Creator
Abba G. Woolson
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
[4]
the dark winding streets, for your drift dambering over [ wags?] which discouraged my awkward feet! The sidewalks of Boston would be my nature heather. I am worrying here, as ever, about the human race, - that collection of miserable beings which you so utterly ignore in your work. Just now, I am praching the divinity of the body, and striving to le[illegible] women to respect their natural selves sufficiently to wear garments that do not pinch and burden and crucify their suffering frames. In four weeks I shall have a book out on that theme; and I have devised such comfortable attic for myself that I think I could now skip over your slanting mountain trails like a bounding doe. I wonder what Mrs. Carr is doing now-a- days. Please tell her I count upon her to keep along all good causes in the far West; and remember me also to her husband. For your map and letters and information I desire to under a most hearty, although tardy; thanks. With kindest regards, Believe me. Very truly yr. friend. Abba G. Woolson.
00694
[1]
Concord. New Hampshire. Sept. 27. 1874.
My dear Mr. Muir,
It is a long while since I have written to you, and I fear you think me an ungrateful recipient of all your favors, since I have never done so much as thank you for them. But I have thought of you very often during the past year, and your name is a household word with us. You know I have been [illegible]ming enough to attempt a description of Yosemite in a public lecture; and, of course, I can never give it without vividly walking our golden days there spent under your guidance. But I am ashamed to be talking about what I know so little of, compared with yourself, and I have never liked to write you concerning this lecture. You would say, could you hear it, “Pshaw! what does [underlined: she] know about the Yosemite?”
[Page 2][2]
I read yesterday your delightful picture of Bloody Canon, and thought it cruel that I could not go there, too. Your description is so fresh, vivid, and poetic withal, that it made me homesick again for all those glorious surprises hid away among the Upper Sierras. No scenery seems to me worth exploring but that. I am sure, if God is good, that I shall some day do what I have always longed to do since I saw the Yosemite, - wander up and away into that world of solemn whiteness which we sighted afar off from Glacier Point, and which, as you told us, held such splendors of snowy crest and waterfall, and such wonderful lilies growing under the shadow of the Hoffman Mts. I want all the lilies and the sharp rocky paths, the grizzlies and the waddling furred Monos to be there when I see them. If I could have my
[3]
way, I would sell all my belongings, and depart to spend all the year in the Yosemite and its neighboring Sierras for the winter; and in that I would go about the country lecturing to simple folk, so as to get money to keep me alive. I wonder how you are content to stay away so long, but I suppose you can do your writing vent much better where books and authorities are to be had for consultation. It delights me to hear that you propose to wander to Boston one of these days. If to Boston, then to Concord; and here we will do our best to make you feel at home, and will show you all the sorry little sights we have by way of [illegible]. Perhaps I shall be in Boston again by the time you get there; and then I could act as your Cicerone about my old haunts there. Wouldn’t I have my revenge in taking you up the steps of Bunker Hill Monument, and round about through
Location
Concord, New Hampshire
Date Original
1874 Sep 27
Source
Original letter dimensions: 21 x 25.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Woolson, Abba G., "Letter from Abba G. Woolson to John Muir, 1874 Sep 27." (1874). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 292.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/292
Resource Identifier
muir03_0176-md-1.pdf
File Identifier
Reel 03, Image 0175
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
