Creator
[John Muir]
Recipient
Mary [Muir Hand]
Transcription
[in margin: Call your little girl Mary or Margaret] [4]
Annie is now quite as well as any of us - no cough, no pale sickly looks but much appetite & brisk ambition the only thing lacking is work. She has nothing to do & that is enough to make anybody unhappy I have been trying to make a student out of her. a botantist or anthropologist or something of the sort but she does not seem to take very heartily to such work & calls me a hard master teacher. Probably she contemplates marriage with some minister or other anything in the way of everyday work would be good for her. Thanking you for the pictures Mary & wishing you all Happy New Year I am ever your loving brother
[1]
Martinez December 5th 1886
Dear Highland Mary
The box came safely & we are all greatly indebted to you for the brave effort you have made to give a picture of father. But the sad truth remains that we have no real likeness of him I cannot see in your careful effort any characteristic expression of his countenance but it seems a real use nevertheless, & we can but do our best to recall his features when he was in his prime - his face lighted with- enthusiasm for what he saw as Gods eternal truth & love The lilies are very beautiful & well painted but not to my taste well grouped The crowded
83
[2]
handful of heads in the sturdier vase does not allow them to show to good advantabe what they are but the loose buds scattered at the foot of the vase are very fine. I would like to see you try a single flower & leaf growing in the water. thought from the size of the leaves a large sheet would be required
I [illegible] the frost is already dividing you into clear quarters around the devilish iron stoves. I often marveled that anyone could be at all well breathing the roasted burned atmosphere of your winter homes. You are awake to the evils of drinking alcohol but not at all to the eavils of drinking burned foul air
[3]
which every year in our climate kills more than dram drinking strange that with so many schools & churches & great show of knowledge concerning both earth & heavens we should yet be as ignorant of so simple a matter as keeping warm in cold weather as a lot of sneezing shivering monkeys. If you are going to continue the profession of Christianity & preaching reforms of drinking etc then for conscience sake begin the business of casting out devils - those iron stoves. [illegible] [stricken word] the business out of their own eye- pull out the end of your house & build a fireplace. This is Sunday & this is a much needed sermon
Location
Martinez [Calif.]
Date Original
1886 Dec 5
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from [John Muir] to Mary [Muir Hand], 1886 Dec 5." (1886). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1696.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1696
Resource Identifier
muir05_0724-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 05, Image 0724
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
John Muir National Historic Site. 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
