Creator
[John Muir]
Recipient
[Jeanne C.] Carr
Transcription
Yosemite Valley May 15th 1873 #68
Dear Mrs Carr, The robins have eaten too much breakfast this morning & there is a grossness in their throats that will require a good deal of sunshine for its cure. The leaves of many of the plants are badly disarranged showing that they have had a poor nights sleep The reason of all this trouble is a snow storm that overloaded the flowers & benumbed the butterflies upon wh the birds have breakfasted too heartily The grand Upper Yo Sem’ fall is at this moment (7. AM coming with all its glorious array of fleecy comets out of a cloud that is laid along the top of the cliff & going into
a cloud that is drawn along the face of the wall about half way up. These clouds are shot through & through with sunshine forming with the snowy waters, & fresh washed walls, one of the most openly glorious scenes I ever beheld. A lady on Blacks piazza is quietly looking at it, sitting with arms folded in her chair. A gentleman is pointing at it with his cane. While another gentleman is speaking loudly & businessly about his “baggage” Eyes have they but they see not. Looking up the Valley the cloud effects are yet more lavishly glorious Tissiack is mantled with Silvery burning mists, her
00661
[Original letter in mounted set of letters to Mrs. Carr, #68]
Yosemite Valley,
May 15th, 1873.
Dear Mrs. Carr:
The robins have eaten too much breakfast this morning, and there is a grossness in their throats that will require a good deal of sunshine for its cure. The leaves of many of the plants are badly disarranged, showing that they have had a poor night's sleep. The reason of all this trouble is a snowstorm that overloaded the flowers and benumbed the butterflies upon which the birds have breakfasted too heartily.
The grand Upper Yosem[ite] fall is at this moment (7 A.M.) coming with all its glorious array of fleecy comets out of a cloud that is laid along the top of the cliff and going into a cloud that is drawn along the face of the wall about half way up. These clouds are shot through and through with sunshine, forming with the snowy waters, and fresh washed walls, one of the most openly glorious scenes I ever beheld. A lady on Black's piazza is quietly looking at it, sitting with arms folded in her chair. .A gentleman is pointing at it with cane, while another gentleman is speaking loudly and businessly about his "baggage"'. Eyes have they, but they see not.
Looking up the Valley the cloud effects are yet more lavishly glorious. Tissiack is mantled with silvery burning mists, her
[Portion of letter lost]
[In bound typewritten set of Muir-carr letters, the above paragraph is continued as follows]
Tissiack is mantled with silvery burning mists, her gray rocks appearing dimly where thinly veiled. Over the top of Washington Column the clouds are descending in a continuous stream and rising again suddenly from the bottom like spray from a waterfall. 0 dear, I wish you were here. I may write this cloud glory forevermore, but never be able to picture it for you.
24th. with this l send No. 1 of explorations in Big Cañon. There will be two more.
[2 short paragraphs are cut from page]
I have been looking anxiously for dear Kellogg, when is he. going to start? farewell with much love,
John Muir
Location
Yosemite Valley
Date Original
1873 May 15
Source
Original letter dimensions: 21 x 13 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from [John Muir] to [Jeanne C.] Carr, 1873 May 15." (1873). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1527.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1527
Resource Identifier
muir02_1131-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 02, Image 1131
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, see http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/Fees-and-Forms-.html
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
3 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
