title: The Gospel of Nature
author: John Burroughs
description: "I get little from religion. When my eldest son Andy died, I looked in vain for some word that would heal. Neither Western or Eastern religions brought the teaching that I have found in a simple walk in the woods. Finding him and all the others Ive lost on granite mountainsides, under gray clouds and blue skies, in snow and chilly downpours, on carpets of moss staring up into eternity, I am revived. And in the vibrant green fiddlehead unrolling in Spring, the powder blue robins egg, and the dark down of a baby seagull, I am taught the future that was to be." Phil Zuckerman, Publisher
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  # Pepacton
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ###  John Burroughs
  
  
  This page copyright © 2003 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  PREFACE
  
  
  I. A SUMMER VOYAGE
  
  
  II. SPRINGS
  
  
  III. AN IDYL OF THE HONEY-BEE
  
  
  IV. NATURE AND THE POETS
  
  
  V. NOTES BY THE WAY
  
  
  VI. FOOTPATHS
  
  
  VII. A BUNCH OF HERBS
  
  
  VIII. WINTER PICTURES
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
      
  
  This etext was produced by Jack Eden; wakerobin.org
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### PREFACE
  
  
  
  
  
    
  I HAVE all the more pleasure in calling my book after the title of
  
  
  the first chapter, “Pepacton,” because this is the Indian name of my
  
  
  native stream. In its watershed I was born and passed my youth, and
  
  
  here on its banks my kindred sleep. Here, also, I have gathered much of
  
  
  the harvest, poor though it be, that I have put in this and in previous
  
  
  volumes of my writings.
  
  
    
  The term “Pepacton” is said to mean “marriage of the waters;” and
  
  
  with this significance it suits my purpose well, as this book is also a
  
  
  union of many current