Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work

Ch. 4: New Haven (1905-1906)

4 New Haven (1905-1906) YEARS LATER, while jotting down some notes, Leopold wrote that "there are two things that interest me: the relation of people to each other, and the relation of people to land."l That, of course, accounted for just about everything; his interests were not narrow. Leopold was eighteen years old when he entered Yale University, with much maturing yet to do. His personal odyssey from amateur hunter and naturalist to trained professional forester would give full play to the tension between his dual interests in society and the natural world. Yale, scene of that transformation, would allow him to combine his interests, but it would also force him to confront the tensions between them. He arrived at New Haven the first week of September 1905, moving into a room at 400 Temple Street. The ivy-covered walls of Yale, with all their attendant traditions, opportunities, and expectations, seemed at first glance an unlikely setting for the study of forestry. Yet, for Leopold's chosen profession, Yale was not only the best place to be, it was still virtually the only place to be. The Yale Forest School was training the nation's first generation of native foresters, and sending them forth from its Gothic towers to the newly created national forests of the hinterland. The school granted only graduate degrees. Leopold enrolled in the Sheffield Scientific School, which offered a preparatory course of study in forestry for undergraduates . For the first year, that meant a broad, solid foundation of coursework in physics, chemistry, German, English, mechanical drawing, and analytical geometry. Yale was not Lawrenceville. Geographically, it was not so easy to leave New Haven for nearby woods and marshes, though Aldo announced in his first letter home that he was "immensely pleased" with the country.2 Educationally, Yale presented a greater challenge to Leopold, and he was determined to meet it. Socially, a whole new sphere of people and activi- EAST ties opened up to him, and he would soon be drawn into the Ivy League rituals of school rivalries, societies, football games, and dances. '~dam" was about to join the human race. Leopold's tramping habit was the first victim of the new circumstances. At Lawrenceville, he had been out in the woods and fields daily, or at least every other day. At Yale, he went out once or twice a week. He drew a new map, and applied new labels: Marvelwood, Queer Valley, Juniper Hill, The Castle. In the company of new converts-Bosworth, Bunker, Humphrey , Rup - he was soon exploring East Rock, Mill Rock, Pine Rock, and West Rock, high points on the basaltic ridges that stand sentinel over New Haven. In his letters home, outdoor accounts became less frequent, but no less vivid: The left hillside is rich brown with scrub oak, the bottom mainly yellow and pinkish Sand Grass, while the right hillside is solid dark and green with many hemlocks . The bottom is a gunshot across, suggesting a great rabbit place. But one walks naturally next the hemlocks, for there runs the stream. It is just a big clear brook everywhere else, but in the Valley it feels the spell of strangeness. Swift, dark, and noiseless it glides along the rooty mossy bank and seeks the black shadows that fall from the grim old forest.3 Leopold's springtime letters from Lawrenceville had included long lists and inspired descriptions of new discoveries. Now he began to tell more anecdotes and record more impressions. The change reflected a subtle shift in the role of his tramps. Before, his tramping life and school life could hardly be distinguished; his interests indoor and out were mutually reinforcing, and blended into one another. As Aldo entered Yale, they began to grow more distinct. Nature became less a part of his daily routine, and more an alternative to it. Not that Leopold did not enjoy or thrive in his new setting. He did well in classes, exercised daily in the university's new gymnasium, began training for the cross-country season, attended a Bible study class, and bought tickets for a series of public lectures by, among others, Jacob Riis, Jack London, and Ernest Thompson Seton. His life of self-imposed austerity continued, despite Clara's orders to correct "the scantiness of your wardrobe," and Carl's injunction to "not try to economize too much" when it came to food. 4 Their commands were followed and he gradually began to ease his "tendencies as...