[Excerpts from Letters.]

Authors

John Muir

Files

Kimes Entry Number

361A

Original Date

4-1-1921

William and Maymie Kimes Annotation

In this biographical article, "John Muir-Pilgrim Soul," Charlotte Kellogg quotes excerpts from letters Muir had written to her. She and her husband, Vernon, a science professor at Stanford University, were very close friends of Muir; and, of course, Muir was exceedingly fond of the Kelloggs' baby Jean. To illustrate Muir's love of children, the author quotes from a letter dated December 27, 1913, in which he says: "Tell darling Jean the kiss she sent came airy fast to me over the hills, for kisses have wings and fly far and never die and they make old folks young again." In another letter, dated January 16, 1913, written in response about an accident Jean had suffered, Muir says: "When all the sky is diamonds, look at Hesperus and Jean and be calm. Even in cloud nights like this one, the stars are still bright and every raindrop is a jewel like Jean....This world is a shaky, bubbling place anyhow you take it. Earthquakes and the inner earth fires over which we float keep the whole rocky globe quaking and boiling forever, and the same wild work is going on in the heavens. Yet all is so neatly managed by the House-keeper of the universe that on the very slag and cinders of our star baby Jeans and baby blue-eyes grow. Therefore have faith and be calm."

Publication

The Delineator [New York], v. 99, no. 1

Page/Column

pp. 2

Location

CY

Recommended Citation

Muir, John, "[Excerpts from Letters.]" (1921). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes (Muir articles 1866-1986). 417.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/417