Creator
S[arah] A. Hodgson
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
[1]
April 10th 1869. Oak Hill, Cedar Keys Fla.
Once more dear friend John have one of your nice kind letters come to hand & I know it is useless to tell you how welcome it was & how very glad we all were to hear of your complete restoration to health once more, and you are a “Shepherd”, well! well! I only wish I could spend as quiet & happy a life as I know you do among the gay Lambs of your flock & the [den den of lions?], How I envy you the great privilege of beholding all the glorious beauties of Creation, but, I ”am but a woman” & cannot make the animal part keep pace with the mortal and spiritual existence, I must be content & such [illegible] port the good L[illegible] but to me for awhile & who knows but one day I too may [illegible] amid the lovely wilds of [illegible] or distant a sport as your “San Joaquin Valley” You must try to help me to see those beauties by the aid of your seady penail & glory pen point & describe all even yet more vividly, though I can somewhat about imagine I see your lovely home & your self amid the flowers [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] plant just found. If I had of law educated a Botanist I cant tell where my love of it might not have be [illegible], as it is I am a passionate worshipper of flowers & love [their benefit?] to human beings, Send me roots seeds & bloms of all you can get, I am
[2]
spending all my leisure time in adorning my home with flowers, have laid out all my front yard in beds of fancy shapes edged with large shells pure white & am [putting?] all I can get in there both wild and [cultivated?] Have a hill of [illegible] luxuriant vine & [illegible] plants of [illegible] beautiful [illegible] with the white berries from [illegible], it is called the [Snowberry?] [plant?] [Went?] to [illegible] Key on purpose to get it. Mr. Hooper says I am planting asters for the [illegible] of [Mosquitoes?] in greater [nos?] I cant help it, I must have my flowers [illegible] the [illegible] sprig of "Sparkle berries (all I am said [illegible]) from "Auld Lang Syne" I have been able at last to purchase my home from the original [owner?], so I feel quite secure in placing my labour I [love?] on it to improve & embellish it, we do not forget [illegible] but we have to eat, as well as see & have about 20,000 [young?] grape leaves coming [among?] a couple of hundred lemons & limes 5-0 figs & 150 bananas & plantains with a few pine apples, so you see we have not been idle the past years [We have now?] a flourishing garden from which we are eating vegetables daily have [illegible] today - with [illegible]potatoes [illegible] Eddy send best respects to you says he wishes he had gone with you to Col [illegible] (but what would I have done without my Eddy near me)
[3]
He says if he does not succeed here as he wishes he will sell his place & go out there yet, but I hope he will be successful & stay near me while I live, Since I wrote you last my health has been very bad [indeed?] but after a [sore?]attack with my throat in Feb I have been improving & now feel as well as ever Hope to see you before the [10?] years expire paying me a visit here again & hope we will be able to [illegible] some considerable The name of [illegible] [was?] Wm. P. Croasdale (Croasdale) went to Texas somewhere, I cant tell you where, have never heard from him since he left Galveston for the interior. Mrs. [Richard?] return to Maine in bad health does not write to me, [Wife?] [Thompson?] is still [illegible] although I'm not [illegible] could easily be induced to change it [illegible] prefix. My other children are all well & still remember & think & speak of Mr. Muir often
I have a lady [friend?] visiting me now for a while that I wish you could know she is the daughter of a [illegible] (Mrs. MacRae) I have [illegible] of you & read part of your last letter to him, [illegible] as I [illegible] will & any [illegible] die out [illegible] Mrs. H is now engaged in getting out [illegible] & [illegible] enough to make us a [supporter?] [illegible]
[4] 640
without so much [illegible]
Mr Hodg[illegible] send his respects says give him a full description of the country its advantages & d[illegible] I hope to hear from you soon write me frequently
By the way I must tell you a joke that [illegible]
00470
Location
Cedar Keys, Fla.
Date Original
1869 Apr 10
Source
Original letter dimensions: 25.5 x 40 cm.
Recommended Citation
Hodgson, Sarah A., "Letter from S[arah] A. Hodgson to John Muir, 1869 Apr 10." (1869). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1298.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1298
Resource Identifier
muir02_0069-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 02, Image 0069
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
3 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
