Creator
George Hansen
Recipient
[Wanda ?] Muir
Transcription
June 24th., 1903.
Dear Miss Muir, Deer friend,
Blessed woman that you are to be so rich as to spread out a shower of delight and joy over this out home. I am sure you knew it when you dispatched the box with your luscious gift, and I thought that the consciousness of such deed would bring warmth to your heart. I therefore was somewhat reconciled when I found myself unable to sit up to the typewriter, and reluctant to write with a pencil when the use of crutches has drawn the muscles of the hands. But I arrive today with the words that were spirited to you in the very hour when we opened the lid. Each cherry looked at us a smiling, wellwishing countenance. We never knew them to be so good, so meaty, so firm. Little Roland had to learn anew to segragate the stones as he was wont to slip them out of looscfle shed fruit.
Let me tell you in a few words just how blessed the day was on which your surprise came top us. An elderly lady, who never missed one single week to call ever since I am a cripple, now past a year and a half, came with her usual bouquet and cheer I was looking over the pages of my only a choice and well assorted bundle of which had been sent by a friend that very morning. A very good rolling chair, the gift of my only brother gave me the comfort of being off the porch, an enjoyment I have not had for months and months. The good praye wife timbered thr_e runways for me and the chair to go over the backsteps. No nails were ever driven with more appreciation, nor the butchering of woodblessed with more fervent good-wishes. And to fill the measure of welcome deeds and intensions, good friends agreed to stay with me for a few days and try and
[06213]
put up with my wretchedness- bodily as well as spiritually – while I forced the the good wife to skip home to the mountain to cheer the heart of the aged and feble mother. -- sO you must feel that you box came on a fortunate day, and its address and card from you went with the rest of the keepsakes into Roland's "Truhe" .
When I think of you and your good father, and draw a parallel with our home. I find sufficient relatedness to warm my heart. how rich ( is that a fit word? ) must not you and your sister( or that there more of you besides the good mother? ) feel for being the children of a man so universally beloved. To be in his presence mint be lie dwelling under a tree widely spread out in bough and leaf and singing his peacefull song every hour of day and night. Then a person in blessed enough by a gracious God to commune with such living tree, he needs neither rubies nor the treasures or Ophir to bring happiness to his home. – And with us – would that I could be a tree, a tree to spread over our child. But only the freed soul of a shattered bole, a few limbs stuck out in weired manner can try to protect him. -But he needs no more from me. The mother is all to him, his playmate, his protection, his doctor his saint, and God creates friends for him wherever knowledge of his smiles, his constant cheer penetrates.
Let me put to words to you what I expressed some time since. Let me know the addresses of your father from time to times to that I might drop a line or greeting to him in far off lands. ”Robinson Crusoe loved his man Friday, and so will your father appreciate a line from near where his home is and where his heart dwells. - You , dear friend, save the stamps of his letters and add them to the collection that I paste together for the little man .—When you come this way , please us with your presence. Kindest regards to all that make your home, even the trees and vines, dogs and chickens bluejays and doves. Special good wishes for your mother,Love from Roland ( who broke his arm twice in one month, in the same place almost ) and sincere greetings from the mother.
your gratefull friend
[illegible]
Location
Berkeley, Calif.
Date Original
1903 Jun 24
Source
Original letter dimensions: 28 x 21.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Hansen, George, "Letter from George Hansen to [Wanda ?] Muir, 1903 Jun 24." (1903). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 2663.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/2663
Resource Identifier
muir13_0678-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 13, Image 0678
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
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
