1880.08.10 English

C O P E N H A G E N  AUGUST 10, 1880

 

 

 

DEAR BELOVED M O T H E R  !

 

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PLEASURE OF MEETING YOU!  I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM FROM BELOVED ANNA!  SHE HAS NOT YET DARED TO ADDRESS YOU IN THE SECOND PERSON SINGULAR, EVEN IF SHE WOULD HAVE LOVED TO DO IT, BUT NEXT TIME SHE WILL SURELY DO[1]. SHE BECAME SO DEEPLY FOND OF YOU[2] AND OF DEAR BROTHER AND OF THE LOVE YOU SHOWED US. I WAS VERY MUCH SURE THAT THE THREE OF YOU WOULD TAKE TO EACH OTHER, YET HER JOY AND YOUR JOY STILL SURPASSED MY EXPECTATIONS.

 

 

THE TWO OF US HAVE HAD SOME WONDERFUL DAYS TOGETHER LATELY; WE ARE SO WELL SUITED TO EACH OTHER, GOD HAS SUITED US. FROM DEAR BROTHER JÖRGEN I RECEIVED A LETTER THIS VERY MOMENT; HE IS DELIGHTED. I SHALL IMMEDIATELY REPLY. ALL THE BEST DEAR MOTHER; WHILE HE IS AWAY, PLEASE DON’T LET US DOWN, YOU JUST HAVE TO VISIT US HERE.

 

 

WARMEST GREETINGS FROM ALL OF US.

 

 

 

 

                      YOUR DEEPLY DEVOTED SON

 

 

 

 

                                   R. Malling Hansen

 

 

[1] JMC: In Danish lanuage there was, at the time, a huge difference between adressing a person by the second person singular – “du” and the much more respectfully and distant third person – “De”. It was equal to the difference in French between “tu” and “vous”. Obviously, Anna, being a new acquaintance and wife-to-be, is torn between her deep respect for her future mother-in-law and her desire to express her closeness and warm feelings for her.

[2] CB:RMH’s beloved wife, Cathrine (sweet Cäthe, as he usually calls her), mother of his 7 daugthers, died while giving birth on the 3rd of October 1876 – and two unborn daughters died at the same time. This was an unbelievably hard blow to RMH, and it is no wonder that very few letters have been found and preserved from the following years . However, on the 19th of November 1880 he marries Anna Steenstrup. And in August 1880 Anna and RMH have, for the first time, visited the brother and the mother who is living with him. Sverre thinks that they have moved to Ringsted, where brother Jørgen has been employed at the Ringsted Borgerskole (probably a secondary school). The other brother John (Johan Fredrik) is still at the Skjelstrup School close to the town of Maribo. He has married and would have two children, the first one born in 1879. Jørgen married the year after the death of his mother in 1885 and he also had two children.