Creator
Janet [Moores]
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
Hotel Dunbar
Roxbury, Mass.
Jan 22nd, 1890.
My Dear Mr. Muir,
I don't suppose you know that I have become a veritable Bostonian - having lived in the vicinity of "the Hub" now for nearly six months. Possibly though Miss Annie, your sister, with whom I carry on an extensive business correspondence, may have told you about me. I am living in a great hotel or apartment house. My room is at the top, a delightful room with a wonderful outlook, [illegible] & steeples for my neighbors. on one side perhaps a mile away the river Charles & beyond it the blue hills; on the other in the distance the beautiful bay. From a sixth-story window we can see nearly everything worth seeing. I think even you who scorn the city would be pleased to look out over this varied scene, above the toil & turmoil -
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Last summer at Winthrop, one of the suburbs of Boston, (where I boarded for three months. I met my fate. no, not a man, but a woman, a physician, a specialist in the line of nervous troubles, a graduate of the Homeopathic School here & a student for two years in the hospitals & under the best phsycians of Paris. This little woman, the embodiment of good sense, one of the few who has a sound mind in a sound body, is treating me for "Nervous Prostration" and I have advanced so far on the road to health that I feel very sure of never going back. I have visions that are more than visions of a clear head & a strong body, & you can imagine how happy it makes me. Dr. Bruce is a companion & friend -
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a comrade in fact, as well as my doctor. She lost her husband & her babies many years ago & counts her patients as her family now. She is a brave bright woman & very successful in her profession. I rent a room in a flat, am allowed the privelege of using the kitchen, where I prepare & eat my meals, unless I am so fortunate as to be invited out. My neighbors, from whom I rent my room, are cultivated people, who in days past had wealth & travel & all good things, but now are verging toward old age & toward poverty. They, Mr. & Mrs. Millard are charming people & I am fond of them. x x x I am very happy here & expect to stay some time, possible three months longer. x x x x I want to approach you on a matter of business - I hesitated for
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I know how busy you always are - but I know also how kind you have always been to me & mine. I have a cousin here, Edward Merrill Coe, (his mother a cousin of my mother's) He wants very much to go to California & I told him that I would write to you for advice & help if you could give it in the shape of work. He is twenty-one, has good health, good mind, & good principles. He was brought up on a New Hampshire farm - for three years taking almost entire charge of it, that is, he was a kind of overseer, his uncle who owned the farm, running a time in the village. Ed came to Boston & learned the printer's trade, but he does not
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like it, or his associates & he says there is no chance of promotion. He loves farming & thinks he could succeed at it. He comes from a good family & has sensible ideas about things. His aunt (with whom he lives in E. Boston) says that he gets along well with men. x x I remembered hearing you wish for someone to take the burden of the ranch off your shoulders. But in all probability you have a competent overseer by this time. Do you know of any one who wants such a person as my cousin? And if not - would it be advisable for him to go out with no certainty of work. Of course, he would expect to begin at the bottom if necessary - providing there was a chance for promotion.
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Hope that I have not trespassed too much on your time - but I am interested in the boy & should like to see a future for him. x x x Your dear little children are standing in a pretty frame on my mantel & are admired by every one who comes in. I am so glad to have them to look at & think about. With the hope that you & Mrs Muir & the children are well & that you can find time to write me before long.
Your old friend,
Janet
Hotel Dunbar,
Roxbury, Mass.
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Location
Roxbury, Mass.
Date Original
1890 Jan 22
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20 x 15.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Moores, Janet, "Letter from Janet [Moores] to John Muir, 1890 Jan 22." (1890). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 1878.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/1878
Resource Identifier
muir06_0337-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 06, Image 0337
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
4 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
