On 15 March 1913, John Muir’s ‘The Story of My Boyhood and Youth’ was published by
Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York. It has constantly been available in the 100 years since. It tells of his early years in Dunbar and then, from ages 11 to 22, of growing up in the
wonderful Wisconsin countryside. His love of nature, awakened in East Lothian, was nurtured in Marquette County andinspired him to change the world’s view of wild places
Today’s quote
After attaining the manly, belligerent age of five or fix years, very few of my schooldays passed without a fistfight, and half a dozen was no uncommon number. When any classmate of our own age questioned our rank and standing as fighters, we always made haste to settle the matter at a quiet place on the Davel Brae. To be a ‘gude fechter’[1] was our highest ambition, our dearest aim in life in or out of school. To be a good scholar was a secondary consideration, though we tried hard to hold high places in our classes and gloried in being Dux.