Creator
S. M. Brown
Recipient
John Muir
Preview
Transcription
5 [5]my earliest childhood Nature has called to me with imperious power, and she has been a most timid and precious mother and teacher to me and has told me many of her secrets. but in the majesty and sublimity of her mightiest power I have not seen herBut I fully expect to have that privilege when freed from the limitations of this material body. I shall then "take the wings of the morning" and visit not only the parts and scenes of this so fair earth that I have long desired to see, but many, it may be all of the other Mansions of the Father's house. Some years ago I saw - in The Atlantic Monthly I think - your account of a great electric storm, and of your rushing out of your mountain cabin into the midst of the [illegible] and flying rocks, in order to be present at the birth of a talus. Many times since I have thought of that scene. Would that I had been there. Neither warring elements nor flying rocks could have hindered me from being "a sharer in its fierce and far delight, a portion of the tempest, and of the night" What a perennial joy it must be to have lived amid the sights and sounds. and silences that have been your6 [6]environment for so many years.And yet the all-wise Father has ordained that we shall have reminders that the "things that are seen are only temporal" "The string that bids us sit nor stand, but go" is ever with us, and "the joy that [illegible] us thro' pain" is the sweetest of all, and the only one that abides.Whenever the foot of man has trod his pathway has been marred by graves, [but?] from those he looks up into the face of God, and sees heaven opened.I presume there are conventional rules that would say that I ought to apologize for the liberty I have taken in writing you, but I have paid but little heed to such thro' my life, and it is now too late to begin. It may be that when we shall meet on the other side of the curtain that now shuts us from the unseen world that lies about us all' that we shall not need an introductionEven now I venture to subscribe myself asYour sincere friendS. M. Brown
Location
Wiarton, Ontario, Canada
Date Original
1910 Feb 17
Source
Original letter dimensions: 26.5 x 16.5 cm.
Resource Identifier
muir19_0157-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 19, Image 0157
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 3
Keywords
John Muir, correspondence, letters, author, writing, naturalist, California, correspondent, mail, message, post, exchange of letters, missive, notes, epistle
