IN THUSIS (GRAUBII NDEN) 

6 Merkurstrasse, Hottingen-Zürich 16 August 1893 Dear Hermann, 

I have been staying with Anna Beust since yesterday and am at last 
sufficiently far removed from the turmoil to be able to write to you. |’ I had 
quite a nice journey. There were some highly diverting dust storms to begin 
with, followed by just enough rain to make the dust stick to one’s clothing. In 
Zürich they took me to the Hotel Baur en ville where I was very well 
accommodated but never felt at home. Then, finally on Saturday evening, 
with the most difficult part accomplished, a moderate carousal gradually got 
under way (I say moderate advisedly; only half litres were served) combined 
with excursions on the lake. Tell Elsbeth* that people here have already 
discovered how talented I am at growling. The other day Bebel remarked in a 
postcard that I had done nothing the whole evening but growl with 
contentment. 

Zurich has come on a great deal and outdoes even Barmen. There ev- 

* Elsbeth Engels 

ery third house used to be an ‘inn’; here, however, there are three inns to 
every two houses. The Beusts live in very pleasing style with a wonderful 
view from a gigantic balcony big enough to hold a ball on. Anna Beust is 
very well preserved and one of the most beautiful old women in existence, 
besides being witty and vivacious, clever, energetic and resolute; it is a 
pleasure to be with her. Her son Fritz is in charge of the school, while the 
other, Adolf, has a very good medical practice; both have nice wives and two 
noisy, lively boys apiece. Adolf lives at home and Fritz close by in a house 
he has built. 

Next week I shall probably go into the mountains for a while with Bebel. 
However I shall be back in about a week or so, and round about the 3", 4" or 
5" of September we are leaving for Munich and Vienna. 

At the Congress © there were three or four Russian women with really 
lovely eyes, somewhat reminiscent of your sister-in-law Berta’s* when I saw 
her in Altenahr years ago. But my real sweetheart was a truly delightful 
Viennese factory girl,” charming of countenance and engaging of manner, 
such as one rarely comes across. I shall never forgive Bismarck for having 
excluded Austria from Germany, if only because of the Viennese women. 

From what they tell me here, the Hotel Bellevue is not one of the best. I 
hope it nevertheless suited you all right. Let me know sometime how you got 
on. With much love to Emma,° Elsbeth, Walter* and you yourself from your 
old ‘weed that never dies’. 

Friedrich 

By the way, you might also pay a call on Anna Beust. She has not set eyes 
on or heard from you for ages.