Creator
[John Muir]
Recipient
Sarah [Muir Galloway]
Transcription
[4]
I thought I would make my bed tip up at any time I pleased for I would sometimes get up at two or three and sometimes at seven it only required one or two days to make it the machinery consists of two rough levers and a knotty cotton string and an iron thin one a clock [pendulum?] The string is attached to a clock set on my washstand I have a little lamplighter to made of two or three little sticks At half past five I am mercilessly set upon my feet waking or sleeping and at the same instant I have a light There is a notice of it in one of the papers I have not seen it but I guess I will hunt it up and send it to you Dear Davie I do most devout -ly desire you to write me a long letter There is much her to lead me away from God I ask to be remem- bered at the throne of grace God bless you my dear sister and dear Brother and your little ones
A very affectionate goodbye
00248
[1]
my very dear Sarah sister I hope you and your pretty dear Davie are well and your family I am quite well myself. I think it strange that you and Davie have not sent me a letter long ago. I sent you one from Madison surely you have not received it I am in the world now I dont think I know how I like it I guess it has woed me better than I could expect but most of its love is very hollow I believe, since I left I have never been able to mark the flight of time It seems like seven or eight days since I left home and seems like seven or eight years and it seems like a dream I hardly ever know what day it is or what month it is or what year I dont often think where I am and I dont think I care much I dont think
[2]
I can tell you what I am doing or not doing And I hardly know how I feel I am not unhappy. I generally whistle when I do my chors I guess I am happy But I suppose I had better wake now and tell you something Pr du Chin is a pretty place. The city is a miserable place, the prairie is seven miles by one or two walled in by bold nearly bold limestone hills, houses are scattered over nearly all the prairie the river runs on one side close to the hills, just apposite there on the very top of the ridge a nationable catholic was buried according to his dying injunction it is so steep and high you can hardly scramble to the top but I mean to try it someday I wish I had you to try it with me Everything seems [illegible] and comfortable in my big home It is dandy society I am in or maybe
[3]
it should be called polite the boarders are all mannerly and educated. They are great kissers they don't kiss me I don't know as they are very sentimental either It was worth while to see their ladyships and lordships eating turkey and playing blind mans buff on thanksgiving evening in the great hall, they did not succeed in getting me at either buff or fox and geese I gravely repeated Solomons words "my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not" It was taken very gravely and caused an apology next day I have a great character here for sobriety I have been trying to turn my attention to books and whittle not a bit but as they depend on me for making the f[illegible]
Location
[Prairie du Chien, Wis]
Circa Date
[1860 Dec 1-21]
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20.5 x 25.5 cm
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Sarah Muir Galloway, ca 1860 Dec 1-21" (1860). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1052.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1052
Resource Identifier
muir01_0113-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 01, Image 0113
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
Copyrighted
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, click here to view the Holt-Atherton Special Collections policies.
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.
Copyright Holder
Muir-Hanna Trust
Copyright Date
1984
Pages
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
