Creator
David Douglas
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
10 Castle Street,
Edinburgh, April 27, 1894.
My dear Mr. Muir:
Here I have been week after week thinking of writing to you and yet four months have nearly gone since you sent me kind new year's greetings. Peccavi. Your welcome note of the 22d ulto. reminded me of my omission, and I take the chance of a quiet half hour to have a little talk with you.
I have been going on in the old groove since I saw you, and the accompanying photograph taken by Willie in my room here will show you how I looked on the 6th of March last. We are all well. My wife and I with two granddaughters (8 & 10), my daughter and a friend of hers, went into the highlands a week or two ago and “put up” at Loch Earnhead. I wish you had been of our party in our walks. Our glens are not so large as your Californian canyons, but the atomospheic effects, light and shade, sunshine and gloom of Ganogle are not be despised, and our “fir” trees, though liliputian to your Sequoias are not to be sneezed at in McNabbs isle on the Dockart or round the snows of Finlarig on Lochday. But alas, it almost broke my heart to see the effects of the storm in November last -- thousands of our fairest trees were uprooted and are lying entangled in each other's brancheson the ground in dire confusion. We managed, in spite of wind and rain, to see a good deal of the country, all being fair walkers. Among other places we visited ? the ? of Scott's “Legend of Montrose” the scene of the wold deed of revenge; also the Braes of Balgenbridder where we saw Hob Roys tombstone and that of his wife Helen McGregor. You would have enjoyed everything, and I hope some day you will come to Scotland and bring too your wife and daughters.
I am glad you liked Dorothy Wordsworth's Jour. What a fine creature she was. I fancy she was in love with Coleridge, and speaking of S. T. C. pray read Dyke Campbell's Memoir of the Poet. It most likely is reprinted, but if not Macmillan is the publisher. It is a most excellent bit of work. If your eyes are good you can have it in a form referred to in edition of the Poems published by the same hand, but the type is too small for my old eyes.
I sent you a Scotch book which came to me from Australia by Mr. Inglis. It is called “Our ain Folk”, and I hope gave you a laugh. If my wife and boys knew I am writing they would send their regards. They often speak of you. I am,
Yours very faithfully,
David Douglas
P. S. I had a MS. sent to me by a man who had known my name sake, the great botanist, but he was too you g to do more than remember his ? I wish he had been 20 years older and could have given the world an account of that very remarkable man.
Location
Edinburgh, [Scotland]
Date Original
1894-04-27
Source
Original letter dimensions: 20.5 x 25.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Douglas, David, "Letter from David Douglas to John Muir, 1894 Apr 27." (1894). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 6843.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6843
Resource Identifier
muir08_0223-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 08, Image 0223
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
