Creator
John Muir
Recipient
Louie [Strentzel Muir]
Transcription
To Mr. Muir
Dunbar, Scotland, July 12, 1893.
Dear Louie:
I have been here nearly a week and have seen most of my old haunts and playgrounds, and more than I expected of my boy playmates. Of course it is all very interesting, and I have enjoyed it more than I anticipated. Dunbar is an interesting place to anybody, beautifully located on a plateau above the sea and with a background of beautiful hills and dales, green fields in the very highest state of cultivation and many belts and blocks of woods so arranged as to appear natural. I have had a good many rides and walks into the country among the fine farms and towns and old castles, and had long talks with people who listen with wonder to the stories of California and far Alaska.
I suppose,of course,you have received my Edinburgh letter telling the fine time with David Douglas. I mean to leave here next Monday for the Highlands, and then go to Norway and Switzerland.
I am stopping with my cousin, who,with her daughter lives in a handsome cottage just outside of town. They are very cordial and take me to all the best places and people, and pet me in grand style, but I must on and away or my vacation time will be past ere I leave Scotland.
At Haddington I visited Joanie Welch Carlyle grave in the old abbey. Here are two daisies or gowans that grew beside it.
I was on a visit yesterday to a farmer's family three miles from town — friends of the Lunams. This was a fine specimen of the gentleman-farmers' places and people in this, the best part of Scotland. How fine the grounds are, and the buildings and the people!... [I think such places would greatly interest you. I showed them the picture of Helen and Wanda and of course they thought them wonderful.]
I begin to think I shall not see Keith again until I get back, except by accident, for I have no time to hunt him up; but anyhow I am not so lonesome as I was and with David Douglas' assistance will make out to find my way to fair advantage.
The weather here reminds me of Alaska, cool and rather damp. Nothing can surpass the exquisite fineness and wealth of the farm crops' while the modulation of the ground stretching away from the rocky foamy coast to the green Lammermoor Hills is charming. Among other famous places I visited the old castle of the Bride of Lammermoor and the field of the battle of Dunbar. Besides, I find fine glacial studies everywhere.
I fondly hope you are all well while I am cut off from news.
Ever yours,
JOHN MUIR
[Envelope addressed Mrs. John Muir, Martinez, California, U.S.A.]
Location
Dunbar, Scotland
Date Original
1893 Jul 12
Source
Original letter dimensions: 33 x 21.5 cm.
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Letter from John Muir to Louie [Strentzel Muir], 1893 Jul 12." (1893). John Muir Correspondence (PDFs). 956.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/muir-correspondence/956
Resource Identifier
muir07_1200-let.tif
File Identifier
Reel 07, Image 1200
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
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.
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
