Recipient
Wolfe, Linnie Marsh
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Transcription
21 house at the foot of the hill, when I saw Papa start up toward the house. This was when I was under five years, living in the house on the "upper ranch", (now Hanna'sj There used to be a concrete walk from the house down through a long grape arbor to the packing house. Y/anda and I would watch for Papa to sta,rt up trie walk, then de- down we ran into his arms. After we moved to the big house on the hill, after Grandpa Strentzel's death, vie always watched for Papa coming in his buggy from town, and ran as far as the creek bridge , to climb in the "buggy and ride up trie driveviay with him, except on wet rainy nights, of course, when we listened eagerly for his step on the front porch and threw? open the door for him. It was on such a night that after I had. my kiss, he told me to put my hand into his overcoat pocket and "find something" -- a little terrier puppy, Tawny. After the Santa Fe was completed through our place, with Muir station, of course Papa always went to tiro cit*y on one of the local trains, and then I always walked to the station with him and met him in the evening. Sometimes-1 met him with the horse and buggy, and dea,r old Keenie sitting up in the seat with me, much interest- -( in everything. Papa always brought us something. While Wanda was at home it was usually a big box of candy for us to share, or cookies or bananas. After she left for Miss Head's School in Berkeley and later the University, it was candy and fruit^or^'vldama and I. When finally there was just me at home he brought theviolets and chocolates each week, sometimes a potted flower for my room, and magazines.But always some gift, with loving remembrance behind it. And all the while I lived at Adamana I had reminders of his thoughtfullness, for whenever he was at Martinez he sent us from Goldberg, Bowen's in San Francisco, box. after box of what he called "Odds and ends", goodies of every sort that he could think of that I might like. Canned meats and sardines and olives and. various crackers and cookies and orange marmalade(from Dundee, Scotland) and dried fruits and nuts and candy and bar chocolate. Sometimes a bow of oranges or apples, or fresh pineapples and fresh coconuts, The food at Adamana was very poor, no vegetables and very little variety of anything, so these boxes of "Odds and ends" were a blessing, and. he never forgot to send them, He continued to send them up to the time Buel and I moved from Daggett to Hollywood, as well as a constant stream of boxes of fruit from the ranch and from the trees around my old house. Once on a train he met a brakeman he and I had known while I lived at Adamana. Papa and. I had once gone on a freight train from Adamana to Gallup, New Mexico, for a little trip, and had ridden in trie caboose. This brakeman was on that train, and he and the conductor had treated us q^laJp**- wonderfully, letting us sit up in the •ve«|piiiw7(;:P:-gTIe-ss thatl.s...how—yo-u speil—i-t.)where we hah a fine view, and this brakeman hah gone into a refrigerater car and brought us a dish pan full of perfect bananas. At Adamana one hot summer day this brakeman, Mr, Pittmanj brought over a great block of ice for the family I waa on-z.ro
Location
San Bernardino, Calif.
Date Original
January 1943
Circa Date
[1943]
Page Number
25
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
