V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T 2 7 9 a 3 5
slaving away in Latin: we’ve already had the 1st, 2nd, 3rd + 4th conjugation and
the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th + 5th declension. The life insurance bill arrived a while ago
and comes to 139.7 francs.
Recently, I was working steadily on a ship I just made out of a simple wood
carving.
It can sail very well and I have lots of fun with it.
Many greetings, yours,
Albert.
Vol. 8, 279a. From Hans Albert Einstein
[Zurich, after 26 November
1916][1]
Dear Papa,
I received your postcard today and thank you very much for the Christmas
present you promised us. Tete is going to school in the
spring.[2]
I didn’t write you
earlier, because first Mama was not well, and later because there were a good 20
cm of snow and we went
skiing.[3]
I made the ship like
this:[4]
At first I just had a block of wood that in cross section
formed an almost equilateral, right-angled triangle. It was about 25 cm long. Then
I hewed out the basic form with an ax. Then I carved it nicely into shape with a
knife. All around the upper edge I nailed a thin little wooden ledge, and on top of
that, I made a little cabin out of cigar-box wood.
I designed the sails so that I can raise and lower them.
With this method, the actual wood of the ship was not hollowed out but just an
edge made with the little planks. The thing at bottom is a rudder.