Creator
Marion Foster Washburne
Recipient
John Muir
Preview
Transcription
Tulare, Calif. Sept. 22--1913My dear Mr. Muir:-Your kind letter came just in the midst of confusion and almost intolerable heat. Fancy moving and trying to settle a home with the house you wok in sizzling at about 112! Now and then, at what seemed to be my last gasp I would take your beautiful book about the Yosemite -- which reached me safely, thank you -- out of doors and read as the damned might read of heaven! And of course I felt much like dropping every task and accepting your invitation just as cordially and simply as it was given.But that would be to leave my young folks here pretty shabbily in the lurch--and besides, my brother-in-law, who, you know, is going in with me, has not yet joined us. The vacation is as much for his sake as for mine. There are some little matters of business we must both attend to--for we mean to make a long break with the world and must put things somewhat in order before leaving them-- and then we shall come north, not as your guests en route, but very gladly as your guests on your ranch for a little, until we can avail ourselves of your extensive information. Then if it entirely convenient for you to make that preliminary trip to the Yosemite you so generously suggest, we should be more than delighted to have you accompany us.I could wish that we were just the kind of companions you would choose--but we have two drawbacks: First, we are ignorant to a degree just where you are wise; and second, I, at least, shall have to recover more thoroughly from the railroad accident that recently broke my knee and strained my back before I can climb or tramp even many miles behind you. I like your word "saunter" as you use it a good deal in your book--though I suspect your saunter may be faster than any gallop of mine! Still, I hang on to the hope inspired by the word that you may really like to go slow and look and dream as you go.What we are really looking for is peace and perspective and the power to see things in the sum of their relationships. That is what moves and delights me in your books. I'm afraid I know too little of science to appreciate your work on that side; it is the poet and the Seer whom I recognize. I am a writer--my field, essays, and some novels, principally dealing with problems of education. Of course, I know Rousseau, Commenius, Pestalozzi, and Froeb[illegible], whom I have tried to follow in my training of my own children, drew their inspiration from Nature. Why should I be content to drink at second-hand, instead of going straight to the source? Somewhat late in [illegible]Ife, when I am about to become a grandmother, it strikes me as preposterous to attempt to train a child without knowing anything to speak of about the way Nature trains her children!My brother is a lawyer, and an economic and social reformer. It strikes him, who has been a life-long experimenter with various colonization attempts to make life more sane, as equally preposterous to try to construct a social order without knowing how Nature orders her bee and ant colonies, her migrating flocks, her tree plantations.Nobody, it seems to us both, gets down to the real beginnings of things-- looks at facts with eyes cleared of all preposessions05551
Location
Tulare, Calif.
Date Original
1913 Sep 22
Source
Original letter dimensions: 27.5 x 21.5 cm.
Resource Identifier
muir21_0802-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 21, Image 0802
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some letters written to John Muir may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
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.
Page Number
Page 1
Keywords
John Muir, correspondence, letters, author, writing, naturalist, California, correspondent, mail, message, post, exchange of letters, missive, notes, epistle
