4 May 1878 • Frankfurt on the Main, Germany (MS, in pencil: NN-BGC, UCCL 02523)
May 4.
My Dear Howells—I only propose to write a single line to say we are still alive. around. Ah, I have such a deep, grateful, unutterable sense of being “out of it all.” I think I foretaste some of the tranquil advantage of being dead. Some of the joy of it. I don’t read any newspapers or care for them. When people tell me England has declared war, I drop the subject, feeling that it is none of my business; when they tell me Mrs. Tilton has confessed & Mr. B. denied, I say both of them have done that before, therefore let the worn stub of the Plymouth white-wash brush be brought out once more, & let the faithful spit on their hands & get to work again regardless of me—for I am out of it all.
We had 2 almost devilish weeks at sea (& I tell you Bayard Taylor is a really lovable man—which you already knew); then we staid a week in the beautiful, the very beautiful city of Hamburg; & since then we have been fooling along, 4 hours per day by rail, with a courier, spending the other 20 in hotels whose b enormous bedchambers & private parlors are an overpowering marvel to me. Day before yesterday, in Cassel, we had a love of a bedroomⒶemendation 31 feet long, & a parlor with 2 sofas, 12 chairs, a writing desk & 4 tables scattered around here & there in it. I Made of red silk, too, by George.
The times & times I wish you were along! You could throw some fun into the journey; whereas I go on, day by day, in a solemn smileless state of solemn admiration.
What a paradise this land is! What clean clothes, what good faces, what tranquil contentment, what prosperity, what genuine freedom, what superb government! And I am so happy, be for I am responsible for none of it. I am only here to enjoy.
How charmed I am when I overhear a German word which I understand!
With love from us to 2 to you 2.
P. S.—We are not taking six days to go from Hamburg to Heidelbuerg because we prefer it. Quite the contrary. Mrs. Clemens picked up a dreadful cold & sore throat on board ship & still keeps them in stock—so she could only travel 4 hours a day. She wanted to dive straight through, but I had different notions about the wisdom of it. I found that 4 hours a day was the best she could do. Before I forget it, our permanent address is Care of Messrs. Koester & Co., Bankers, Heidelberg. We go there tomorrow.
Poor Susie! From the day we reached German soil, we have required Rosa to speak German to the children—which they hate with all their souls. The other morning, Susie in Hanover, Susie came to me (from Rosa, in the nursery,) & said, “PⒶemendation in halting syllables, “Papa, wie viel Uhr ist” es?”—then turned, with pathos in her big eyes, & said, “Mamma, I wish Rosa was made in English.”
MS, in pencil, NN-BGC.
MTL , 1:328–29; MTHL , 1:227–28.
See Howells Letters in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.