Creator

John Muir

Recipient

[Asa] Gray

Preview

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Transcription

[1] Muir Yosemite Valley Feb 22' 1873Dear Dr Gray Your letter of Jan 14th arrived just before our trails were snow blocked. The seeds I sent in a letter envelope are Libo- cedrus decu[illegible] As for the express charges on the primula box I have not got the recipt by me & cannot tell what they amounted to but you must remember that you gave me money sufficient to prepay all such boxes for a year to come Next summer I will find a new genus & a[in margin: Ever very cordially yrs John Muir] [4]They know little of the character of a pine tree who see it only when swaying drowsily in a summer breeze or when balanced motionless & fast asleep in hushed sunshine Our Laurel was in flower a month ago, so was our winter wheat (Libo cedrus) We are grandly snowbound & have all this winter glossy of sunlight & storm shade to ourselves Our outside doors are locked, & who will disturb us? I call your attention to the two large yellow & purple plants from the top of Mt Lyell, above all of the pinched & blinking dwarfs that almost justify Darwins mean ungodly ward, "Struggle" They form a rounded expansion upon the wedge of plant life that slants up into the thin lean sky. They are the noblest plant mountaineers I ever saw, climbing above the glaciers into the frosty a[illegible] & flowering in purple & gold, rich & abundant as ever. [in margin: responded to the thick, creamy sun gold of the tropics]

Location

Yosemite Valley

Date Original

1873 Feb 22

Source

Original letter dimensions unknown.

Resource Identifier

muir02_1063-let.tif

File Identifier

Reel 02, Image 1063

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The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust.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

Gray Herbarium Archives, Harvard University. 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 1

Keywords

John Muir, correspondence, letters, author, writing, naturalist, California, correspondent, mail, message, post, exchange of letters, missive, notes, epistle

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