Creator
Joanna [Muir Brown]
Recipient
[John Muir]
Transcription
Portage, Wis.,
Dec.9, 1894.
Dear brother John:
Your letter and precious book are here, and give me greater pleasure than I have experienced in a long time. I had just been wishing for something profitable to read, and deploring the fact that books were out of my reach, when this, your own book, is before me, and now I will read and study it half the winter at least. And then it is very pleasant to be remembered in this way. The children, too, all jumped up and down, and made me promise that I would read it aloud to them.
I am sorry your letter was so short, for you write so seldom. Have you commenced on a second book yet? You ask how we are getting on. It begins to seem as if we were to have a mild winter as we have had two weeks of elegant weather, which is a great thing in our favor, and the cool air, or some other good influence, is giving me an appetite -- something I have not had in a long time. I have been sick all summer and fall, but begin to hope that I am going to regain my former degree of health. I had begun to fear that I was going to relapse into invalidism. The children are well and happy. Ethel is a great help and comfort to me.
Walter has found so little demand for building that he is putting forth effort in another direction -- the city water of Philadelphia has been so bad the last year that it suggested the idea of going into the spring water business and accordingly he leased a spring some miles from the city and delivers clear sprint water. This business, like every other, just now, however, develops slowly and requires all the patience we possess. I have no doubt a good time will come some time, but the waiting is something terrible.
Mary writes that she wonders how many more vials of wrath are yet to be poured out upon us. Tell David when you see him that his Anne has been here and made us a short visit. She was on her way back from Madison where she had gone as a witness in some case. She says she is well, but I thought she looked thin and as if she needed more fresh air. She says she means to visit California in the near future.
Give my love to Maggie and tell her I received her kind letter. Love to your own little family and yourself,
Affectionately your sister,
Joanna [Muir Brown]
Location
Portage, Wisc.
Date Original
1894-12-09
Source
Original letter dimensions: 21.5 x 26.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Joanna Muir, "Letter from Joanna [Muir Brown] to [John Muir], 1894 Dec 9." (1894). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 6936.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/6936
Resource Identifier
muir08_0605-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 08, Image 0605
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
