Creator
John Muir
Recipient
David [Gilrye Muir]
Transcription
[drawing] [in margin: Martinez 1885 consulation]
Martinez April 20, 1885
Dear Brother David.
I am very sorry to learn the sad bereavement you & your children have suffered in the death of your dear good wife though an account of her long suffering of pain one could not wish that her life should have been prolonged. Sad as separation from loved ones always is yet it is a very consoling through that the separation is never for long. for we invariably follow them. Night comes to all._ the night of death as surely as the night of a single day to the young & old, weak & strong to the healthy & diseased
Life is a day with its morning noon & night while disease & whatever shortens life is only an incident in the grand eternal movement. Not many I think have enjoyed more in a marriage union & walk through life than yourself & Katie Cairns. & I am sure that even in the first painful fresh grief of separation that there is [will?] you far more for thankful joy than sorrow. No life is short or a failture which has been vivified by love and then over & above all these consoling considerations there is the noble views of another life in a better
world than this [illegible] & far though it be to the eyes of us poor limited mortals. God our Father loves us all & whether here or there living or dying directs - & leads us in the ways that are the best however little we may be able under our accting burdens to realize it.
Take heart then dear brother & live on lovingly & bravely until Your own time & the time of all Your loved family comes for You to move on & follow after.
Ever Your Affectionate brother John Muir
Location
Martinez, [Calif]
Date Original
1885 Apr 20
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20.5 x 25.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to David [Gilrye Muir], 1885 Apr 20." (1885). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1596.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1596
Resource Identifier
muir05_0232-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 05, Image 0232
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The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust.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
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
