Connection to Nature

In letters to his wife, brother, son and friends, White develops and repeats a certain pattern. At the top of the letter is usually the business of the day, or the ostensible reason for writing. About half-way through the letter, White typically changes subjects abruptly and delivers a long, detailed description of what is going on at the farm—the chickens that are producing eggs, strange behavior of his geese, or a puzzling disease that has stricken the local raspberry crop. It soon becomes apparent that living in close connection to nature is not a literary conceit with White, but rather an authentic expression of his personality and spirituality. It seems at times that White prefers the company of animals to other humans; his powers of empathy and compassion for all living creatures are quite striking. In one of the photos in the book, E...