Creator
James D[avie] Butler
Recipient
John Muir
Transcription
Superior, July 30, '94
John Muir.
My dear Friend.
How do I account for your sepulchral silence? You have gone to rescue Sheldon Jackson who, as I have noted, was stranded on some furthest shore while jeoparding his life as the apostle of the Aleuts. But you ought to be home by this time, from an enterprise like Stanley's plunge to bring up livingston from the depths of darkest Africa.
I am just landed here after an Itinerarium ecstaticum. As asked by the Am. Ant. Soc. of which since Bancroft's death I am among the half-dozen of longest standing. I addressed them at their Boston annual. I talked about a long-lost Journal of the Lewis and Clark overland. Interviews, which I had long desired with Winthrop, Holmes, and Norton. I had. My after-calls were many, in Wellesley, Natick, Worcester, Charlemont, Norwich, Brooklyn, Kinderhook, Bennington, Rutland, Woodstock, Burlington, Essex, etc. In all and in many more, I found old friends.--our here and there upon the rest abyss.--and thanks to youthful memories--we rejuvenated.
01833
The Green Mts. are not sublime--but they are charming. Lake George which I went through for the 4th time.--I know not where it has a rival in islets multitudinous.
In Ohio I had a week with a sister five years my senior. Yet her hair is abundant and retains its natural color. After a Detroit visit with a friend made on the Nile in 1868.--I steamed hither on a steamer no whit behind the 24 which bore me round the globe. In electrics it is in advance of whatever was possible till these last years. Often have I made excursions on this chiefest among our ten thousand unsalted sea, but never before have I laid behind me all its 302 miles of length.
All my children are here. Here we abide till the heated term is over. Henry remembers with gratitude your early mouldings, and regrets that his visit to Everett was on flying wings.--which made it impossible to find you out. Let us hope the rebellion of the members against the belly is over.--and that no hand will say to the head, "I have no need of thee.
Very regardfully yrs.
James D. Butler.
Location
Superior [Wisc.]
Date Original
1894-07-30
Source
Original letter dimensions: 27.5 x 21.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Butler, James Davie, "Letter from James D[avie] Butler to John Muir, 1894 Jul 30." (1894). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 6874.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6874
Resource Identifier
muir08_0343-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 08, Image 0343
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
