Page:Karl Marx The Man and His Work.pdf/79

Rh "In 1856 I travelled to Trier with my three remaining daughters. My dear mother was overjoyed at our arrival, but, unfortunately, the joy was doomed to be of short duration. The most faithful, the best of mothers became ill and, after suffering for eleven days, closed her dear, tired eyes, her last glance resting fondly upon the children and me. Your dear husband, who knew what a loving mother she was, can best estimate my grief. We laid the dearly beloved body in its last resting place, and left Trier, after having settled the little legacy of my dear mother, dividing this equally between my brother Edgar and myself.

"Up to this time we had lived, in London, in two miserable rooms. We were now enabled, by means of the few hundred thalers my dear mother had left me, despite all the sacrifices she had made for us, to furnish a little house for ourselves, not far from the beautiful Hampstead Heath, and which we are still occupying. (As the translator of the "Woman in White," you will probably recall this name.)

"It is, truly, a princely dwelling, compared with our former narrow holes, and although the furnishing of the whole house cost us but forty pounds ('second-hand rubbish' playing the leading role) we felt quite 'high-toned,' possessing, as we did, a parlour. All the linen and other remnants of former greatness were now redeemed from the hands of the 'Uncle,' and it was a joy to me to be able to count my damask napkins of old Scotch origin once more. This grandeur, however, was of short duration, for soon afterward, one piece after the other had to wander back to the "Pop House" (as the children call the mysterious Three-Balls shop). Yet it gave us great pleasure to live once more in comparative comfort and ease.

"Then the first American crisis came and our income was cut in half. Our living expenses had to be screwed down once more, and we even had to incur debts. These had to be incurred in order to be able to continue the education of our girls further as begun.

"And now I come to the brightest part of our life, from which the only light and happiness was shed on our existence—our dear children. I feel certain that your husband, who was so fond of the girls when they were children, would be more heartily pleased with them now since they have grown into tall and blooming young women.

"Although I must fear that you will take me for a rather conceited and weak mother, I will give you a description of these dear praiseworthy girls. They are both exceptionally good-hearted, of generous dispositions, of truly amiable modesty and girlish purity. Jenny will be seventeen years of age on the first of May. She is a most charming girl,