Creator
[John Muir]
Recipient
Louie [Wanda Muir]
Transcription
[1]
[letterhead]
Nov. 21 1898
Dear Louie
I'm once more alone but fortunately on my way home.
Sargent & I parted this forenoon at a place called Archer. He went to Jacksonville on his way direct for Boston & I came here to reach the road that leads to New Orleans. The day before yesterday we stopped at Palatka on the famous St Johns River when I saw the most magnificient magnolias some 4 ft in diameter & 100 ft high also the largest & most beautiful hickories & oaks from there we went to Cedar
02507
[2]
[letterhead]
Keys. Of course I inquired for the Dodgsons at whose house I lay sick so long Mr Hodgson died long ago, also the eldest son, with whom I used to go boating, but Mrs Hodgson & the rest of the family two boys & three girls are alive & well & I saw them all today except one of the boys. I found them at Archer when I stopped four hours on my way from Cedar Keys. Mrs H & the two eldest girls remembered me well. The house was pointed out to me & I found the good old lady, who nursed me, in the garden. I asked her if she knew me she answered no & asked my name I said Muir. "John Muir", she almost screamed, "My California John Muir"? My California John?
02507
[3]
[letterhead]
I said "Why Yes, I promised to come back & visit you in about 25 years, & though a little late Ive come. I stopped to [dinner?] & we talked over old times in grand style you may be sure. It is now bed time & I must stay in this dreary hotel. until noon tomorrow for the New Orleans train.
I mean to stop over a day at New Orleans with Mr Mellichamp another botanist. Then I hope to get straight home though Sargent advises other stops in Texas & Arizona. He is to send my letters from Jacksonville to Mobile so
02507
[4]
[letterhead]
I'll hope to hear from you about noon the day after tomorrow.
Mercy how lonely I feel & yet how glad I am to be at last facing westward It seems years & years since I left home. Im quite well but my eyes are a little sore with gazing out of the car windows with eager botantical discrimination, especially at the forests of the Long leafed pine of when I can never see enough big, little & babies.
A single tassel contains nearly 2000 needles a foot long, I am very anxious to hear that you are well Goodnight Heaven keep you, Mamma Wanda Helen darlings Maggie Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight
02507
Location
Live Oak, Fla.
Date Original
1898 Nov 21
Source
Original letter dimensions: 24 x 15 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from [John Muir] to Louie [Wanda Muir], 1898 Nov 21." (1898). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 2312.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/2312
Resource Identifier
muir10_0501-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 10, Image 0501
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
