Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire  I cannot refrain from thanking you for the beautiful cigar case — the only thing wrong with it is that it is not black, red and gold. It accidentally came into my possession already today and was put to use at once. — Here it has been terribly cold, through the whole of December it has been freezing without interruption and it is still freezing. The Weser is frozen from here to Vegesack, four hours from here, which looks most remarkable. Recently some people from Barmen were here, and we had a jolly good time, visited all the taverns, kept the glasses going and at times felt a bit tipsy. Enclosed you will find a demand note [the “demand note” was written in Spanish as a joke by Engels himself] from my former Spanish teacher; if you can understand it I'll make you a present of a new hat. Perhaps there is somebody in your boarding-school who understands so much Spanish, and here the thing is getting in my way. — I must say, I hardly know what to write to you; a sugar refinery has burnt down here, and the Old Man [Heinrich Leupold] will not leave the office, although I am really dying for a cigar.

23rd. Yesterday evening we were having a fencing lesson when the nice news came that there was another fire and this time in Neustadt. We went there out of a sense of duty, and when we got there it was already out. That is what one gets for one’s trouble. You should always stay nicely at home until it is burning under your nose. Mother has sent me for Christmas an order for Goethe’s collected works; I went at once yesterday to fetch the first volumes that have appeared and last night read the Wahlverwandtschaften till midnight with great enjoyment. He is a fellow, Goethe! If you wrote German as he does I would excuse you from all foreign languages. Incidentally, it is quite unnecessary for you to leave a margin when you write to me, the octavo pages are narrow enough as it is, and I will not hear of this comfortable way of writing pages full and not writing much. Please note! says Professor Hantschke. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

24th. You will now be in tremendous excitement, I can imagine, and in grand hopes. I am curious what will come of it. You will, of course, acquaint me by the first post with this important proceeding? I shall see that it gets into the newspaper here at once.

Here, in passing, are a few strokes, flourishes and signatures, with which I proved the skill of my hand to my junior, [Wilhelm Leupold] who prides himself on his rectangular strokes. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire