London, 26 May 1884 

My dear Laura, 
Since the receipt of your letter of the 15th we have had sorrowful 
times. On the 18th Pumps’ little boy died and was buried on the 22nd. 

* workers’ party par excellence 

The child suffered from whooping-cough, bronchitis, convulsions and 
croup, there was but little hope a week before he died. I was under 
the impression Pumps or Percy had written to you, and they it seems 
relied on me for letting you know; well, I was busy finishing my 
pamphlet* to which I postponed even the most pressing letters —~ 
and finishing it, as you may conceive, under difficulties of every sort. 
Well, it’s done, the last sheets go off tomorrow. How long they will be 
over the printing of it, I don’t know. 

I am sorry you won’t go in for the ‘Akkumulationsprozess des Ka- 
pitals’. Think it over again. I am afraid we cannot do without help 
from without, and to tell you the truth I have deuced little confidence 
in what assistance I may get here. Aveling has den besten Willen but 
he is to translate strange matter aus einem ihm unbekannten Deutsch in ein 
ihm unbekanntes Englisch“; if it was natural science it would be easy 
enough, but political economy and industrial facts where he is not ac- 
quainted even with the commonest terms. And Sam°* who is doing 
the first chapter far better than I expected, takes such a time over it. 
And yet it is daily becoming a greater necessity to have it out, and 
Kegan Paul and Co. with whom I expect to come to terms soon, are 
pressing, but unless I can promise the ms. by say November, com- 
plete, I cannot well conclude anything. You might try a few pages 
and see how you get on. A German-English dictionary would be use- 
less; the words you would have to look for, you would not find there; 
you could leave space for them, and I could fill them in, they will 
mostly be technical or philosophical terms. 

Paul’s conférences' are a great success, '7° the Mew Yorker Volkszeit- 
ung brings them regular, their own translation, I believe. If the 
French had two or three people who could and would assimilate Ger- 
man publications in the same manner, it would help them on im- 
mensely. I foresee that when my Ursprung der Familie etc. comes out, 
Paul will be mad after translating it, there are things in it just in his 
line," but if he begins he will have to take the German words in their 
own sense and not in the sense he pleases to impart to them, because 
I shall have no time whatever to work at it. I shall now start with the 
2nd volume [of] Kapital and work at it during daylight, the evenings 

* The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State-” The reference is to Part VII 
of the first volume of Capital, see also this volume, p. 128 and Note 56.-° best 
intentions-4 from unfamiliar German into unfamiliar English-* Samuel Moore - 
" lectures- The Origin of the Family etc.-" See this volume, p. 293. 

will be for the revision of the various translations in hand and threaten- 
ed. This pamphlet I just finished will be the last independent work 
for some time to come. Will you please tell Deville that I have not as 
yet had the time to read his last conférence, but shall do so before the 
week is out and hope it is as good as its predecessors. 

Now I must conclude, it is past eleven and Nim is moving for bed, 
she has got ‘pains all over’, id est slight muscular rheumatism in conse- 
quence of cold, and she must stand at the door while I post this letter, 
as Annie is in bed, so in order to keep Nim no longer from her much 
needed rest (she has slept a bit in her arm-chair already) I hope you 
will excuse the blank space at the foot of this. 

By the way, it appears Liebknecht has been in Paris, the German 
papers tell the most extraordinary things about his mysterious pro- 
ceedings, ?%° also that he spoke at a banquet together with that muff 
Lecler. * 

Kisses from Nim and 

From yours affectionately, 
F. Engels.