Creator
John Muir
Recipient
[A. H., Fay, Emma and Frank Sellers]
Transcription
New York
June 24
1893.
Dear friends, I'm off today on the Etruria for Liverpool. Keith went nearly three weeks ago. He is in a fussy hurry & I dont know whether I can catch him in the European wilderness or not as I am not at all familiar with the canons there. I had no intention of staying here so long, but I couldn't help it. The Century people took possession of me & made me go to dinners, clubs, famous people, places & things without number rhyme or reason. Strange to say many of the people seem to know me well - though until now I have hidden in the deepest shadows of the wilderness. I have had a good time every [way?] have been treated in royal style, & have even gained some new glacial
2
gospel. Have been up the Hudson & was delighted to find fresh traces of ice-action everywhere along that historic river. It is flowing in a glacial trough & every line in its landscapes is a glacial line scarce at all modified as yet by the post glacial agents. The very first day in New York - I found all the rocks in Central park were scared by the ancient ice sheet, & in every way as glacial in form as any in Alaska. Went to Boston, Concord, Manchester Cambridge Brookline etc etc etc. Dined with Emerson's son & family in Concord. They seemed to regard me as a long lost son. Met a college mate of Thoreau. Went to Walden pond, visited Emersons & Thoreaus graves & laid flowers on them. Col. Higginson took us to the mansions of Lowell & Longfellow. unchanged as yet. Had a good time with Prof. Sargent
3
at Brooklin. But ah has it not been hot & choky here the last few days, not honest California heat or even Chicago's I felt smoothered & stupefied as the following will show in good dog day doggerel. O for a lodge in some vast frigeration Some boundless contiguity or frost Some boreal prarie Icy Airy Where sultry heat from old Manhattan's shore Might never reach me more. O to escape this torred tedium Gathering Thorean's cypripedium Once more a blessed crank & tramp On Waldens leafy bank. Or bathe & lave as Concord sages did In cool Musketaquid. Or use the breezes for a fan From your lake Michigan. And O for more of that sweet lovely loafing At eve & dawn On Sargent's lawn With red breast Robin & gay chickaree
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And round the cooling lily pond In clouds of rhododendron That vie With sunset sky In red & purple glory Another version of Arabran story. Fairy groves & halls & cool verandas A bloom with flowers & [fern?] & s[illegible] Which to no pen of mine Will come to rhyme, or time While here I weary swoon & swelter Every day a worser melter Eking out a life precarious On scraps of have-beens odd & various Icebergs, forests, streams, auroras, glacier meadows, mountain floras All in fading memory mingled In dullest prose or doggerel jingled. My useless clothes are falling fast, Before this wilting scorching blast My broiling flesh is gone or going Like snow in sunshine melting, flowing
5
Wit, s[illegible] all I fear will follow, E'en now my skull sounds light & hollow Thank heaven the little left will be Soon cooling on the breezy sea Then looking back I'll blow my slogan Like that brave sailor Paddy Grogan And on every wave of the heaving ma[illegible] I'll find my friends & joys again. But now for the land of [Tom?] [O'Shanter?] "The time approaches [Tom?] ma[illegible] ride. I take with me delightful memories of my stay with you, many thanks for your uncommon kindnesses, gooodbye Mrs Selelrs Mr Sellers Emma Frank, all goodbye goodbye goodbye
Ever Cordially
your friend
John Muir
Address, Edinburgh
c/o Bank of Scotland
8066
[Room Red?]
Barrett - Slip[illegible]
John Muir
Letters to Col. A. H. and
Mrs. Sellers,
18[illegible] [illegible]
Location
New York
Date Original
1893 Jun 24
Source
Original letter dimensions unknown.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to [A. H., Fay, Emma and Frank Sellers], 1893 Jun 24." (1893). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 947.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/947
Resource Identifier
muir07_1156-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 07, Image 1156
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
Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special Collections, University of Virginia 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
5 pages
Keywords
Environmentalist, naturalist, travel, conservation, national parks, John Muir, Yosemite, California, history, correspondence, letters
