Recipient
Wolfe, Linnie Marsh
Preview
Transcription
,;11 are your stupid streets," he used to say. imt n^mr can find my way. Tihy, In ray mountains 1 ma never lost* 1 drop my pack and at midnight eoae back on jay trailless path to find It without trouble. You ought not to live here, fro up a canyon. How is it possible to teach young people tmtil you have absorbed the snagnetlsta and aountaninlsm of the glacial regions, until you have been baptised in God*s shoreless atmosphere of beauty and love?a A letter written by the light of his c&rapfire closes with? "Here are a few green stems of prickly rubus and a tiny grass, God's tender prattle words of love whieh we so ranch need in these mighty temples of power. Bow wholly infused with Sod is this one big word of love we ©all the world!" Mr. Muir has been called "The Thoreau of California." T"lth love of nature and renunciation of woridy glory in conaaon, one has but to glance at the writings of each to see the difference between their lives und their aims. R. L, Stevenson sayti: "Thoreau did not wish virtue to go of him to his fellowmen, but shrunk in a corner to hoard it for himself." Sot so with John Muir* lo aan gave of his store more lavishly. Ignorant ears were favored with what would delight the hearing of a Sir Joseph Hooker, an Asa (Jray, ft Joseph Le Conte. The language In which to one or two or three listeners he told of the sights he had seen In untrodden parts of the earth was simple enough for the humblest understanding, eloquent enough to chars the most scholarly. In that upper ntxt^y* many and tsnny a traveler along life's rugged way had had his path llluained? his heart set at ease, his hope renewed, his idea of the greatness of living reformed. He had an indescribable way of showing aen the tuings that are real, of stripping from feverish self-seeking these things that blind the vision and deter tho soul, of declaring the eternal verities. Mr, Muir was exceedingly tender. If there were on© thing hateful to him, it was cruelty — the cruelty of the sportsman who finds pleasure in making a hole 09 o
Location
unknown
Circa Date
[1941-1945]
Page Number
11
Resource Identifier
MSS048 Vb.7
Copyright Status
Copyright status unknown
Copyright Statement
Some material related 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.
Keywords
John Muir, biography, reminiscence, colleagues, contemporaries, archives, special collections, University of the Pacific, California, Holt-Atherton Special Collections, history, naturalist
