The painting technique was very popular in Victorian times. It is called wood graining or graining or feathering. Absolutely not, according to Helen Muir in a letter she wrote to her friend Hattie in 1958. No, we do not feel that he was because he often wrote home to see if he had been drafted. However, he would not volunteer.
War is the farthest reaching and most infernal of all civilized calamities.
This was his feeling about the Civil War in America for which he refused to volunteer. There are fragments of old gossip that pop up in conversation from time to time. John Muir did cause controversy because he did not lead the same sort of life as most people in the area. However, from diaries and letters it appears the family had a very loving and understanding relationship. Louie Muir often urged her husband to go to the mountains for his health.