Creator
A. H. Sellers
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
A. H. SELLERS
Hotel Metropole
Chicago May 22nd 1905.
Dictated A.H.S.My dear Mr. Muir:-
The last word we had from you direct was last fall.October, I think. I know that I received your last letter while at Fuckaway Lake Wis, and I. briefly, answered it from there, promising to write you more fully on our return to Chicago.
Well John, we have all had a rather sad time since then, my dear wife with her poor suffering mother, and ! with my bodily ills, something that I have been very free from all try life till the past few months.
A few weeks after our return from Wisconsin, I was taken down with a severe attack of bronchial colds, a succession of them, keeping me confined to the house, and fighting hard for weeks to avoid Pneumonia,0! how I longed for the bright skies and warm sunshine of old California,but wife die not want to go so far from her mother. Finally the dear old lady rallied somewhat, along in January. we left for Florida the .latter part of that month, as wife could get home from there in 30 hours.
On Feb 25th she and her neice. Miss Logan who was with us. were called hone to Grandma's bedside, as she had grown dangerously (as it was then thought) worse. They left ire in that funereal country to get well of my colds. This I finally succeeded in doing, and the last of March found me back in Chicago, feeling as wall as one could expect after spending nearly two months in that Godforsaken country, where everything weeps and looks sad. The skies were rain nearly all the time. and when not doing so the humidity of the atmosphere ranges from 90 to 99. The poor sickly forests of turpentine Fines are being bled to a slow death by the "niggers" and
(2) Chicago
"crackers" for the little turrentine they will yeild. So that it is very appropriate that their dying limbs should he hung with. crane (Spanish moss) which gives the country such a funereal look and makes one glad to get back to a live country, ever if it is still in the icy grasp of winter.
Well now for the continuation of my misfortunes. I had only been home about 10 days when I, an old man, had to come down with that childs disease, diphtheria. That lasted me ten days, when ,three weeks ago last Sunday, I was again knocked out with a severe attack of Angina pectoris, a heart difficulty,that came pretty near putting me on board of old Sharod's boat. This confined me to my bed for 3 weeks, and I am now just begining to sit up I am very weak and have lost 17 lbs of flesh or rather fat, which I do not, however,regret. They tell me that they a re going to take me in a f ew days, to my sister's at Woodstock 50 miles from here, where I can get my feet or the grass and breath fresh air that is not ladened with smoke and stenches as it is here
Well this is the end, to date, of my troubles, $ my poor little wife is still having hers. The poor old mother is still alive and a terrible sufferer so much so that they are obliged to keep her, a 1 most, constantly under the in-fluence of morphine.Her daughters have been most devoted to her, some or all of their are with| her all the time, night and day besides two professiona1nurses.While I was so very sick, it was pretty hard or Fay as her heart strings were being pulled from both directions. Grandma has shown wonderful vitality. She i;s 82 years of age and has resisted a dreadful disease for months for days now she has taken no nourishment or stimulants, and: it is wonderful how tenaciously her life holds on.I missed California this last winter and I missed our home had I known we were to have such sad months ahead of us. I dont think I should have sold it. But you know it is always darkest before the dawn of the bright day, so we hope that we may have some bright days out of the few that are left to us.
Even this dictating makes me very tired, so must stop.We do hope that you and your dear ones have been well. Wife joins me in kind regards to you all.
Sincerely yours
[illegible
]
Location
Chicago
Date Original
1905-05-22 0:00
Source
Original letter dimensions: 27.5 x 21 cm.
Recommended Citation
Sellers, A. H., "Letter from A. H. Sellers to John Muir, 1905 May 22." (1905). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 3336.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/3336
Resource Identifier
muir15_0479-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 15, Image 0479
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
