46. To Marie Engels, September 9
Unfortunately there's only one halt between here and Elberfeld where one can stop if it gets too bad, namely, the Bierkirche. And you have to pay two silver groschen for a glass of beer there. Apart from this, nothing moves forward here, only backwards. I have not heard anything more about my departure for Berlin— there's still plenty of time. I don't bother about anything and let the others worry. If you want more letters from me, let's hear from you, and write me something nice.
Your brother
Friedrich
Gesamtausgabe, Abt. l, Bd. 2, 1930
46
TO MARIE ENGELS
IN MANNHEIM
Dear Marie,
Mother says I didn't write you a letter last time, only a mere scrawl which was not worth answering, and since you have not replied to it, I am almost forced to believe, to my very great sorrow, that you agree with her. Still, I must tell you that I am very hurt, not to say insulted, by such treatment and I am writing to you tonight only because I am in a good mood and have no wish to start quarrelling with you, for you certainly don't deserve a letter. Apart from which I am doing Mother a favour, so now you know whom you have to thank for these lines. I have now been here about six weeks, have smoked a great deal of tobacco and have studied hard although there are some in the higher regions who maintain that I have been doing nothing. However, I shall be leaving for Berlin in a week or a fortnight to do my duty as a citizen, i. e., to do what I can to evade conscription[243] if possible and then come back to Barmen. We shall have to wait and see how this turns out.
We had arranged a trip to Altenberg for Saturday and Sunday but nothing will come of it because Blank and Roth cannot manage it. I must see whether we can organise something else. It has just occurred to me that I might go to the Beienburg again, as I have not been there for a long time.
Mother went to August's[3] for coffee yesterday and noticed that Fräulein Julie Engels was very quiet but Fräulein Mathilde Wemhöner was very talkative. You can draw your own conclusions from this.
Apart from this I have found Anna b very jolly, Emilc making progress as a humorist, Hedwigd becoming very cheeky and Rudolf going the same awkward way as Hermann£ did at his age, and, for the rest, that Eliseg gives herself airs.
The letter you wrote to Father in English, which I have read today, is good on the whole, with only a few serious mistakes.
Du reste
Barmen, Sept. 9, 41
Your brother
Friedrich
Published in English for the first time 1 8 4 2
Endnotes
[243] 243 Engels decided to go to Berlin for a term of military training as a volunteer in an artillery brigade, and also to attend lectures at Berlin University and make closer contacts with radical scientists and writers. Engels' subsequent letters to Marie were sent from Berlin, where he arrived in the latter half of September 1841.
[3] As can be seen from Engels' letter to his sister Marie of March 12, 1839 (see this volume, pp. 419-20), this poem was sent to Der Bremer Stadtbote in a fuller version. The publication of Th. Hildebrandt's poem Book Wisdom was mentioned in the Bremer Wöchentliche Nachrichten No. 36, 2. Beilage, S. 2, for March 25, 1839. However, the Publishers do not possess a copy of Der Bremer Stadtbote containing this poem.