Creator
John Muir
Recipient
Mr. & Mrs. [Ambrose] Newton
Transcription
Fountain Lake Aug 2 1863 Mr and Mrs Newton Dear friends, as I now sit down to write many thoughts crowd upon me, some are very painful. The morning that I left Pr du Chien shall ever be one of mournful interest to me; I was then compelled to part with the friend who was dearest to me, fully assured that we would not again meet until we had passed through death and into the other world. And soon she was called away. She is now in the tomb. I shall not again receive her letters of cheer and encouragement, or hear her words of earnest kindness, but the marks of her goodness shall never be efaced, and her advice shall influence me all my life. more prosperous condition than ever before - all this is very cheering amid the din and desolation of war. But I now bid you goodbye. May the God of consolation grant comfort in your grief for your Dear Frances. May you be soothed and sustained by him to the end and made to rejoice in hope of immortality. Very respectfully John Muir My address will now be Ann Arbor Mich. I would like exceedingly well to hear from you. JM
I have often remembered you and thought of sending you a letter of condolence but words seemed so very weak and inadequate in such a case that I could not begin. The Christian parent can see a dear child droop and die and give it to the grave, feeling submissively that a kind Father in heaven manages all, beyond the gloomy separation of death he sees a union that shall endure, but after all it is a sad thing to give up those we hold so dear - almost more than mortals can bear. I passed through Pr du Chien a few weeks ago on a botanical ramble. I was kindly received by Mr & Mrs Newton, but things looked lone and desolate without Mrs. Pelton. I walked away down the prairie to the cemetery and found her grave. I sat by it as long as I could, then gathered a tuft of grass from it and turned away. I am now at home, this being vacation. I shall likely be a few hundred miles nearer you next term as I mean to go to the medical school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The cause of Christ has prospered of late in Madison - a great many especially from among the young have professed faith in the divine and joined themselves to his people. A few of the young men have formed a ΓÇ£young mens Christian AssocΓÇ¥ which, it is hoped, may do much good after more interest too is taken by Christians in the Sunday school cause. The Sunday schools of the city are in a
Location
Fountain Lake, [Wisc]
Date Original
1863 Aug 2
Source
Original letter dimensions: 33.0 x 21.5 cm
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Mr. & Mrs. Ambrose Newton, 1863 Aug 2" (1863). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1145.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1145
Resource Identifier
muir01_0578-trans.tif
File Identifier
Reel 01, Image 0578
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
3 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
