1418 Taylor St., San Francisco,
April 3, 1876.
We will all be glad to see you. We all heard of the outrage committed
on Johnnie and hope it might not be so serious as made to appear in the
press. Mr. Swett told me the other day that he met a friend down town who
was acquainted with the Whites intimately, who gave it as his opinion
that Mr. White was insane, had a brother in the asylum, and he was as
jealous of a half-dozen other persons as of Johnnie.
If I knew Ned’s boarding-house, I would visit him, for I know he must
feel terribly agitated. The last time I saw him, he was rejoicing over
Johnnie’s steady manly development, like an old fond father over some
reformed son.
As for the stranded sapless condition of political geology, I care only
for the fruitless work expended upon it by friends. The glaciers are
not affected thereby, neither am I nor Cassiope.
The first meeting I had with Mr. Moore was at the lecture the other night.
He seemed immeasurably astonished to find me in so anti-sequestered a
condition, but in the meanwhile he is more changed than I, for he seems
semi-crazy on literature, as Mrs. M. is wholly, doubly so on paint.
I will show your letters to Mr. Swett when he comes in, who will doubtless
be able to decipher the meaning of heads and tails of your bodyless
sentences.
I’m sorry most of all for the destruction of the “Teachers,” thus cutting
off the only adequate outlet for your own thought; but hang it! let them
decapitate and hang, they cannot hang Cassiope.
Ever yours cordially,
JOHN MUIR.
1419 Taylor St., San Francisco,
January 12th, [1877.]
John Swett told me how heavy a burden you were carrying of work and
sickness. I hope ere this that the Doctor has recovered from his severe
attack of rheumatism and that you have had sleep and rest.
Your description of the orange lands makes me more than ever eager to
see them,--in particular the phenomenon of a real lover of Nature such
as you mention, for one does feel so wholly alone in the midst of this
metallic, money-clinking crowd. And so you are going to dwell down there,
and how rosily you will write about it! Well, I hope you may realize
it all. Independence in quiet life must be delightful indeed, after the
battles and the burdens of these heavy years. In any case it is a fine
thing for old people who have worked and fought through all kinds of
strenuous experiences to have thoughts and schemes so fresh and young
as yours. We all hope to see you soon.
Cordially yours,
JOHN MUIR.