Creator
Mary Hark
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
[4]
number, the average attendance this session has been about 50 for some time I had as many as 60 between the ages of 7 & 14 reading in the 2nd and 5ed books, there is but one female teacher besides myself who teaches in the Infant Department these are two male teachers above me, the children like all others in small towns are rather wild, but nevertheless I like them very well and have become very much attached to some of them We have had what our people call a long tedious Winter but I must confess that it has been one of the shortest that I ever spent anytime has
00402
[1]
Oakville April 3rd 1867
Dear Friend John
Looking at the last letter which I received from you I see that it is three months since it was penned, now it is really too bad that I have been so long in answering such a very kind letter and one which did me a very great am -ount of good many thanks for the comforting words which it contained - I received a letter from Hattie giving me a good deal of information but the saddest news it contain -ed was concerning yourself
[2]
How did you meet with such a unfortune poor fellow I do indeed pity your I know very well that there were some of your senses which you prized so much as sight, but O what a comfort to know that all comes from God who knows what is best for us & Away from home too you must indeed be very lonely although you may have many friends in Ind. -ianapolis still there are none so dear as one's own friends those with whom we are connected by the bonds of relationship - I trust however that you will yet recover and as a partial means of recruiting and strengthening your nerves (which must have
[3]
received a most terrible shock) pay your Canadian friend a visit you would receive a most heartly welcome. My long and most cherished wish is now fulfilled namely - a situation at home where I can see my own Dear Mother daily in some respects I should prefer being away from home but both of us know that every situation has it annoyances and vexations, and those in Oakville are not exempt from them. My school room is a very pleasant one large and well ventilated and being on the second floor there is a splendid view from the windows of which there are no less than twelve in
00402
[5]
fun so thouroughly occupied and having been so long from home I have had a good many visitors, we are having our rainy season now with a sunshiny day now and then, which gives us a foretaste of those delightful days to which we are all looking forward with so much earnestness in a few weeks we shall expect to see the flowers bursting forth from the trammels of Winter and shining forth in all their purity and [illegible]ness. I met a Lady on the sheet to day with very pretty bonquet of flowers in her hand. I could not help stopping to admire them the looked so
[6]
very pretty we seldom see them in the street so early in the season although they may be blooming within doors You ask my thoughts with regard to the late Union between Charlie and Mary I like it very much and think they are well suited to one another the difference in age [illegible] every one so that until the very last week before the marriage people thought Harriet to be the one, she will not remain long at home either if some bodys health improves, but I suppose that with your usual shrewdness you will have discovered this long ago - Are they not bearing up
629
[7]
wonderfully under the trying circumstances in which they have been placed - but they have not yet had any trials equal to the one from which you are now suffering do not let your spirits sink keep up a good heart - some of us can sympathize or feel for you as well as if we had been placed in the same position ourselves but I can assure you that it gave us all a great shock for we all know that you prized sight more than any of us - Mother wishes to be kindly remembered to you, please send a few lines soon and let us know how you are Your Friend Mary Hark.
Do not forget the visit to Canada
Location
Oakville, [Canada]
Date Original
1867 Apr 3
Source
Original letter dimensions: 18.5 x 22.5 cm
Recommended Citation
Hark, Mary, "Letter from Mary Hark to John Muir, 1867 Apr 3" (1867). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1227.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1227
Resource Identifier
muir01_0978-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 01, Image 0978
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
4 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
