Creator
Helen [Muir]
Recipient
Sierra [Wanda Muri 7]
Transcription
[3]
Now - He has a very young lady caller and has taken her outdoors. The pictures (my photos) came safely and I have sent Mr Carter his cheery pictures. I also received your postal and Papa's cheery letter - both did me good. It made me feel so much better to know Mama still feels a little more comfortable. I'm afraid you didnt get one of my letters till a day later, as No 7 (the overland at 4.40, you know) was late yesterday due to a washout in Kansas. No 7 carries all the San Francisco mail from this part of the land. Isn't it too bad you cant make them drop off my letters at Muir instead
[1]
Adamana, Arizona, July 31 - 05
Dear Sierra -
"Bless your heart I love you in the same old way." Just when I most need those things - when I longed for gingerbread, when my "Arizona hair" demanded a comb - my "desert fingernails" a nail brush, etc etc, here came all the things I most desire. Just as I was eating my lunch alone, little Miss Sykes the agent brought up the box.
Since I wrote I can put in good words for the school marms I put down as "cranky old maids" for though thats partly what they were
06227
[3]
still they were all right, and as soon as they all found out who one of their "guides" was they came in a body to invite me over to their car on the siding, where we sang and jollied up and they gave me all the candy I could eat - good kinds from Los Angeles (ahem) and a good many of them came and told me how much they enjoyed Papa's writing and how glad they were to meet his daughter etc etc so I had a beautiful time. There was another party of fifteen here at the same time, a lot of young folks in charge of an old gentleman who takes out such parties every year. He heard who I was and held me up "to have the honor of shaking hands with John Muir's daughter" and told me he had been on the Muir Glacier, in Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canion, and had greatly enjoyed "Our National Parks." After that his party took me in and I liked them ever so much. They left for the Valley No 1 yesterday and I saw them off. (Here the three year old Stevenson says "you cut out pastures for me and I'll write your letter." so I must "cut out" a few. (continued in our next)
7 [4]
of waiting for them to go to the city and come back to Mtz. Try smiling at the mail clerk next time you are at Muir, maybe if he knew they were my letters he'd drop 'em off.
Yesterday Mr Stevenson bought a nice cow and so I can have all the good fresh milk I want. At noon today I drank three big glassfulls of it. And cheer up for more is to come. This morning Miss Bristol, the two children and I rode over to the nearest ranch and drove home another cow and calf so we now have two milk cows. The last one's name is "Annie Roonie." You see I'll "shore" get fat at this rate.
06227
[5]
The people here like my guitar, and the men all want "Marching through Georgia" - "Rubenstien's Melody in F" is quite lost on them.
I am so anxious to see how my last pictures turned out - the ones taken in the petrified forest that Miss Safford took to Leet's when she went home.
Now I must stop for this time. Tell Mama I am going to write to her tomorrow. Remember you hear from me every day and drop me a line now and then for they "cheer me up." So good-by.
Always lovingly
Helen
Tell Papa I keep away from "horse's back," and am taking lots of decent pictures, and like Arizona better every day. I feel so energetic I am going to go for a little walk."
("Hi diddle diddle diddle dum dum dum"!)
Location
Adamana, Arizona
Date Original
1905-07-31 0:00
Source
Original letter dimensions: 16.5 x 26.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, Helen, "Letter from Helen [Muir] to Sierra [Wanda Muri 7], 1905 Jul 31." (1905). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 3376.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/3376
Resource Identifier
muir15_0617-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 15, Image 0617
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
