Creator
James Whitehead.
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
A. & U. Hospital Hot Springs Ark 3/10/13
Dear Mr Muir:
I recd your letter of Mar. 4th this a.m. Communicating with the office of the Mountain Vally Springs Co. Club I learned the letter you mentioned had been returned some two or three days ago. I found however your book "Stickeen" awaiting me for which accept my sincere thanks.
Being unable to write at that time my letter was dictated to a stenographer at said Club Bldg. She had no plain paper but used the paper advertising the Cos. Business hence the very natural mistake in addressing me there.
In writing you I did not look for corrections or elimination of any part of "The Story of Your Boyhood". I simply desired to [acquaint?] you with facts as known to me. for in my somewhat varied experience I appreciate any fact or circumstance that discloses the good or better qualities of our fellow
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man. especialy those we know, or have known, and of whom we may have formed a different opinion. I appreciate, therefore, most fully and thank you sincerely for what you have done. I would also add. had no correction been possible it would not in any way hanve changed my estimation of your worth and character & the service rendered to your fellow man.
My Uncle Charlies troubles were pre-natal. He was born crooked. his limbs had to be broken & straightened. His mother became frightened at some wild animal while attending a menagerie.
In the Jan. Atlantic in mentioning Mr. Mair you call him "George." George was his elder son & about five years of age at that time. The fathers name was James. was generaly spoken of & known as "Jimmie" Mair as you may recall.
My Brother Benjamin, about whom you
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inquire went west..following mothers death in 1968 or 9. for 20 years we lost track of him but finaly got trace of him in Cortez, Colo. & a correspondence was established. He has accumulated considerable property & wrote me in 1907 that on account of failing health he had been advised to visit Mexico. Three months after I received a letter from a married daughter living there. that her father was dead. It was a most pathetic story, dying among strangers. Among a a people whose language. habits. customs was entirely foreign they encountered difficulty & expense in securing for him a Christian burial and a resting place for his remains in a ruinous & forsaken Protestant cemetey.
You book "My First Summer in the Sierra" is in the hospital library & is read with interest by many. I regret not having received your first letter. I expect to remain here until April 16".
Yours Sincerely
James Whitehead.
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Location
Hot Springs, Ark.
Date Original
1913 Mar 10
Source
Original letter dimensions: 24.5 x 20.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Whitehead, James, "Letter from James Whitehead. to John Muir, 1913 Mar 10." (1913). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 3930.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/3930
Resource Identifier
muir21_0193-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 21, Image 0193
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
3 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
