness, which is filled with failed, leaving him blind. However,
many inspiring writings from his after endless nightmares and despair
years spent as caretaker in Yosemite. while convalescing in a darkened
How he managed to brilliantly room, his vision slowly returned.
overcome the trauma of living with Muir proclaimed “Now I have risen
his tyrannical father, a Scottish from the grave,” and he forever
Calvinist Minister of the worst sort shunned the work of factories.
who beat him daily, is nothing short Instead, he took to further journeys
of a miracle. As Muir wrote in his by foot, with his plant press on his
autobiography, “by the time I was 11 back, heading south to “anywhere
years of age I had about three-fourths in the wilderness,” which took him
of the Old Testament and all of the through the Appalachian Mountains
New by heart and by sore flesh.” and swamps of Georgia. He
sketched and journaled and pressed
Fortunate to be nurtured by the plants along the way.
love of his mother and sisters, and
due to his fascination with nature That first long walk of one
and inventing, he grew into a strong thousand miles took him to Florida,
young man, fully determined to along the Gulf of Mexico. However,
make his own way in life once the his longest journey by foot, which he
family moved from Scotland to called “my grand sabbath day three
Wisconsin. Helping to clear land years long” drew him West, climbing
and create their homestead was no Mt. Ranier, exploring glaciers in
easy life, but in his free time, Muir Alaska, and ultimately settling in
invented all sorts of crazy things the California Sierras. It was there
made from scraps of iron and wood. that he wrote his most inspiring
At age twenty-two, he decided to words, describing the beauty and
show his inventions at the state fair wonder of the plant life, animals,
in Madison and was a smash hit boulders, sequoias, and experiencing
ecstatic moments at the top of a tree
