Creator
S.S. Forbes
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
manly & fine in character & self reliant. We must wait a while for the highest & finest culture - when I am in the South & when I think of parts of the West I saw, it seems a quite herculean task to bring our whole country out of the barbaric - Mr Emerson is well this winter he is getting old now & I fancy will not go beyond his earlier efforts in what he does, but he
[in margin: Remember us to Mr & Mrs Leidy when you see them. Yours very truly S. T. Forbes I found Prof [illegible] had specimens of the flowers you gave me]
[1872]
My dear Mr Muir
I have only just received your note & its contents, thank you very much. the bulbs & seeds are at Mr Forbes's office & I have ordered them sent to my gardener to take care of until the ground thaws - at present it is covered with snow & ice & frozen so that it rather looks like the beginning
[in margin: is always kind & gentle - his daughter my [illegible] wife is in Europe with my son & their four children Three are boys & I hope will show]
of winter - I have been passing a few weeks in Florida with Mr Forbes - he is troubled with a cough & it does him good to go there - though that cannot be said of many who go for that, they wait until they are too ill - I can imagine the Yo Semite in its winter grandeur being as interesting as in its summer beauty - of late we hear much [in margin: the worth of their descent, when they grow up - I sent your note &]
of the beauty & grandeur & of the geysers of the yellow Stone river - & that our government is going to secure the finest part of it - I wish it might do so of all the finest of our scenery - for we are not a sufficiently poetical people to revere such beauty & wonder as we ought - but food & clothing for families must be provided & the doing that develops much that is [in margin: one of those sprays to our Emerson - he is always interested in you]
William Hathaway forbes married Edith Emerson forbes
W. Cameron forbis [1872]
614 Sears Building, Boston, muse,
My dear Mr. Muir:
I have only just received your note and its contents, thank you very much. The bulbs and seeds are at Mr. Forbes’ office, and I have ordered them sent to my gardener to take care of until the ground thaws - at present it is covered with snow and ice and frozen so that it rather looks like the beginning of winter. I have been passing a few weeks in Florida with Mr. Forbes — he is troubled with a cough and it does him good to go there, though that cannot be said of many who go for that -they wait until they are too ill.
I can imagine the Yo Semite in its winter grandeur being as interesting as in its summer beauty. Of late we hear much of the beauty and grandeur of the geysers of the Yellowstone river, and that our government is going to secure the finest part of it. I wish it might do so of all the finest of our scenery, for we are not a sufficiently poetical people to revere such beauty and wonder as we ought. But food and clothing for families must be provided, and the doing that develops much that is manly and fine in character, and self reliant. We must wait a while for the highest and finest culture, when I am in the south and when I think of parts of the West I saw, it seems a quite herculean task to bring our whole country out of the barbaric.
Mr. Emerson is well this winter. He is getting old now and I fancy will not go beyond his earlier efforts in what he does, but he is always kind and gentle. His daughter, my son's wife, is in Europe with my son and their four children. Three are boys and I hope will show the worth of their descent when they grow up. I sent your note and one of those sprays to Mr. Emerson. He is always interested in you.
Remember me to Mr. and Mrs. Leidig when you see them.
Yours very truly,
S. S. Forbes
I found Prof. Gray had specimens of the flowers you gave me.
Location
[Boston, Mass.]
Circa Date
[1872 Winter]
Source
Original letter dimensions: 15.5 x 23 cm.
Recommended Citation
Forbes, S. S., "Letter from S.S. Forbes to John Muir, [1872 Winter] ." (1872). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1439.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1439
Resource Identifier
muir02_0749-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 02, Image 0749
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
