"Make 1954 theYear of Submission and Acceptance," February 1954

In February 1954 Sigurd was hard at work on the book that became The Singing Wilderness. He occasionally jotted down ideas and goals in loose-leaf journal entries, some dated and some undated. The selection reproduced here shows his focus on the overall theme, as well as his concern for such details as how long a typical essay should be, and how many he should include. To see these journal entries in larger context, read The Making of The Singing Wilderness.

Undated, February 1954

The Book

Upon re-reading John Cowper Powys book "The Meaning of Culture"

If I can incorporate in my book what he is driving at that the real culture is in awareness of one's surroundings, looking at each day as though it were the last, building up memories as a background for present happiness and enjoyment, books, music, the scenes around us, the thousands of little things that make life rich, if I can do this without talking about culture but in writing so that others can capture the meaning of it, then your work will be a real contribution.

Happiness says Powys is exaltation in a sense, a continual weaving together of past sensations with the present, a feeling of oness with one's environment and the universe. When one has that he has a bulwark against worry and frustration, against the millions of things which make life dull and uninteresting.

In short if you can do this through th emedium of writing about the out of doors, the Quetico-Superior country, anything you choose, if you can weave into everything you do the feeling that today is the day of all days, that there is joy in every impression, every blade of grass and flowing bit of water, then you have accomplished what you set out to do.

You can call it the Search if you wish, but it is more than the search for the primitive, it is the search for peace of mind as found in the beauty and unsullied scenes of the wild. It is the deep happiness and contentment that comes from realizing that this is the most beautiful of worlds. Powys distinguishes between pleasure and happiness. There is a vast difference - most people pursue happiness but miss it in the matter of pleasures of the moment, action of any kind. They miss contentment for real happiness comes only from one's awareness of consciousness of one's world built upon a myriad of number of sensations from the past.

Undated, February 1954

Length - THE PIPES OF PAN

In checking the length of a number of books I have found the following:

Minstrel Weather has 17 essays that run 1000 words each with an illustration for each one, run chronological order as far as seasons are concerned. Total 17,000 words of script.

Full Creel - runs 23 chapters all on fishing of approximately 1800 to 2000 words each, total 46,000 words with a half page illus for each chapter heading.

Canoe Country runs - 78 pages, half of them full or half page illus by Lee [he is referring to Francis Lee Jaques, his friend who also would become the illustrator for The Singing Wilderness]with about 300 words to the page big rough type and paper, big margins or about 20,000 words of text perhaps 25,000.

Baker's book Green Glory, runs about 90 pages or 60 of text at 400 per page, 24,000 words.

Snowshoe Country about the same as Canoe Country.

In other words you do not have to make it 50,000. You have enough right now. Your book has chapters running about 1500 to 2000 words. You plan on 35 which will make it 52,000 which is plenty long.

You had better enlarge the 1000 ones to 1500 or 1800, stick to a medium between 1500 and 2000 which will make according to the Jaques books about six pages of text with one illustration possibly two.

You can run yours chronologically as far as the seasons are concerned.

You have enough now if you want to stop and polish.

Work and rework these chapters and make them so good that this book will set the stage for others, bring calls for speaking, so that you will know that this is it. Make 1954 the year of submission and acceptance.

Under ---- Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank the editors and publisher for their kind permission to use certain parts of stories and sketches in this volume, National Parks Magazine, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life. Perhaps however you can disguise that so no ack. will be necessary.

The House at Coates- about 15 chapters - 4-5 pages each of 300 words per page making 1200 to 1500 for each chapter totalling 18,000 words. Leopold's Round River Drive 170 pages at 400 per page or between 42,000 and 50,000. Coates 4 major divisions with short essays for each one. I could do the same.

Undated, February 1954

Suggestions for the Books

Make two little volumes, one The Pipes of Pan and the other Wilderness Memories - The Pipes of Pan sets a tone that will not carry through in all the essays, therefore it is wise to place all of those which do fit in, in one volume.

In short in working away, you can file each of your things in the proper place. My suggestion now is work on Pipes of Pan and get that ready for submission first or parts of it to the magazines.

The third volume can follow these two and be a continuation of them both or strike a different key.

Undated, February 1954

Suggestions for Pipes of Pan

In reading the Beaver last night coming down on the train I ran across the following from an article on the American Indian:

"The Indian was probably more mature psychologically than the white frontiersman who confronted him. Certainly he was more tolerant. He never doubted that the white man had a soul as well as the buffalo. Enjoying a tranquil sense of oneness with the universe around him, not unlike that expressed in the poems of Wordsworth, he regarded harmony rather than conflict as the law of life, though he was too practical not to train his young warriors to defend themselves. He drew spiritual sustenance, as the isolated whiteman could not, from age old society of his own people, finding deep satisfaction in their religious ritual, their songs, their thanksgiving dances, and their intricate web of social duties. He owned private property, though not real estate, he could never bring himself, even after centuries of contact with white men to look upon his "mother" the earth (from whom he had come and to whome he would return) as a chattel. He was generous and hospitable, sharing his possessions with anyone who needed them and doing it cheerfully although in the act he might seem to be impoverishing himself. He was an individualist who fought well when he had to but by nature was peaceable. The white man's greatest mistake was his open contempt, his willful insensitivenss to the beauty and spiritual power of many of the Indian's beliefs."

From this you can draw strength for your own beliefs and especially the note you want to strike in the book. The Pipes of Pan must have this sense of oness with the earth, the source of all tranquility - the sense of drawing spiritual sustenance from his rituals, songs, dances, the looking upon mother earth not as a chattel, not as something to own and exploit but rather in the true sense of belonging.

Study Wordsworth, catch his sense of oneness - Thoreau the same - have this theme running all the way through. Here is the source of all goodness, all peace. Masefield has it too in the greater life in a sense which really means that he is becoming a part of the universality which the Indians also sensed. All sensitive souls strive for this. The Indians had it and felt it strongly. If you can bring it in, then you have the hard core of belief you want.

February 23, 1954

Note on Pipes of Pan

Your interpretation of Pipes of Pan was too narrow. It is more than the mystical, sense of union and oneness, more than the awe and the sense of wonderment. It is the joy that we all get from doing simple natural things, the joy of movement, the joy in any expedition, picking berries or pine knots, or fishing and hunting. When you listen to the Pipes of Pan you devote yourself to such simple joys. By such devotion you listen to the deeper tones but it is the Pipes just the same.

With this knowledge you can broaden your selection. You must however keep out of it as essays all killing, all essays that do not carry the theme, the thought, the main idea. This rules out the Killers, it rules out The Last Mallard and the Wild Goose. You must remain true to the thought, be consistent all the way through. You cannot vary an iota from the main purpose of your choice.

Have just redone Pine Knots and I think I have captured it there, the joy in finding the knots, simple primitive joy of hunting, finding and burning them, their meaning and interpretation. Have also rewritten Northern Lights - there is definitely The Pipes again. In working over all the rest you can use them all if you adhere to this idea.

February 26, 1954

The Pipes of Pan

Get down to the quick of your mind, say important things. So much of the time you are mouthing words for the sound of them, do not say what you really want to say. Write at white heat get your best thoughts down and into what you are writing about. Without that your materials will have no significance or incidentally importance. Your thoughts are as important as anyone else's. Do not be apologetic. Get them down. What you feel deeply about, your analysis, your grasp on first principles. Those are the things that count.

Some day you might do an essay on HIGH PLACES using Robinson Peak as a starter and follow through with all the high spots you know.

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