It was with these words that Ernest Thompson Seton first described the inspiration behind his organization of the Woodcraft Indian movement, which he founded in many ways as one of the focal points of his crusade in the latter half of the nineteenth century to return American society to its Native American past.  At the time of Seton's birth in 1860, the American nation was very absorbed in an agricultural lifestyle, which for the most part emphasized the best ways for people to get the most out of the land; Seton, however, saw it best for the greater good of America for its people to interact with the land in a harmonious relationship, conserving their resources and landscapes, and learning from the Native Americans who had once lived in the forests and prairies around them.  Thus, Seton organized the Woodcraft Indian youth movement in 1902, and it could very well be argued that such actions by Seton could be seen as very representative of a larger pattern of changing lifestyles which was taking place in America at the time: no longer was the materialism of the "Gilded Age" the norm, but rather, Americans were rediscovering their roots in nature and Native American society.