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Letters of Frederick Engels
To Marie Engels
In MannheimBarmen, about the end of August 1841
Source: MECW Volume 2, p. 533
Written: August 1841
First published: in Marx/Engels, Gesamtausgabe, Abt. 1, Bd. 2, 1930
Dear Marie,
If I have really got to write to you I must tell you in advance that it will not come to much, for nothing ever happens here. Weddings, parties, why yes, I go to them, I eat and drink, but afterwards I find it impossible to write a lot of tittle-tattle about them. And anyway you are not used to that kind of thing from me. I now sit in my little room upstairs nearly all day long, read and smoke like a chimney-stack, fence until the swords nearly crack, and amuse myself as best I can. This disgracefully bad weather is nearly driving me to desperation, you can’t go to Elberfeld without the risk of getting soaked three times over.
Unfortunately there’s only one halt between here and Elberfeld where one can stop if it gets too bad, namely, the Bierkirche. And you have to pay two silver groschen for a glass of beer there. Apart from this, nothing moves forward here, only backwards. I have not heard anything more about my departure for Berlin — there’s still plenty of time. I don’t bother about anything and let the others worry. If you want more letters from me, let’s hear from you, and write me something nice.
Your brother
Friedrich