Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[Anna R.] Dickey
Transcription
To Mrs. Anna R. DickeyMartinez, May 1 1912.Dear cheery, exhilarating Mrs. Dickey:Your fine lost letter has reached me at last. I found it in the big talus heap awaiting me here.The bright, shining, faithful, hopeful way you bear your crushing burdens is purely divine, out of darkness cheering everybody else with noble God-like sympathy, I'm so glad you have a home with the birds in the evergreen oaks - the feathered folk singing for you and every leaf shining reflecting God's love, Donald, too, is so brave and happy. With youth on his side and joyful work he is sure to grow stronger and under every disadvantage do more as a naturalist than thousands of others with every resource of health and wealth and special training.I'm in my old library den, the house desolate, nobody living in it save a hungry mouse or two. The girls, to whom it was left by my wife, were trying to sell it to a stranger, so I bought it myself for the sake of the dearly cherished memories about it and the fine garden grounds full of trees and bushes and flowers that my wife and father-in-law and I planted fine things from every land.But there's no good bread hereabouts and no housekeeper, so I may never be able to make it a home, fated, perhaps, to wander until sundown. Anyhow I've had a glorious life, and I'll never have the heart to complain. The roses now are overrunning all bounds in glory of full bloom, and the Lebanon and Himalaya cedars, and the palms and Australian trees and shrubs, and the oaks on the valley hills seem happier and more exuberant than ever.The Chelan trip would be according to my own heart, but whether or no I can go I dinna ken. Only lots of hard pen work seems certain. Anywhere, anyhow, with love to Donald, I am,Ever faithfully, affectionately yours,JOHN MUIR[Envelope addressed Mrs. Anna R. Dickey, Box 70, Pasadena, California]
Location
Martinez [Calif.]
Date Original
1912 May 1
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to [Anna R.] Dickey, 1912 May 1." (1912). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 6256.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6256
Resource Identifier
muir20_0931-trans.tif
File Identifier
Reel 20, Image 0931
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The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust.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, see http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections/Fees-and-Forms-.html
Owning Institution
The Houghton Library, Harvard University. 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
1 page
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
