Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[Mary E. Newton]
Transcription
And is little Elmer really dead - seemingly so well and happy upon my knee and so soon away to the tomb. I sent you a picture my boy just a few weeks ago. I thought of you as the same gleeful little fellow in the parlor with Willie, or receiving your fond mothers kisses. Ah, little did I think that the chill winds were then heaping the frozen snows upon your grave. Yes, your little boy is dead, Mrs. Newton. The silver cord is loosed, but, as you have said, ΓÇÿall is well.ΓÇÖ He is plucked away in the very morning of his life, but he is pure and unsoiled. There are streams which but spring from the fountains and are at once lost in the sea. They meander gayly in the summer give way to corroding grief but rejoice inasmuch as your boy is alive. He lives in your memory and was endeared by his gentle and confiding nature, but above all he lives in heaven in the home of the Redeemer where a parents tears are never shed. Heaven will now seem nearer and the grave cannot be dreadful wherewith contains so much of innocence. I deeply sympathize with you. May you always be comforted and sustained by the God of all consolation. You are known and loved by the blessed Saviour who is ΓÇ£acquainted with grief.ΓÇ¥ May you always be enabled to lean upon him. I beg pardon for not writing sooner. After reaching home I worked all day in the field and analyzed plants every evening until past midnight so that time hasted away unobserved. I received the newspaper but thought it was from Mr Abbott and in cursorily glancing over its contents did not notice the sad announcement which it contained. I shall always receive letters addressed to Midland wherever I may be. The lines which were to have been forwarded to Pr[airie] du Chien were so well hidden by the [thief] that she could not find them herself till too late. I shall leave home in the spring but can hardly tell what would most profitably engage my attention in so doubtful a time. Remember me to all my friends especially to Mr Newton as a sympathizer with him in his affliction. Tell Willie that I often think of him and that he will see Elmer again. Truly a friend JMuir
fields but a little while when they return to their great first source, pure as when springing from the peebles. So soon and so pure did your little boy return to God. The fond mother as she bends over her darling boy sees him become a man, useful and good and everyone loves him, but God who sees the end from the beginning wills otherwise and takes him to himself ere he has learned to [lisp] his holy name. But who can say that you have lost your boy? The disconsolate mother who knows nothing of the Redeemer who says ΓÇ£let the little ones come unto meΓÇ¥ may well sink under the unmitigated anguish of a bleeding heart as she sees the cold clods laid over her dear one. But you in all the fervency of a mothers love may still give your child away feeling that he will be happy, and that you will go to him. But NatureΓÇÖs grief is nonetheless hard to bear. Many trifles as you move about will echo the voice of your dear one, for a moment he will return, you will fold him in fond imagination to your bosom while you bestow again the purest of all earthly things - a mothers kiss. I have often wished that children so guileless and happy might never grow old and never die. Yet surely it is well that the little blossoms be given to God ere they be blighted by sin. But Mrs Newton my pen feels lame indeed. How gladly would I do anything that might serve you in your calamity. I am glad to perceive so much of Christian resignation in your letter. I trust that your husband has the same resignation and the same support you must not
Location
[Fountain Lake, Wisc.]
Circa Date
[1863]
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20 x 25 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Mary E. Newton ?, [1863 Dec]" (1863). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1155.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1155
Resource Identifier
muir01_0623-md-2
File Identifier
MSS 307 Muiriana
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
