Letter to Jenny Languet, December 17, 1881

MARX TO JENNY LONGUET^[1]

IN ARGENTEUIL

London, 17 December 1881

41 Maitland Park Road, N. W.

My Dear Child,

Tussy, SUPPORTED BY Engels, is this moment taking the Christmas hamper for our little ones by CAB to the PARCEL COMPANY. Helen^[2] wants me to point out specially that 1 little jacket for Harry,^[3] 1 for Eddy,^[4] and a woollen bonnet for Pa^[5] are from her; again for the selfsame Pa, a 'little blue frock' from Laura; from myself a SAILOR s SUIT for MY DEAR Johnny. On one of the last days of her life, Möhmchen^d laughed so merrily when telling Laura how you and I took Johnny to Paris, and chose a suit for him there in which he looked like a little bourgeois gentilhomme^[6] .

The letters of condolence I get from near and far, and from people of such various nationalities, professions, etc., etc., are, in their appre- ciation of Möhmchen, all of them animated by a spirit of truth and a depth of feeling rarely found in what are as a rule merely conven- tional tributes. I ascribe this to the fact that everything about her was natural and genuine, unforced and without affectation. Hence the impression she made on others was one of vivaciousness and lucidity; even Mrs Hess writes:

'In her, Nature has destroyed its own masterpiece, for never in my life have I met so witty and loving a woman.'

Liebknecht writes to say that, without her, he would have suc- cumbed to the wretchedness of exile, etc., etc.

How exceptionally healthy she was by nature, for all her delicate constitution, is evident from the fact that, despite being bed-ridden for so long, she did not have a sore spot on her body, much to the as- tonishment of the doctors; during my recent illness I already had a number of sore places after only two weeks of being confined to bed.

The weather has been very bad since I got over my illness, so I have been under house arrest up till now, but next week, on doctors' orders, I am to go to Ventnor (Isle of Wight) and from there, later on, somewhere further south. Tussy will accompany me.

You will be getting (posted at the same time as this) an article about me in the monthly review Modern Thought. It's the first time an English critic has gone into the matter with such enthusiasm. It ar- rived in time to cheer Möhmchen up. Where the QUOTATIONS from the German 'text' are too bad (I MEAN too badly DONE INTO ENGLISH), I have got Tussy to write in corrections on such few copies as we are reserv- ing for friends. The mistakes that occur under the heading 'LIFE' are indifferent.

And now, my dear child, the best service you can do me is to keep your chin up! I hope that I shall spend many more happy days with you and worthily fulfil my functions as a GRANDPA.

With a thousand kisses to you and the little ones,

Your loving

OLD NICK

I could have written much more about Vivanti, etc., but believe that Tussy has bagged this for herself.