Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[Mrs. L. E. Strentzel]
Preview
Transcription
Martinez, Sep. 12, 1892Dear Grandma: [Strentzel]All goes well here notwithstanding you are missed in our little family. Wanda, especially, mourns and misses you, but this does not prevent her from eating peaches and melons and growing fatter every day. All the neighbors inquire kindly about you,and say how good and wise a thing it was for you to go on this visit, and hope you will have a good time and not make haste to come home, when you go a visiting so seldom, for your visits are like those of the angels, few and far between. Indeed, we all think, that after going so far, you should indulge in a good long visit, and take a good draught of pleasure when you are about it.I saw Prof. Branner the other day at a meeting of the Sierra Club. He inquired kindly for you, and asked eagerly whether you had gone to Texas, how you stood the journey, how you were enjoying your visit, etc. It seems he thought of going to Texas himself, but went to the Feejee Islands instead. Texas is by some regarded as being still a wild place, but hardly so wild as the Cannibal Islands of whose King we have heard so much in song and story. Still, a University professor ought to know which is better. I hope you are not frightened by the cholera. Keith has returned from the Sierra, and does not feel very well. I suppose he has dyspepsia, but he insists that he has cholera which he caught among the snows of the mountains. A great revolution has at length occurred in the kitchen. David and Etta have gone to housekeeping at the old home, and Joe and Charley have gone to housekeeping in the stable, while the horses are doing the best they can in the barn. As for ourselves, we are luxuriously and harmoniously making our way three times a day in the shining varnished dining room, none but Gum breaking our rest or daring to make us afraid. All save Joe seemed to take kindly to the change, and he is now more resigned than at first seemed possible. Charlie is nursing him like a father, mother, sister and brother combined, but he still looks back with touching fondness to the good old days when Katie was Queen of the kitchen, and Queen also of his heart and stomach. It is really affecting to hear him murmuring in his confused, exagerated way again and again: "0, Katie, dear Katie, Sour milk, sweet petatey"Etc. etc. Etc.I have been busy with the estate affairs and expect that on next Saturday everything will be settled.Mr.Fuller writes that he expects to leave Nebraska about the 15th of this month, and I suppose he will board with us while he remains here, unless Charley and Joe take him. They have already gained such confidence in culinary affairs and in the practice of all the domestic virtues in general, they speak of starting a hotel.Helen is going to write to-morrow.Ever cordially,John Muir,The best and most affectionateson-in-law you ever had.
Location
Martinez, [Calif]
Date Original
1892 Sep 12
Source
Original letter dimensions: 27.5 x 21 cm.
Resource Identifier
muir07_0653-trans.tif
File Identifier
Reel 07, Image 0653
Copyright Status
Copyrighted
Copyright Statement
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust. To purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish or exhibit them, see http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/Fees-and-Forms-.html
Owning Institution
University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Copyright Holder
Muir-Hanna Trust
Copyright Date
1984
Page Number
Page 5
Keywords
John Muir, correspondence, letters, author, writing, naturalist, California, correspondent, mail, message, post, exchange of letters, missive, notes, epistle
