Title:
Letter from John Muir to Miss [Louie] Strentzel, 1879 Apr 24.
Creator:
John Muir
Publisher:
University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections. Please contact this institution directly to obtain copies
of the images or permission to publish or use them beyond educational purposes.
Contributor:
Miss [Louie] Strentzel
Date:
1879 Apr 24
2008
Type:
Text
Format:
Image/jpeg2000
Identifier:
muir03_1049-md-1
Source:
Original letter dimensions: 31.5 x 21.5 cm.
Language:
eng
Coverage:
920 Valencia Street San Francisco, [Calif]
Rights:
Copyrighted
The unpublished works of John Muir are copyrighted by the Muir-Hanna Trust.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, see
http://library.pacific.edu/ha/forms
Muir-Hanna Trust
1984
Transcription:
920 Valencia St, San Francisco, Apr 24th 1879. Alack Alack Miss Strentzel the big bouquet is dying, dying, dying, so are
the roses. We all do fade as a leaf, fade as a bouquet on a batchelors table. But in the midst of these withered withering
images it is cheering to know that the memory of gifts so pure good endureth forever. On the evening of its arrival I carried
all the bloom- en mass along the hall to the parlor to show it to the family, all the way was strewn with the rosy snowy?
petals. These Mary the maid swept away like snow when it s thaw. The minor sheaves of apple cherry I gave to Clara, Mary,
Mrs Upham, but the roses the Mastadon around the pole I kept for my own table. Gradually the bloom fell or withered, showing
more more of the stamens green leaves. Now the stamens too have withered, though the leaves are still fresh. The roses too
are leaning down over the rim of the goblet they are in, wasting rapidly, spiraea all, save a couple of buds the glossy trifoliate
leaves Yet I m loathe to cast them away. All tranquil? in the Upham circle. Helen her father hope to be with you in two weeks
from now. in margin: With lasting memories of the vanishing bloom, I am cordially yours, John Muir.