1888.03.16 English

THE ROYALINSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF-MUTE         

IN COPENHAGEN[1]

March 16, 1888

                        My dear beloved Emse

You have by now already heard from your dear mother[2] about her and my opinion concerning your various plans; however, your latest letter gives me another opportunity to discuss these plans with you, and besides I guess you would also like to have word from your father. You are homesick, and we are also longing to see our dear Emse happy and content with us; however, this feeling of longing mustn’t of course run away with you or us, so that it leads to the breaking of promises or to the side (???? unintelligible). You would like to come home in November, but however much we would love to see you here, I take it that it would, for several reasons, be too early. On the ground of you coming to them, Reverend Nielsen and his wife have taken the children out of an English school; surely it would be very unfortunate for the children if they were now ???? to return to that school during your absence, and equally unfortunate, or at any rate disturbing, if they were to arrange for another tutor, something that would probably be very complicated for them. As your mother wrote: I am not decidedly against your plans to, sometimes in the future, go the same way as Engelke[3]; but I was quite disappointed that you – having always expressed in no uncertain terms your aim to become a language teacher – are now to abandon this. I also think that you are painting things in the darkest of colours when you describe the difficulties that you will encounter, but in a way this is also quite natural – well even desirable – because if you did not realise the difficulties ahead, you would never become a competent and happy teacher, and then the opposite would occur (?????).In all honesty, when you think about yourself as an adult education teacher (????).As a teacher you would of course have to start by teaching at a school, and gradually as you would acquire experience, skill, courage and self-confidence (????), you would be in a position to teach adults with satisfaction. I also find that you are too pessimistic concerning your benefit from your stay over there in terms of learning (to read??) English. Once a person has progressed so much in language skills as you have, further growth is not so easy to weigh or measure as during the first years when we are learning a foreign language. In any case, and whether you eventually will become a teacher or not, you should not give up your English language classes, but on the contrary try to benefit as much as possible from it. That kind (???) of skills will do no harm, whatever position or job you will have. Were you eventually to choose a commercial career, such language skills could perhaps (???) become very useful.You should not crave for new plans haphazardly, please do remember that there is no hurry whatsoever to take such a decisive decision.

In regard to office work as such, it is also such a different career, requiring calm consideration and reflection before the choice is made. Bear in mind that work in that area is perhaps more overloaded (the office career) than in other areas. A skilled language teacher will hardly become unemployed and the job is well paid. Given time, you may eventually be able to earn more by 2 hours work per day than Engelke, what with her extremely cumbersome working hours from 8 in the morning until 7 in the evening, and yet she has been unusually fortunate. I have quite in vain turned to the National Bank, to the Life Insurance Company and to the Municipal Office, and everywhere they have hundreds of applications from women seeking a job. Please also remember that a teacher nowadays has wonderful holiday conditions, while the office worker is very scantily allotted, apart from the public holidays maybe only three-four days per year.

In any case, this is true and holds good for you now and always: Be grateful and happy for what you have, be firm in your conviction that it is not by chance, but rather the loving hand of the Lord God that has put you where you are now, and that it is His will that you shall acquire nourishment there for your spirit and heart and achieve clarity, little by little, about your calling in life. Speak with him often, seek His advice and enlightenment, and be assured that your are also very often in our prayers and always in our hearts. Concerning your health, let me just give you – or repeat – the advice that I probably already gave you through mother, that you must absolutely make sure that your room is properly aired before going to bed. Fresh air, exercise and water are powerful means to keep in good health. We have a terribly cold winter, 8 – 10 degrees Reamur[4]. How is the weather over there?Perhaps Reverend Nielsen will get the posting here next summer, and in that case one of the issues will be resolved by itself. Try to get as much opportunity you can to read and speak English. By speaking the language we gain tremendously in confidence and ability. Do you frequently go to the English church? ???????????You may serve him and speak to him also in the English church.Please pass our warmest greetings to Reverend Nielsen and in particular to his wife from me. I have met Reverend N, as you know. I paid a visit a month ago to Professor Lehman[5], he was then in good health and gave me the impression that the disease had done him no harm at all. A fortnight ago he was here and appeared happy and sprightly. Warmest regards to you from all of us, in particular from your deeply devoted father, the old man, surely ???? longing so much to embrace his dear beloved Emse.

                                                                       R.Malling-Hansen