DOC.
374 MARCH 1912 275
374. To Alfred
and Clara Stern
Prague, 17
March
[1912][1]
Dear
Prof.
Stern
&
dear
Mrs.
Stern,
Your letter made
me very
happy,[2]
and
you can hardly imagine
how
happy
I
am
to
be able to
resume
that comfortable
life in
Zurich.[3]
The
university
people[4]
here
in
Prague
cannot
understand
this.
They
look at Switzerland
(because they generalize
their
relationship
with
Freiburg[5]
to
the
whole
of
Switzerland) as
a
kind
of
testing ground
for
young
academicians,
i.e.,
a
place
where
young
Dozents,
whom
one
can
always
have back
if
it
so
pleases
the
Imperial
and
Royal Ministry
of
Education,[6]
are
to
be
tested.
So
they
tend
to
see
in
my
return to
Switzerland
even more an
act
of
asininity
than
an
act
of
ungratefulness.[7]
There
is certainly
some
ungratefulness
in
it;
but
only
when
repaid
with
ungratefulness
does
a
benefactor
show
himself
in
the best
light.
So,
the
faculty
and
the
Education
Department
should be
happy
that
they
are
getting
some
help
in
their
ascent
to
the
pinnacle
of
beneficence.
There
is
not much
to
report
about
ourselves.
Our bear
cubs[8]
are a
great
joy
to
us,
and
the older
one
is already
trying,
with
some measure
of
success, to
become
a
proper
bear. For
example,
he has
already
started
to
learn
to
play
the
piano,
and
he
does
it with
great
zeal.
I'm
working
at
full
speed
on a
problem
(gravitation).[9]
You should therefore
forgive me my long
silence.
I
hope
that
your
mother
is
doing
well
again,
so
that
you
can once
again
live
without
care
in
your cozy
house.[10]
My
mother
and
a
schoolmate both
visited
me
this
winter
&
this
is
when
I
really got
to know
the architectural beauties of
Prague.
A brief
stay
in Prague-strictly for
pleasure-is
more
than
worthwhile.
But to live
here
has
serious drawbacks. No
potable
water. Much
misery
hand
in
hand
with snobbishness and
haughtiness.
Class
prejudices.
Little
genuine
education.
Everything byzantine
and
priest-ridden.
My
older
bear cub
must
attend Catholic
religious
instruction and-horribile
dictu-go
to church.[11]
The
paper-pushing
in
the
office
is
interminable-all
this,
as
it
seems,
in
order
to provide
a
semblance
of
justification
for
existing
to
the
the
gang
of
scribblers in
government
offices
(Not
a
bad
sentence;
were
it
printed,
it would
perhaps
be
preserved
for
posterity
in
your
beautiful
collection).
When
I
come
to
the
institute,[12]
a
servile
man
who smells of
alcohol bows and
says, "your
most
humble servant."
Something
akin
to
personality
is
unusual
here,
and
rare among
the
students
too.
Undoubtedly,
the
Imperial
&
Royal
Gymnasium
professors
have
damaged
them
a
lot
already. Still,
there
are
some
splendid
fellows
among
my
students.
Best wishes
and
wishes for
good
health
and
high spirits
from
your
Einstein
[ .
. .
][13]