Transcription:
2 I'm sorry to hear of your family sorrow trust the new year will deal gently with you. I have already commenced to write
out some note sfor this Yosemite. A skeleton however bare of the kind of desription of the valley you want would be illegible
, though to write to order measure I am about the worst hand you could find. I shall hope however that the luxurience of the
illustrations will hide the leanness of the text. Cordially yours John Muir