Letter to Ingeborg Nobel, daughter to brother Robert, January 1, 1890
Paris 1/190
My dearest little nice. Please, help me to carry out all their wishes and some more. At present I am neither in the mood nor do I have the time for Christmas presents but do you know the German proverb “postponed is not abandoned”1.They would have an afterpower like Arboga-beer2. What about the family´s health? I hope theirs is better than mine.
The death rate is here double so high under the worst cholera epidemic3 and nobody is entirely spared by this demonic plague which dares to venture kings and queens. I therefore come to the conclusion that the intruder is not a microbe, i.e. an animal, because those prefer to parasitize on bodies with less decay than the majority of the Lord’s oiled
Warmest greetings to parents and siblings from your cordially loving old uncle Alfred
Quickly some lines!!
1 Postponed is not abandoned.
2 A proverb which means that trouble is following an action.
3 Cholera = a bacteriological disease which appeared in Europe in epidemics during the 18th century.The disease causes diarrhoea and high mortality.