Creator
[Charles Reid]
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
00230 [4]
got my dinner and so I was in a greater hurry than ever Well I went along again, and got the shoe fixed on my sledge and comming home met some of the scholars and asked them if you was there, and they said yes so I hurryed along to get up you when I was past the school a piece I happen to look and a head pops out of the school door which I thought belonged to Divid but he did not seem to mind me so I drove on done gone again I guess you thought that bashfulness was the cause I must confess John I have rather an extra share of it which sometimes makes me as comfortable as a half boiled Lobster. [Illegible] when will I ever get married John John that is a puzzler and it has a very small share of my thoughts so it must pass without answering but I hope when it becomes needful bashfulness will not keep me from it. But perhaps it will not be amiss for me to say the same thing. When will you ever get married hoping to get an invitation in your next letter
60
[1]
Buffalo February 9th 1858
The bashful gentleman Mr John Muir Esq.
Dear Sir,
I laughingly take the pen once more into my hand to write you a part of the new valley as David calls it. I am enjoying good health joling along doing whatever comes to hand. We had a job overhauling our co[illegible] but it is over now. I thank you for your poem but I was sorry to see the great difference between the ancient and our modern poets. The former used to set all their powers of wit and learning to work whenever they thought of making the girls the subject of their poem. They would dwell upon
[2]
their beauty and refinements and all their charms and lovely perfections till dear me they [illegible] be to over [head?] and ears [illegible] with the very poem. But the modern alas, alas what a change. change did I say yes change. confounded change. I blush to think of it they take what they call their very faults and rhyms them and then speak them with great vehemence and energy even before the girls very faces. One of their what they call faults is the way the girls dress what imprudence just as if the girls had not a right to dress as they have a mind to [illegible] talks about their hoops and spin it out till they seemed to make one think they were going to get up a Locomotive and Roadsall (tail first if you please) to take a journey around them. Excuse me John but perhaps [illegible]secipro- cated love was the cause of your rhyming against the sweet little creatures. To love is painful that is
[3]
true. Not to love is painful to. But oh! it gives the greatest pain To love and not be loved again. I am sorry John I did not call in as I might have seen the face of a young female of eighteen with blue eyes and fair hair flowing in lines of beauty from the parting of the fair forehead to the exquis[illegible] ears and then falling in a cataract of golden glory over her shining shoulders with eyes full of love [illegible] as the deep sea and as fathomless in their deep dark beauty her well poised head and noble neck with [illegible] half maidenly half womanly in its undulating graces the rounded form altogether presenting a manifestation of womanly glory and loveliness that could have had its ideal only in the refined and passionate imaginations of the poet John Muir Esqr. and has turned him taporilterie. But I did not get your letter till next day at night and that morning I was in a hurry to get their and the horses were always sliping so I had to let them walk at night I was on foot and late next morning I was in as big a hurry with George and his horses. coming home again I had not
Location
Buffalo [Wisc]
Date Original
1858 Feb 9
Source
Original letter dimensions: 19.5 x 32.0 cm
Recommended Citation
Reid, Charles, "Letter from Charles Reid to John Muir, 1858 Feb 9" (1858). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1035.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1035
Resource Identifier
muir01_0031-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 01, Image 0031
Collection Identifier
Online finding aid for the microform version of the John Muir Correspondence http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0w1031nc
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
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Pages
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
