Ernest Thompson Seton was born in the northern part of England. His
family moved to Canada, but he attended school in England and did not
stay in America for any length of time until his schooling was
completed. His name was originally Ernest E. Thompson Seton, but some
years ago he changed it by turning the last two names around and
putting a hyphen between them. As he has written under both names,
persons sometimes wonder if there are two men who love the out of
doors and write with pleasure of their open air experiences.

Mr. Thompson Seton's wish was to spend a large part of his life
tramping over the country studying animals and learning woodcraft. The
rest of the time he would write and make pictures of what he had seen.
He felt he could stay within doors only part of each year. So as soon
as he finished school and returned to the province of Manitoba he went
to work in the fields. It did not take him long to earn enough money
to live on during the winter, as his wants were few; then he set out
to tramp all over the province. He watched the birds; he learned the
ways of all the animals and could tell wonderful stories of their
instinct and cunning. When he did live under a roof for a few weeks,
he was always busy drawing pictures of his friends in the open or
writing down accounts of their lives. One of his best known books was
published in 1898 and was called, "Wild Animals I Have Known." This
brought him to the attention of many readers; but he had been helping
make books long before this one, for when the Century Dictionary was
published he drew for it more than a thousand pictures of the animals
that he had watched and studied.

In the course of his life he has been a hunter, a day laborer, a
scientist, a naturalist, and an artist. At the same time he has been
able to carry out his plan of spending the greater part of each year
out of doors. Loving a free active life from his earliest boyhood, it
is not strange that Ernest Thompson Seton was the first man to
organize the Boy Scouts in America. In the Outlook for July 23, 1910,
he tells the story in a most interesting manner. He says:

"My friend John Moale, a rich man, had bought several thousand acres
of abandoned farm lands near Boston in the year 1900. This he made
into a beautiful park, all for his own enjoyment. Around this park he
built a strong fence twelve feet high so that no one could get into
the park. His prospects of peace and happiness were e