Transcription:
Somers, Dec. 23rd. 1895. Mr. John Muir, Your book The Mountains of California has given such pleasure to one reader that
she wishes to express gratitude to the author. My trip was a limited one and taken many years ago, but so far as ray experience
went, your book confirms and revives my impressions. It was read with keen enjoyment and sympathy and many another will follow
its pages with the same zest. The lines were not inspired by the book, but perhaps they will be in touch with it. My name
has no significance and so it is not signed, but perhaps it will gratify you to know that your descriptions have brought some
of the glories you have seen to an obscure person in an obscure village. Merced. Merced, Merced, thy crystal wave O'er
granite sands doth flow, Whereon the vagrant sunbeams weave A net of gold below. Thy banks are daintily beset With ferns
and grasses fine And beds of snowy violet The tangled roots entwine. The stately rocks (E1 Capitan Cathedral, Brothers
Three) Within thy bosom hold divan In tranquil majesty. Unaltered 'neath the flowing tide Those sharp reflections dwell;
E'en so while busy lustrums glide Endures thy beauty's spell. Envelope containing letter inscribed, in Muir's handwriting,
Miss No Name, Somers, Cal. 02054