Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[Strentzel Family]
Transcription
1.
[in margin: 673]
00827
920 Valencia St. San Francisco, Jan 28th 1879.
Dear friends,
The vast soul stirring work of flitting is at length done, & well done. Myself, wooden clock, & notebook, are once more planted for the winter out here on the outermost ragged edge of this howling metropolis of dwelling [illegible]. And now, Well what now? Nothing but work, book making, brick making the transformation of raw bush sugar & mountain meal into magazine cookies & snaps. And though the spectacled critics who Ken everything in wise ignorance say “well done sir well done” I always feel that there is something not quite honorable in thus dealing with God’s wild gold – the sugar & meal I mean.
[Page 2]
yesterday I began to try to cook a mess of bees, but have not yet succeeded in making the ink run sweet. The blessed brownies [illegible] buzz in this temperature, & what can a body do about it. Maybe Ignorance is the deil that is spoiling the-the-the broth- the nectar, & perhaps I ought to go out & gather some more Melissa & thyme & white sage for the pot. The streets here are barren & beeless & ineffably mudy & mean looking. How people can keep hold of the conceptions of New Jerusalems & immortality of souls with so much mud & gutter, is to me admirably strange. A E[illegible] bush on every other corner, standing tied to a painted stick, & a geranium sprout in a pot on every tenth window sill may help [ heavenward?] a little, but how little amid so muckle down dragging mud Thus much for despondency, per contra the grass & grain is growing
& man will be fed, & the nations will be glad etc, & the sun rises every day. Helen is well out of danger, & is very nearly her own sweet amiable engaging little self again, & I can see her at least once a week
I’m living with Mr Upham & am comfortable as possible. Summer will soon be again.
When you come to the city visit me, & see how bravely I endure so touching a lesson of resignation to metropolitan evils & goods should not be lightly missed. Hoping all goes well with you I am cordially your friend. John Muir.
Location
920 Valencia St. San Francisco, [Calif]
Date Original
1879 Jan 28
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20.5 x 25.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to [Strentzel Family], 1879 Jan 28." (1879). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 460.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/460
Resource Identifier
muir03_0979-md-1.pdf
File Identifier
Reel 03, Image 0978
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
Copyrighted
Copyright Statement
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust. To purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish or exhibit them, click here to view the Holt-Atherton Special Collections policies.
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.
Copyright Holder
Muir-Hanna Trust
Copyright Date
1984
Pages
2 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
