Creator
Joanna [Muir]
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
00826 [4]
Mother and the rest of the family are as well as usual and are are passing the winter pretty comfortably — We had our usual Christmas gathering and all look forward [underlined: hopefully] to the next as the time for a [underlined: complete] family [underlined: reunion] We do sincerely hope that this may take place as after that time some may very likely scatter out to Neb. and then it will be almost impossible for [underlined: all] to gather in. I trust you are again comfortably located for the winter. I am knitting socks for you which I will soon send and I take great pleasure in my work as I remember who is to wear them This work just suits me as it does not require much looking at.
[1]
[in margin: Mother rec’d your letter and will soon write She and Annie send love as does also your Sister Joanna]
Portage Jan. 17. 1879.
My dear tanned rich brother John:
Your three Scribner “letters” were read with deepest interest and appreciation, I liked all exceedingly but the Wind Storm seemed like poetry or music from beginning to end and vibrated and tingled through my being, while I tried to see the grand old pine trees waving
[Page 2]
[2]
solemnly in the gale and “every needle thrilling and ringing and sheding off keen lances of light like a diamond” The Douglass spruce with long sprays drawn out in level tresses and needles massed in a gray shim- erring glow.” etc. etc. This article and the Humming Bird of Cal. I love more than all the others. since my sickness in which I have had so much distress in my head and eyes, my brain refuses everything which requires special thought or study, consequently some of
[3]
your more scientific articles are entirely beyond me, though I should love dearly to understand them, for I feel deeply my ignorance of Gods book of Nature as well as of His written word and I long to know much more of both. And I trust the time of study is yet coming for me; My health still improves, In some respects I think I feel better than [deleted: when] before my last summers back setting though I cannot walk as much as before.
Location
Portage, [Wisc]
Date Original
1879 Jan 17
Source
Original letter dimensions: 14 x 29 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, Joanna, "Letter from Joanna [Muir] to John Muir, 1879 Jan 17." (1879). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 459.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/459
Resource Identifier
muir03_0975-md-1.pdf
File Identifier
Reel 03, Image 0974
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
