I cannot refrain from thanking you for the beautiful cigar 
case —the only thing wrong with it is that it is not black, red and 

gold. It accidentally came into my possession already today and 
was put to use at once.— Here it has been terribly cold, through 
the whole of December it has been freezing without interruption 
and it is still freezing. The Weser is frozen from here to Vegesack, 
four hours from here, which looks most remarkable. Recently 
some people from Barmen were here, and we had a jolly good 
time, visited all the taverns, kept the glasses going and at times felt 
a bit tipsy. Enclosed you will find a demand note* from my former 
Spanish teacher; if you can understand it I'll make you a present 
of a new hat. Perhaps there is somebody in your boarding-school 
who understands so much Spanish, and here the thing is get- 
ting in my way.—lI must say, I hardly know what to write 
to you; a sugar refinery has burnt down here, and the Old 
Man? will not leave the office, although I am really dying for 
a cigar. 

23rd. Yesterday evening we were having a fencing lesson when 
the nice news came that there was another fire and this time in 
Neustadt. We went there out of a sense of duty, and when we got 
there it was already out. That is what one gets for one’s trouble. 
You should always stay nicely at home until it is burning under 
your nose. Mother has sent me for Christmas an order for 
Goethe’s collected works; I went at once yesterday to fetch the first 
volumes that have appeared and last night read the Wahlver- 
wandtschaften till midnight with great enjoyment. He is a fellow, 
Goethe! If you wrote German as he does I would excuse you from 
all foreign languages. Incidentally, it is quite unnecessary for you 
to leave a margin when you write to me, the octavo pages are 
narrow enough as it is, and I will not hear of this comfortable way 
of writing pages full and not writing much. Please note! says 
Professor Hantschke. 

24th. You will now be in tremendous excitement, I can imagine, 
and in grand hopes. I am curious what will come of it. You will, 
of course, acquaint me by the first post with this important pro- 
ceeding? I shall see that it gets into the newspaper here at 
once. 

Here, in passing, are a few strokes, flourishes and signatures, 
with which I proved the skill of my hand to my junior,° who 
prides himself on his rectangular strokes. 

Dec. 28th. The Weser is now completely frozen over, so that peo- 
ple are driving on it in coaches. I believe one could skate as far as 
Vegesack, which is five hours by the Weser. In the afternoon all 
the beau monde goes for walks on it and the ladies slide on the ice 
so as to be lifted off by the gentlemen, which always gives them 
great pleasure. The trees look as if they were made of snow, they 
are so thickly covered with a white crust— The Pastor’s wife * has 
embroidered a black, red and gold purse for me for Christmas 
and Marie” has made me a black, red and gold tassel for my pipe, 
which is smashing. Today we have 9 degrees below freezing-point, 
what a life! I like nothing better than this cold, ineffective sun 
which rises over the winter-hard earth. No clouds in the sky, no 
dirt on the earth, everything as hard and solid as steel and 
diamond. The air is not so flabby and consumptive as in summer, 
you feel it now when you go out of doors. The whole town is full 
of glaciers, people no longer walk, they fall from one street into 
the other. Now one can’t help noticing that it is winter. I hope that 

in Mannheim, among other useful accomplishments, you will also 
learn to skate, so that you don’t come home a shivering, stay- 
at-home, not-to-be-moved-out-of-doors little lady, which Irefuse to 
stand for. But if you do arrive afraid of the cold I shall tie you on 
a sleigh, put a burning sponge in the horses’ ears and chase you 
like that out into the open. Or [I'll tie skates under you and carry 
you out to the middle of the pond and leave you to crawl on your 
own. 

My very dear sister, if my hopes are not disappointed you will 
get this letter on New Year’s Day. On this holiday, greatly looked 
forward to by me and you too, I imagine, I wish you everything 
you desire, since this wish costs me nothing, and hope that your 
wishes for me will be at least equally Christian. May Mannheim be 
as much to your liking in the New Year as, to judge by your 
letters, it was in the old. (This I write in case this letter has first to 
be censored before it comes into your hands.) 

Yours, 

Friedrich 
Bremen, Dec. 28, 40