Literature and Love of Nature

 --- Piney Woods Journal Submission 2017

It is difficult for us today to begin to imagine the lives and experiences of farmers and rural residents in this state one hundred years ago. Even the radio was unavailable in 1917. Churches, schools, community stores and perhaps in some areas a local theater were places for social interaction, but often at the investment of a lengthy walk or ride.

Piney woods residents then did have the beauty and majesty of the remaining virgin forests. The virgin pine industry had produced a long economic boom and much prosperity for some that was ebbing by this time. Many others, particularly in Winn Parish, had been drawn to the politics of populism or even socialism, partially as a rejection of often controlling outside interests, income inequality, and early industry accidents and deaths.

Educational and travel opportunities then were obviously limited. The populism of Huey Long, that would provide more and better schools and roads, was yet to come. Men and women from rural parts of the state usually had limited schooling, as boys and girls were often pressed quickly into work roles in support of family needs. Still, the hope for greater and more varied learning, outside the confines of daily farm or business life, was strong for many.

The Chautauqua movement was a form of adult education that met some of these hopes and was popular from the 1870s to the Depression era. These summer assemblies and programs spread throughout rural areas in America. They brought forms of education, entertainment and culture to local communities through visiting teachers, speakers, preachers, musicians, and other performers. There were different forms of Chautauqua and summer camp meetings offering different secular and religious educational experiences. Permanent sites in local areas occasionally had cabins or lodgings available, as well as had camp grounds where families could erect tents and stay for up to several weeks. The Louisiana Chautauqua was established in 1889 on a scenic tract near Ruston, and other locations in the state had summer Chautauqua or religious camp meetings sites. Anne McLean, a journal correspondent, provided some years ago a much more detailed explanation of the Ruston Chautauqua site’s history.

My grandfather, I.B. Payne, was born in 1879 as the youngest of seven children, in Winn Parish. One of his brothers was a saw mill owner/operator, and the other a musician and hymn writer. I.B. or Buddy Payne was a farmer and community store owner/operator in the Hudson Community. He and his two brothers would meet together many evenings. Their favorite discussion topic, beyond perhaps local politics, was their mutual love for pastoral poetry and works of writers such as William Cullen Bryant, Walt Whitman, James Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Into his nineties, my grandfather would impress others with his recitation by memory of hundreds of lines of pastoral poetry by such authors.

My grandfather and others like him seemed alive with a spirit and love of nature that they saw and experienced much more directly and vividly than many in later generations. If we try, though, we can still see some that love and respect for nature and the environment in the words or quotes of the authors below:

“We need the tonic of wildness... We can never have enough of nature.” Henry David Thoreau

 
“There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by cares and duties” John Muir

“On my cornice linger the ripe black grapes ungathered; Children fill the groves with the echoes of their glee, Gathering tawny chestnuts, and shouting when beside them Drops the heavy fruit of the tall black-walnut tree.” William C. Bryant

“The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Inebriate of Air — am I — And Debauchee of Dew — Reeling — thro endless summer days — From Inns of Molten Blue.” Emily Dickinson

We can note this celebration of the transcendental quality and restorative power of nature in such authors. A focus on nature and the environment extends beyond these authors to later poets such as Robert Frost and Robinson Jeffers, and even today. The degree, though, that most of us experience our natural environment does not seem to have much literary or poetic connection. Perhaps we are missing something that many of our grandparents and ancestors felt and really appreciated.