Ch. 2: June

Berlin, Tuesday, June 2nd, 1914.

Darling mother, I've just got your two letters, two lovely long ones at
once, and I simply can't wait till next Sunday to tell you how I
rejoiced over them, so I'm going to squander 20 pfennigs just on that.
I'm not breaking my rule and writing on a day that isn't Sunday,
because I'm not really writing. This isn't a letter, it's a kiss. How
glad I am you're so well and getting on so comfortably. And I'm well
and happy too, because I'm so busy,--you can't think how busy. I'm
working harder than I've ever done in my life, and Kloster is pleased
with me. So now that I've had letters from you there seems very little
left in the world to want, and I go about on the tips of my toes.
Good-bye my beloved one, till Sunday.

Chris.

Oh, I must just tell you that at my lesson yesterday I played the Ernst
F sharp minor concerto,---the virtuoso, firework thing, you know, with
Kloster putting in bits of the orchestra part on the piano every now
and then because he wanted to see what I could do in the way of
gymnastics. He laughed when I had finished, and patted my shoulder,
and said, "Very good acrobatics. Now we will do no more of them. We
will apply ourselves to real music." And he said I was to play him
what I could of the Bach Chaconne.

I was so happy, little mother. Kloster leading me about among the
wonders of Bach, was like being taken by the hand by some great angel
and led through heaven.

--

Berlin, Sunday, June 7th, 1914.

On Sunday mornings, darling mother, directly I wake I remember it is my
day for being with you. I can hardly be patient with breakfast, and
the time it takes to get done with those thick cups of coffee that are
so thick that, however deftly I drink, drops always trickle down what
would be my beard if I had one. And I choke over the rolls, and I
spill things in my hurry to run away and talk to you. I got another
letter from you yesterday, and Hilda Seeberg, a girl boarding here and
studying painting, said when she met me in the passage after I had been
reading it in my room, "You have had a letter from your _Frau Mutter,
nicht_?" So you see your letters shine in my face.

Don't be afraid I won't take enough exercise. I go for an immense walk
directly after dinner every day, a real quick hot one through the
Thiergarten. The weather is fine, and Berlin I suppose is at its best,
but I don't think it looks very nice after London. There's no mystery
about it, no atmosphere; it just blares away at you. It has everything
in it that a city ought to have,--public buildings, statues, fountains,
parks, broad streets; and it is about as comforting and lovable as the
latest thing in workhouses. It looks