The following letter, written by John Marin to his friend Alfred Stieglitz (the photographer who married Georgia O'Keefe) was taken from "Aliquippa: A History," Compiled by Mark Wright, copyright Mark Wright, 1989.
Small Point, Maine, July 31, 1917
My dear Stieglitz,
Now it's hot...But there are degrees, and how much hotter other places in this poor old scrapping world. And what are they scrapping about?
We up here get but few glimpses of the outer world...a fish boat looks big, a sail boat looms up, the eagles soaring overhead are big, or is not their bigness a something of the imagination.
I have just been in for a swim and feel better. The water delicious, the sands to the touch of the feet. Big shelving wonderful rocks, hoary with enormous hanging beards of sea weed, carrying forests of evergreen on their backs. The big tides come in, swift, go out swift...
Wonderful days. Wonderful sunset closings. Good to have eyes to see, ears to hear the roar of the waters. Nostrils to take in the odors of the salt sea and the firs.
Fish fresh, caught some myself. Berries to pick. Big flying eagles. The solemn restful beautiful firs. The border of the sea.
Good night.
My island looks tantalizingly beautiful. My boy is brown and well, full of life. My wife is brown and well. I am brown and well.
Your friend, Marin
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