Creator
John Muir
Recipient
Emily [O. Pelton]
Transcription
[1]
Near Meaford May 23d /65
Dear Friend Emily,
I wrote you on the first of last Jan and have not yet received any answer, so, as might well be expected, the last drop of my patience, which is awaiting the arrival of your letters is always small, has leaked away. I have been seeking a reason for your unwonted silence, but whether it proceeds from your being sick, or married, or crazy, or angry, I could not decide. I already did not forget to send my address. I hope that the speedy appearance of a long letter will throw clearness upon this subject and give that pleasure which your Pr du Chin news always brings. I sincerely trust Emily that you are well and happy in the enjoyment of good friends and of those blessing as plentifully bestowed upon all those who love duty. I often think that perhaps you may feel something of lonesomeness at times when all is still and thought follows thought in a long retrospect of friends, & hopes gone forever, but I am sure that you can never be without friends and those who in the fear of God seek to perform every duty possess abiding happiness in all the relations of life. My brother Dannie who has been with me all winter, has now gone to Buffalo N.Y. he is in a machine shop. My brotherinlaw D Galloway who used to write me when I lived at Pr du Chin, paid us a visit but he has returned home, and poor me is left in Canada, farther from home and longer from home than me ever was before. Your will not wonder then to hear that I am at times touched with melancholy or lonesionness
[2]
I wish that I lived as near you as to be able to call in at such times and have a good earnest social chat upon subjects one thousand and one, together with some supplements and [illegible] We live in a r[illegible] and romantic hollow which I think I described in my last. Our social advantages are of course few and for my part I do not seek to extend my acquaintances but work and study and dream on this retirement happy in being so comfortably seperated from the worlds noisy dust but regretting the absence of friends. Our tall-tall forest trees are now all alive; and the mingled ocean of blossom and leaves, [wave?] and Ourl, and rise, in rounded swells farther and farther away, like the thick smoke from a factory chimney. Freshness & beauty are everywhere. flowers are born every hour, - living sunlight is poured over all and every thing & creature is glad, - our world is indeed a beautiful one, and I was just thinking on going to church last Sabbath that I would hardly accept of a free ticket to the moon or to Venus or any other world, for fear it might not be so good and so fraught with the glory of the creator as our own - those miserable hymns such as these "This world is all a fleeting show for mans delusion given" do not at all correspond with my likings and I am sure they do not with yours I wish Emily that you could be so near or I as near that we could take an occasional ramble together to bot[illegible] and to admire these glorious mani- festations of creative skill I hope we may at some time. I shall take great delight in showing you my specimens, I have some rare ones and I know that you would appreciate them
[3]
I do not forget the first long ramble we had these years ago when we passed through Pr du Chin, the specimens which I then collected though not very well pr[illegible] have many interesting operations, I wish I could pass again over the same route, I have not made any very long excursions this spring for plants, and perhaps may not this summer, though by no means acquainted with all that inhabit our meadows & woods, the mosses especially, thickens so well represented here are comparatively little known, a good microscope is indispensible in their analysis do you ever find time to botanize - these cold limestone rocks so abundant in your neigh- borhood is an excellent field for ferns and many other interesting plants which will grow not where else We have been making a flower garden arround our home here If you have any flower seeds which it would not yet be too late to sow, and which we have not, will you be so good as send us a few. We have dasies, & hiliss , & [illegible] & common cowslip, & thyme, a few kinds of phlox, hya[illegible], [illegible], and a few other common flowers. I have thought & thought about Mrs Goodrich; you will of course know how she is. will you please tell me particularly about her in your next I am always very happy to hear anything concerning my friends It seems long since I heard from Mrs Newton I wrote her about nine months ago, Father Newton of Mass' is also one [epistle?] in debt What has become of Byron Hewitt, Do you ever hear from Mrs Johnson or
[4]
Mrs Lo[illegible], Is Miss Chaffe well, has she yet become a [illegible]. What has beome of our trumpeter Mr Whip Hall - The appearances of speedy peace of course must have brought great rejoicing in your town, I am exceeding glad to see signs of a [illegible]tion of a unnatural a war. I may possibly remain here one year longer we are very busy manufacturing rakes just now. I like the machinery of course but cannot give up my studies I was much delighted a few weeks ago by a long letter from Prof' Butlers little boy containing a lithograph of our Wis' university I could see my room windows and of course many other objects which caused a flood of memories in[illegible] with my very being to take fire all at once. I often think of the evenings we spent all together in the little parlor with your cousins singing merrily all the time - how strangely all things change But I must close - be sure I shall long for your answer Your [illegible] will not be forgotten I hope I remain sincerely your friend John Muir
Remember [me please?] to Mrs Pelton & to Mrs & Mr Newton and to the Wrights and all my friends - Please address me at Meaford, P.O. County of Grey Canada West
Location
Near Meaford, [Canada]
Date Original
1865 May 23
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Emily O. Pelton, 1865 May 23" (1865). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1168.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1168
Resource Identifier
muir01_0692-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 01, Image 0692
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
Wisconsin Historical Society. 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
4 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
