Have steve is our speaker see biden anyone to be tellings about John Burroughs who was a young man, came to capitol hill during the civil war and introduce the nation to the beauty of washington and became one of the countries leading and while no major steve dryden recounted the life of John Burroughs and i spent suspect in the wouldve appreciated the career path of our speaker and he started with the va Political Science from duke is a masters in International Affairs from columbia and those to steve to an almost 20 years as a reporter and editor leading newspapers both here and abroad and play sex these focus on the very local families of the rock creek songbirds which is the Habitat Restoration project and serving for many years is the executive director of the friends of pierce meal and while he digs deeper into the history and Natural Resources have a very area that John Burroughs new 1150 years ago theres a second reason that i am delighted to be introducing speaker and his topic, for almost 20 years now, electric group headed by john fencing of the time, has been looking for someone to give a lecture on the onetime the residentne John Burroughs, and once i asked the late steve of been owner the bookstore. Hello he would give a lecture future and figuring that anybody you named his bookstore, after burroughs book, would probably know a lot about John Burroughs, will steve then said he was an appreciator but not a lecture her. So, he stayed on is something that we wanted to do for many many years. And of us right when the washington history magazine published an article by steve dryden titled the rock creek tiny branch and within a very interesting article, was a section of began that the first street cordate explorer Accounting Branch was John Burroughs and bingo, or maybe i thought, somebody who knew that about John Burroughs, would also know a lot more and might just be willing to give a lecture or maybe might know somebody who would. So is only taken is almost 20 years to getet this lecture tonight in the old hospital, that John Burroughs just mightve seen when he was here in washington. [applause]e [applause] thank you nancy i think you for the opportunity to talk tonight and it is not on okay is not better. Maybe i should just shout. It is on and i have to get really close yes. Okay. How is that. It just so mike is better i will shout. Will it is great to be back here and capitol hill and actually here we back onto the 20 years ago on third street in pennsylvania pocket of that im sure a few of you remember that prayed the house i was living in actually had to guess lamp in the front of i it which i thougt was extremely cool 19th century and i wantoo to stay the except that i had an appointment at egypt is another story but it went away and i never came back to capitol hill but my space and longtime appear because of the witnesses for me and so im really happy tonight to have a chance to talk about John Burroughs and the streams of washingtons dc and im not nancy well not really any had an expert on burroughs but certainly, theres a lot of material available on him which is pretty easy to find and i used to work in the Audubon Society chase they also had a biography of him i got need to come up edward running a new really is the expert and he lives up in new york. So i want to start with just one clarification because i know these things get confusing highly confused all of the time by these names and so to see if we get to the next biden yes, very important distinction here right. John burroughs ishe not relatedo william s burroughs. William s burroughs, picture here is a a very famous writer n certain scenes and he was a member of thein beat generation andme more. Hereof the famous book about, probably one of the best titles book ever together. He was an International Traveler and drop hundred adventure and i want to go into that but as far as it know, he was born in st. Louis i dont think they were related in any close wife but i just to get that out of the way because sometimes it does get confusing with the same do not. So the real John Burroughs coming areas is in man and he has his flowing boxing he is forgotten today and nancy remember seven a few others that i know do but between the confusion with William Burroughs and other burroughs i just of the natureer writers, hes very much a man of the past unfortunately. However i dont think theres going to be campaign to rename the school that is named after him which is on monroe street northeast i thank you so pretty sick name for time being i dont thank you so good evening think particularly egregious. And he has no link with the drug adventure s burroughs. I think were going to the school potentially some school to for a while. Okay so now this is a big test. If you have a book by John Burroughs in your library, raise your hand. Yep, have not surprised to be embarrassed because i did not have one until about five years ago myself when i found one in a used bookstore for about 2. And you know, its curious and i mean, these writers go through periods of same notoriety in the disappear. Believe it or not, it seems that John Burroughs was actually famous than walt whitman back in the 19 century andnd early 20th century. Its kind of hard to really measure that but burroughs was very very famous. He was of the people i can report were seeking him out for his wisdom, which is kind of ironic given the disparity between their pursuits it but never nevertheless, roosevelt and all the big shots of theel turnofthecentury wanted to be photographed with John Burroughs. And he lived until 1920 but we think about it, 202012 it is 100 years w ago. Weve been on the other hand who also lived well i dont have the exact date late 19th century whitman of course grew in fame and probably americas most beloved poet. But its interesting that they were literary conference and talked a little bit l about tha. In both of them were exiled from new york who came to washington during the civil war and women came here because is looking for his brother phil he thought event wounded in battle i think in fredericksburg. Many sitting at a job, the government clerk or Something Like that and made a funny to divide. Another point we been a dirty published version of the leaves of note of intellectual class and readers but he was on the superstar 19th century nevertheless he was here people at burroughs who was 20 years younger, knewe about him. I burroughs, was morning he was raised on a farm in the catskill mountains. Even if it from that of course because he was outdoors any you know we got to love nature we think via is bringing however he was also studious and very curious young man and so pete did not want to become a farmer like his father. And he asked when he was 17, and he finishes pulling his father might give him some money so they can go to college and pursue his education his father set out, sorry i do not think i really want to support you and that and you dont need to be doing the kind of thing. So mr. Burroughs, senior say goodbye to his son left home as boys tend to went off to seek his passions. Other point i was just learning how to be a teacher maybe can earn some money and went to Seminary School for a while. He started writing this was in the late 1850s. Of course this equipment was getting it be known that sort of in the same locales and burroughs was writing actually published in the monthly, one of his first articles was sort of this amber sony and, philosophical text which i didnt read. Read so much like emerson think that he plagiarized it was originally and he was published in 1916 they gave him some energy and excitement and you dont drive i thought that he had a chance to be a writer. And then as the civil war began, he found that he burroughs, governing teaching and writing in rural new york which is where he was living a married at the age of 20. So we also have the responsibility and so he decided because he had some friends who are already in washington, the santa monica place estate without so we went down and his wife. In the fall of 1863. Any wood stork that his friend was running somewhere downtown. In who he bumped into but walt whitman. So we did not fully actually bumped into him the first time theyre encountering lewis series encounter was actuallyly capitol hill so that dues under the trees, what is fully lonely path. In burroughs came upon whitman. And whitman was on his way as he tended to do in washington when he was not working, to visit hospitals he would bring fruit, and candy and anything that he could afford to give to soldiers in the hospital in washington wounded soldier so that was his mission outside of writing. In burroughs, was of course just thrilled to meet his will frankly his hero at that point. In the two then became good friends. Anyone that point in time, Washington City is what they call it, which was the grid of washington was still the cityas was people thought of when the washington outside of the grid was Washington County which was undeveloped mostly farming land. Those are too far from anywhere you were in washington and so the two of them could take these blocks out into the wild so to speak up Washington County which is what they did. And i burroughs first got as i said you know he had to be a teacher and he was 20 writing really have no particularly walkable skills. And for chubby found the only think that he could find to measure his desperation was actually he was a member of a real detail run by the quartermasters unit of the u. S. Army and marrying bucket soldiers who would been killed in the fighting. And according to the records, which rented the biographer found, these bodies were taken to the outskirts of washington, to the border with maryland where they were burying the mass graves and as you can imagine, this was horrible, horrible working he did not last burroughs did not last long without and i actually was struck by it of course that is such a horrible and just unbelievable kind of job for somebody to come into their the age of 20, who was writing. Its hard to pin down precisely, where all of it was taking place and so thats a topic for another research to find that Burial Ground because it really doesnt seem to be anynm marked Burial Grounds on the pc for your simple springs which is where i assume it was the references to happening in thehe event burroughs to the last more than a few weeks and luckily, he had a connection and this is very washington him he had a connection back home and is able to exercise with the congressman who got him a job. Sound familiar printed in a job of this the Treasury Department, clerking and so the first year the first month 1964, burroughs is working and earning a pretty good salary. More than 1000 a year which in those days, was a nice him to have equal to what whitman was getting. So burroughs then because he had was able to move out of the back storeroom of his friends store their downtown and actually white house proven his wife which was right in the neighborhood when the Russell OfficeSenate Office building is today and he was in red brick row house there. Any movein and not only did he have a house but he had an acre of land according to the reports. We had a cow, chickens, green potatoes, and could then support is wife and also feet walt whitman. According to what they were saying about whitman, he did not really pay much attention to reading on a regular schedule and taking care of himself. And so, burroughs would invite equipment over for breakfast on sunday morning candidate to come overdi and whitman was down on m street in the navy hard to believe seeing with a sister and he was you know probably some sort of tenant or something pretty project and go over to burroughs house and he would have a big sunday breakfast. Reporter whitman and grateful burroughs left his company. Great for burroughs life, who just was not happy frankly with a lot of things is not happy with walt whitman hanging out in his sort of blase manner and all that but bowman entered women was all about it who knows but that was a point of contention between burroughs and his wife but it didid happen and that eve different. Develop deep friendship here we have met from the civil war. In the Capitol Building here near the russell with the russell building would be a little further of perhaps this actually iser a creek is actualy still there even though this bridge shows the city being built out it was not as built out as they show it in this map the states were not sure precisely where the worst race for the creek was definitely there and so this creek, which started and actually flow down and emptied into the potomac there was then channelized along the mall but it started north of here. That was one place that burroughs and whitman could take theirr walks. Here we have a very fancy portrayal and this was just painted in 2009, just came upon the white house associations website this week in front of the white house and i dont think that it looked this beautiful. [laughter] but you know, whatever, it is a lovely lovely painting. And right, i should not advance like this but i will. So whitman, pushing whitman quite in visionary writer has certain ideas about writing and was very happy to post sort of act as a father figure with burroughs and he encouraged burroughs to go beyond purely scientific observation and his nature of writing makes this with a poetic language. And burroughs of course have submitted talent to do this but evidently, it was a major influence on him one of the reasons his writing is a beautiful. And they believed that only a personal vision could do justice. The Natural History and very much in keeping with the times the writers of that time and you inject yourself into the Natural World in order to give ara compelling portrait and improve the reader and the girls actually had to tell a of an imposing women as well and according to the scholars tof study them because burroughs again designed for the scientific detail influence was meant to encourage him to pay more attention to the details of nature. These two guys were becoming quite good rents and burroughs road to another friend of his and he said i have been very much with walt i love him very much the more i see and talk with him about the greater he becomes to me and on and on and on as a flowery language wrote about. They wrote that way those days. You probably think yoking them what is going on in walt whitman was famously bisexual or gay clear exactly what all of his activities were nevertheless, definitely a man who liked men. And burroughs though, never was seen as gay or bisexual and it seems they had the platonic friendship. And burroughs in fact was chastised by whitman later used years later because burroughs marriage was very unhappy from the get go and he was a bit of a womanizer and whitman did not approve of that whitman was a single relationship guy. Kind of, acting out and whitman printed newsletters think that you know this is really not the way to do it. Youre not going to seeks to succeed and emerge by doing this. So that was the extent of the relationship they were well they were both here for ten years and at different ideas about a lot of things that they were certainly united in their appreciation and understanding of this need for the personal vision. Burroughs came back with a visit to new york in the summer of 1865 just few months after lincoln was assassinated. And whitman was devastated by lincolns death and was ready a poem about that. And burroughs, was very excited about the fact that he had seen and heard a b hermit thrush whih this back in new york and he got so carried away so excited about this bird that whitman used the bird in his famous poem, when my locks left joy are blooms and i have the relevant part of the point here is not easy to read. Solitary the thrush government withdrawn to himself avoiding drthe settlement. Sings by himself a song and a the bleeding throat. Now, is along for but i wont read more of it but the influence is very obvious and its interesting that the hermit thrush was this bird that was the inspiration for the when vicki sounds for whitman. Infective official bird of washington dc is also in thrush but is something hermit thrush does anybody know the official bird of washington dc is hemorrhage or instrumentw a woud thrush yes another bird that looks like this are respectful breast but is Margaret Bird also in anyas event, burroughs would write about thatls later. So this is a member also of the time so a period of this shows you were a burroughs move because burroughs is his head was making a good salary at theg Treasury Department and i dont know if he is money from his wife family what, they but he evidently had enough money to actually build a house. There at 3032b street, 13th and 14th streets and in the late 1860s. As you can see, he is right to the edge this is foundry street which later become florida avenue so in spite of the edge of the rice in the land there that marks the end of the floodplain of the potomac and he was wellpositioned to take walks which is what he did in this case he would be walking up into become Mount Pleasant along what was actually the seventh streetet turnpike enter Georgia Avenue and reaching rock creek in the tributary branch there and so we could do this very easily and that led to his number of essays that he wrote were published in his first major broken this is really about whitmans work nature book, is called like robin and he in this book is an essay about springtime of the capitol and is observ