Your letter enclosing Orion’s and Mollie’s hasve just come, Mr Clemens is off on a walking trip and will not be back for nearly a week, I am going to send you a line telling you what I think of Orions coming to Germany— It is utterly vain for Orion to think that he could ever teach English, it would take him five years of very hard study to fit himself so that he would know enough German to explain English to a German pupil & it is very doubtful whether he would ever know the language well enough to have any use of it— Mr Clemens feels that he shall never be able to speak it, and as Orion knows no language but his own it would be very hard at his time of life for him to try to learn an other one— Except at the most expensive hotels the food would be so bad & unlike our American food that they would find it impossible to get on with it— After the first novelity they would both be homesick for they would have no money to travel about from place to place with & no friends here & they would simply be writing that they wanted to go home, it is not the life for them at all. There would be simply the expense of getting them over and getting them home again.

It is certainly much better for Orion to try to get the office that he wants & if he does not succeed in getting it be contented with what Mr Clemens is able to give them—that unless we should have unforseen losses Mr Clemens will be able & glad to continue to help them—I wish that I could see you Ma for an hours talk—but I must stop now— With loves to Pamela and Annie & regards to Mr Webster—

remainder in pencil:

Sept. 8.—Dear Ma, I am just back from a long walking-tramp to Mont Blanc, & am very glad Livy has written this letter in my absence. It says just what I think, exactly. I did imagine that at 40 Orion might have learned German well enough to teach it—but I do not imagine so now. That he can learn German at 53 well enough to ta teach it is simply an impossibility.

I seem to have walked the rheumatism out of myself at last, but it was a slow remedy. Twichell & I wal started from Martigny at 8 AM & reached Chamouny at 6 P. M—a frightfully hot day. There was abundance of snow within pistol shot sometimes, but it did not cool the air any. Next day we walked again about 10 hours. We never got tired, but the heat roasted us. Twichell left us today for home.

We remain here a few days longer, then go to Venice. All the family are well & send love.