V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T 3 4 9 a 5 5
the children’s education, in the event of my early
death.[2]
If I thought otherwise, I
would simply be a heel.
So it cannot even come into consideration that 10 francs per day (= 4,000 francs
per year) be paid for
Tete.[3]
Accommodations for him have to be sought that are
suited to my financial situation, and the same applies for my wife. For this does not
involve a transitory situation but a permanent one, as experience has unfortunately
taught us.
It is not correct that I would have met my obligations better if I had stayed in
Zurich.[4]
There it would not have been possible for me to accumulate any kind of
savings for the benefit of the children until now either, especially considering that
my wife has certainly not been frugal. I also have to say, frankly, that the goodwill
I encounter among my professional colleagues and the authorities here obligates
me to show the greatest
gratitude.[5]
Everything that they are able to read in my
eyes is simply being done. I am a good Swiss; but I make a distinction between
political conviction and personal
connection.[6]
Without these local colleagues I
would surely have remained an “unappreciated genius”; I must constantly bear this
in mind.
It’s not true that I disappointed my boy by coming over only in
July.[7]
When I
suggested to him in spring last year that I might come and see him again in the fall,
he acted quite negatively. Nor was a reappearance this spring either wished for or
sensible, because we would not have known what to do with ourselves in the bad
weather. Don’t turn my boy into some saint! He is cheerful and happy-go-lucky and
his letters happily reflect lightheartedness. He prefers to do things with his own age
group rather than with a gloomy and venerable papa, thank God. Anyway, when I
visit him nevertheless in July and go hiking with him, it will be more of a pleasure
for me than for him; the love between parents and children is always somewhat one-
sided, but nevertheless not unhappy! But when I get preached to by Mrs.
Besso[8]
and by you about love and conscience and am reminded of my gross infractions to
paternal duty, then I can’t suppress a smile.
I must confess that it weighs heavily on my mind that you are being burdened
this way by me. This awareness haunts me all day long. I beg you sincerely to dis-
cuss with my
sister[9]
how she can relieve the burden which is not suited for your
already so heavily burdened shoulders. Help Miza gain the necessary confidence in
my sister so that she can take Albert, as would be the obvious thing under the pre-
vailing
circumstances.[10]
Don’t give Albert the booklet; he isn’t mature enough for
it
yet.[11]
His interest in such things is still playful, not actually intellectual, as suits
his young age.
Cordial greetings, yours,
Einstein.