HOW astonished Horace Albright and Frank Taylor, the co-authors of "Oh, Ranger!" would be to see their little book, published in 1928 by Stanford University, available to 21st century readers by way of the Internet.

Perhaps it's nostalgia that still attracts us to their stories, their adventures and their devotion to their beloved National Park Service, but the magical picture of the green-coated ranger stands tall to this day.

In the intervening years with the growth of modern civilization the national parks have come under increasing threat in ways not foreseen by my father and Frank Taylor but a ranger is still a ranger with courtesy, knowledge and kinship to nature, history, people, bears, elk, rivers and lakes, geysers and mountains.

As was in the original edition of "Oh Ranger!" this Web edition is dedicated to the Rangers of the National Park Service and first Director, Stephen Tyng Mather.

—MARIAN ALBRIGHT SCHENCK
September, 2004