he
like.

My dear boy, now that fate has afflicted you so sorely--I told you from
the very first that Angele comes of a diseased family--at least hold
your head up. If you do, then nothing's lost. And I especially beseech
you--don't take that nonsense of your failure with bacilli too much to
heart. You know, I've already told you I think all the noise they make
about bacilli is a hoax. Why, Pettenkofer himself swallowed the whole
culture of a typhus bacillus without its hurting him.

For all I care, go to America. It may not be a bad idea and need not be
a failure, I know persons whose lives were wrecked here and who went to
America and returned millionaires, to be envied and fawned upon. I don't
doubt that after all you have gone through, you have carefully weighed
and considered the step you are taking. Dear Frederick, I beg of you,
concentrate. The man who wants too much wants nothing. Above all, get rid
of your philanthropic notions. You would never believe me when I told you
that you uselessly sacrificed your money, your time, and your career to
your philanthropic notions. And don't take up with Utopias, such as, for
example, Socialism is, even at best. Bismarck is gone. The exceptional
law against the Socialists has been repealed. Now we'll be seeing wonders
from that pack of red internationals without a country. Did you read that
some Anarchist dogs have again been throwing bombs--in Paris in a cafe
not far from the Gare St. Lazare, right among a lot of innocent people,
and seven or eight were killed. My dear boy, you were in Paris. For God's
sake, in the discontented mood you are in, don't throw yourself in with
such desperate elements.

Forgive me. It was a slip of my pen. But here in Goerlitz, far from the
firing line, even a rational man, when he is troubled, begins to imagine
things. With your talents you might have been an officer on a general's
staff long ago.

God be with you. Write to us. I am convinced that with your great
talents, you will strike root over there and make your fortune. Be on
your guard against art and against side interests, from which a man
cannot make a living. Do you know that the Grand Duke has made Botho his
adjutant? It looks as if the boy might rise pretty high.

Have a good trip and sometimes think of your devoted father.

* * * * *

With a sigh and a short, almost inaudible laugh of great compassion and
great bitterness, Frederick folded u