Letters to Vasudha and Chandulal
The Mother : correspondence
THEME/S
Letters To My Little smile
My dear maman,
The frames of our cots have been replaced. This evening Chandulal told me that you. had written to him a note this morning not to forget to fix the frames. I had already forgotten and when Chandulal told me that you had reminded him 1 was surprised.
Your child
It was not necessary for you to remember since I had not forgotten.
November 2, 1933
This morning at 10.30 I went to the market with P. I bought some gold thread ( for the apron ), needles for the sewing machine and a crochet-needle.
I have started the apron, it will be very beautiful, almost like the embroidery on Banarasi saris.
How many beautiful things you make! And how you work ! You are tireless.
November 3, 1933
Maman, you have a lot of work; I don't want to take your time. Next time when I come I shall bring it to you. I can work on the sari in the meanwhile. If
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/ had no other work, I would have brought it to you. I did my gardening; there are little insects on my rose-trees, so I wash them with soap water.
As you like, my little smile; I am very busy, it is true, but I would have managed to give you a few minutes. It is so sweet of you to think of not increasing uselessly my work; there are not many like you.
November 13,1933
I have worked on the sari and the blouses for 8 hours. Maman, what else ?
All my love.
The apron is perfect. That opens all kinds of possibilities for the future.
November 15, 1933
I found some beautiful saris in the "Illustrated Weekly" this time; there are four saris — they are very very beautiful. I am going to embroider all the four for you with the same designs. I shall bring you the photograph of these saris. Nolini gave me this issue of the Weekly.
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Yes, I too saw them and at once I said to myself that if you saw them, you would be enthusiastic and wish to copy them. The one with birds and butterflies is truly lovely, is it not ?
The Chinese birds also seemed very good though less clear. Bring me this page of the "Illustrated" next time you come; we shall look at it together.
November 16,1933
Maman,
I don't know what to write.
The day after tomorrow I shall see Sri Aurobindo and you.
I am so sorry for having been so late this morning and for not having been able to give you all the time I would have liked.
November 22,1933
Today I worked very little.
So much the better !
A great promise came from above for you yesterday, the promise that you will be delivered from all your difficulties and that your mind will become luminously
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peaceful and your heart quietly satisfied. Did you feel anything ?
November 24,1933
Do not worry, my little smile, the whole thing has come to teach you that on these occasions, after having had the joy of receiving Sri Aurobindo's blessing, it is better to concentrate and keep one's joy within oneself rather than to throw it out by mixing and talking with others. The experiences one talks about evaporate and one loses the benefit they could have brought to us.
November 26, 1933
Today I worked on the blouse the whole day. That's all. Maman! what else ?
Poor little Tara has become very sad.... Are you so reserved with her ?
November 27, 1933
I am not angry with Tara. I always try to keep silent; so I speak only about important things (with her as well as with others); that is to say, if she asks me
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something I answer her and I show her the work that we must do ( now she is working on the sari with irises ).
Maman, I want, and I try to keep your presence at every moment.
I aspire to you; I always want you, all day, all night.
I want that each one of my cells aspires to Thee and to none other; nothing but Thee.
I want to live always in Thy heart where I can live constantly with Tara and with all those who love Thee.
I have found that it is impossible to meet people and to love them personally (and it is not the true way either).
But there is a place where we can all meet and even live constantly and that is in Thee — in Thy heart.
Maman ! I have not realised that state, but at every stitch that I make (when I work), I aspire to Thee, all day I try to concentrate on Thee — to keep my mind on Thee.
I have noticed that I cannot smile (when I am concentrated or rather when I try to concentrate) at anyone and if I try to smile it seems to me as if I were smiling superficially. Maman,
This morning I wanted to say all this to Tara; but my lips resist, they don't want to smile.
Maman, is it good or bad not to be able to speak like that?
I want to know it because if it is not good I don't want it; I shall talk like before.
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It is very good to remain silent and concentrated in your aspiration; and I am sure that if you keep in your heart a deep affection for Tara, she will feel it and will no longer be sad. But, of course, if you feel you may explain to her in a kind way what is happening in you, it will be very good.
November 28, 1933
I have explained it to Tara and she is satisfied. Maman, what else ?
It's all right, my little smile.
Maman, for the last few days I have not been able to concentrate. That concentration stayed with me for only three or four days. And now I cannot concentrate any more — my mind is never quiet, Maman.
Do not lose patience, the happy state is sure to return.
Today I finished a pair of curtains.
What curtains ? December 5, 1933
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The grey curtains for the second window of the passage between your room and Pavitra's....
I saw the curtains this morning. Datta brought them — and then I understood what it was all about. The curtains are very fine. At present when the sun comes in through this window it is so strong that it burns up the curtains that are there. I shall put the new ones up when the sun has changed.
December 6,1933
Today also I worked all day. Maman, what else ?
Why did you look so serious at Pranam this morning? Is anything wrong?
December 11,1933
You keep on promising me beautiful things, and I keep on resisting them. Then how can I always be happy ?
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One should not worry, it does not help towards the realisation of the promises; also one must have patience. In this physical world things take time to materialise.
December 12. 1933
Today also I worked all day. What else?
Never doubt my love and my solicitude.
December 14, 1933
Yesterday and today I worked all day on the sari with irises.
I love to work for you. Maman, I don't know what to write. I have nothing to say.
It is enough; all I ask is that we exchange a little "bonjour" every day. When you have something special, important or interesting to write to me, you will write. love
December 18, 1933
Today also I worked all day on the sari; I am not
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writing to you how many hours I work because if I write to you "I have worked for 10 hours", you write "It is amazing!"
Your are a zealous and energetic child.
love
December 19, 1933
Irises are beautiful, maman. What do they signify ?
"Aristocracy of beauty". It is a noble flower which stands upright on its stalk. Its form has been stylised in the "fleur-de-lis", the emblem of the kings of France.
December 23, 1933
Today also I worked all day on the blouse.
All my affection for my hardworking little smile.
December 29, 1933
Tonight I shall see you at exactly midnight to wish you a happy new year.
December 31, 1933
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Today I worked all day: in the morning on the blouse and in the afternoon on the sari.
I saw the beautiful blouse for the golden sari. How well it is made! One might well think the cloth woven in Benares.
January 2,1934
What to write ? Today I worked on the sari.
What to say? That I am always with. you in your work and your rest, your sleep and your waking.
Affectionately
January 3,1934
Today I did not work at all. Since yesterday I have been indisposed; I have caught a cold and my eyes are
burning. I cannot work.
You must rest well until it passes altogether.
January 4,1934
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I did not write to you yesterday because I didn't want to trouble you. I want you to rest.
Yes, it is very sweet of you, but it does not tire me to read two or three lines.
January 6, 1934
There are three ventilators in our hall and the sun shines through them on the sari (on the big frame).
So I want to make curtains for the ventilators; may I ask Datta for the necessary cloth ?
Surely you may ask. But who will climb up there, first for taking the measurements, then for hanging them ? I hope it will not be you. It would be better to inform Chandulal who will do what is necessary.
January 8, 1934
Yes, the cold is gone.
Yesterday while ironing the blouse I burnt it in a few places.
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I did not notice it. So it can't be much. That is probably why you looked so grave at pranam this morning. You should not torment yourself for such small things.
January 11, 1934
...I will be with you always, my dear little child, in the struggle and in the victory.
January 13,1934
Today also I worked all day on the sari.
I am with you with all my love.
January 17,1934
Today I worked on the sari for 9 hours.
Then the work must be advancing very rapidly. You have a marvellous capacity for work, my dear little child.
January 18,1934
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Today I worked for 10 hours. ( I work more than 10 hours) but I don't write to you the correct number of hours; because if I do, you will write back to me, "It is amazing!"
All the same you should not, my little child, strain yourself. I should be very sorry if you were to do so.
January 20, 1934
My dear little child, why were you weeping so bitterly this morning during Pranam. I was so pained not to be able to console you. Will you not tell me your grief so that I may efface it if possible ? You know that all my love is with you always as well as the best of my will to help you to go through your difficulties.
January 24, 1934
/ did not know that I was weeping there. Don't be troubled because I weep. Maman, I know well, but I ask you, "Am I ( is my heart ) at peace ? Do I have real peace ? Am I quiet? Even the little while I am in your room with you ? Even for 5 or 10 minutes, even at the moment I am doing Pranam, when my head is on your knees, am I peaceful and quiet ?"
Then how can you hope to see me happy ?
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.../ know that you want me to have peace and be happy and that all your love is with me always. But I must feel them all the time. (And is it possible to feel it at every instant even when one cannot be peaceful ?)
...Do not be troubled by my weeping — if nothing else at least I received your caress (yesterday morning for my tears), which is rare. (And perhaps that is why so sweet too.) You do not always caress me like that.
I shall see you this morning, but if even that does not make you happy, then what to do!
January 25,1934
...Sometimes I became a naughty child. No, maman ?
Not naughty, poor little child, only a bit sad and that pains me, for I would like to see you always full of light and joy.
January 26,1934
I want to become your tiny little baby. You will make me your tiny little baby. Then I shall be always on your lap and I shall be always with you alone.
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I don't want to do Yoga and become a Yogi, because it is not good; when one does Yoga one becomes like P. (and others like her) and says: "I am Mahakali;
I am the universal Mother; I am perfect."
And I am terribly afraid of this thing; it is very, very bad. And then all one can do is to go away from here. That is why, Maman, I don't want to do Yoga.
I shall be your tiny little baby and you will hide me in your heart, then nobody can see me nor take me away from you.
All right.
It is very good like that, is it not, maman ?
Yes, it is excellent, I approve wholly.
And then surely I shall be full of light and joy, as you wish to see me.
Your tiny little child
January 27,1934
Today I worked all day on the sari....
Maman, I know, there are beautiful things in my tiny little heart. There are also bad things, you know Maman, I told you of them. But this tiny little heart is full of love. Maman, we are going to burn all the bad things in this little heart.
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Then. in my heart there will be only love, most sweet, for you alone.
It is very beautiful what you have written here and it is very true also. The beautiful things are much stronger than the ugly ones and win the victory unfailingly. I am always with you, in the struggle and in the victory.
January 29,1934
Maman, this morning T. showed me the pink blouse she has embroidered with silver thread.
This blouse is very, very beautiful.
The sari too will be the most beautiful one in your collection of saris (embroidered by us).
Before I had seen this blouse ( by T.) I used to think the bird-of-paradise sari was very beautiful; but after seeing this blouse I find that my sari ( bird-of-paradise ) is nothing in comparison with the one T. is preparing.
That is not correct, each has its particular beauty and its style. The bird-of-paradise is a very beautiful sari.
The blouse is truly the most beautiful one.
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I cannot say whether it is the most beautiful one or not. Each of the embroidered saris has its own beauty, but it is true that this blouse is very beautiful.
January 30,1934
I told you once that if someone made something beautiful for you we ought to be happy, whoever it might be, myself or anybody else; I mean to say that seeing a very beautiful thing someone has made for you, one ought to be happy, and all those who love my sweet Maman would naturally be happy.
Do you know that when I saw this blouse by T., I felt something, I felt that another person had made a thing more beautiful than what I had made.
Maman, I know why I felt like that. Up till now I had in me a kind of pride for my work: "I make better things than anybody else here", something like that. And that is why when I saw a very beautiful thing made by another person, my pride received a good, hard blow. Is that not true ? (Maman, I remember a sentence, I once heard H. telling someone: "Mother knows how to give blows".)
I assure you that it is not deliberately that I give Ii the blows.
Maman, why these silly things in me ? I don't want
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them. They have been in me long enough. Now I don't want them. I shall not rest until you come into my heart and live there eternally.
My maman, give me in my aspiration purity and constancy.
Certain states in us (and pride is one of them) automatically call forth blows from the surrounding circumstances. And it is up to us to utilise these blows to make further progress.
You are right in wanting all this pettiness and stupidity to disappear. I am fully with you in this determination and I am sure that you will triumph.
January 31, 1934
Today I have nothing to write. As usual I worked all day.
I hope this month now beginning, will bring the realisation you desire: happy calm, unvarying peace, luminous silence.
Such is my wish and my blessing for you.
February 1, 1934
/ shall capture Thee in my heart. I do not need to
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think of peace and felicity. Once you live in our hearts
these things cannot but be there.
You will not have far to go to capture me, for I am already in your heart and as soon as your eyes open you will see me there; turn your faculty of feeling inwards instead of letting it project itself outwards, and you will feel my presence as concretely, even more concretely than you feel cold and heat.
February 2, 1934
My beloved Maman,
You are already in my heart, it is true — but I have to be there always with you. Isn't it so ?
But I do not know how to open my eyes, they are always open except when I sleep.
I am speaking of the inner eyes, not of physical eyes.
"Turn your faculty of feeling inwards instead of letting it project itself outwards."
Maman, when I feel something I feel it in my heart (and I think everyone feels in his heart). I don't know how to feel outside. I do not understand what you mean
by "outside".
I mean that instead of living in the perceptions of
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the sense-organs which are exclusively occupied with external things, one should concentrate in the inner being which has a life independent of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch).
Februarys, 1934
I do not know how to concentrate in the inner being.
If it interests you, I shall explain it one day, when I see you.
February 5, 1934
Today I worked on the sari in the morning. In the afternoon Tara did not allow me to work because my left eyelid has been a bit swollen for the past two days.
She did well.
From tomorrow I shall start working again. I cannot devote to my eyelid so .much of my time. It is very naughty, it does not want me to work.
But I want to finish this sari for the 24th April and that is why I must work on it every day. If I don't bother about the eye then it will have to be all right.
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If the eye itself does not ache, it does not matter so much. You should not, however, overwork as long as the eye is not fully all right. To hasten the recovery, you could have, every two hours, an eye-wash with fairly warm boric water. Your neighbour, the Dispensary, will prepare that for you. Do exactly as I tell you (without fail) and you will soon be all right. (Do not pt D. put any ointment in your eye, it is not good.)
February 8,1934
Yesterday the eyelid (the swollen spot) was hard. Yesterday I washed it three times with warm water and this morning it has become soft.
This afternoon I got boric acid from the Dispensary and I shall prepare hot water at home; I don't like to go to the Dispensary too often.
The eye hurt the first two days but since yesterday it hasn't bothered me. I shall wash it with boric water twice a day. P
It is difficult for me to heat water every two hours, it is quite a bothersome job.
Of course I understand it is not convenient. Moreover if your eye is better, washing it twice a day will probably be all right.
February 9,1934
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My eye is all right. Today I worked all day on the sari.
It is good that it improved so quickly; I am very happy about it.
February 10,1934
Today also I worked all day for you.
I saw you passing under our windows, a little after five. I tried to make you turn your head to see me, but I did not succeed.
February 12,1934
How much you all work to make beautiful clothes for me !
I hope, however, that you are not overworking yourselves.
In some time from now it will not be possible for me to see the notebooks at least for a while.
February 15, 1934
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That may be so for those who have their own parents and relations. I have none (except you)1.
Then why do you speak of going ? It makes no sense, and it is not quite nice either; because what have I ever shown to you except love, care, and affection? Is that a way of recognising my feelings for you ?
February 25, 1934
Poor child, I take you most gladly on my knees and cradle you on my breast to console this heavy grief that has no cause and to pacify this great revolt that has no reason. Let me take you in my arms, bathe you in my love and efface even the memory of this unhappy incident. I kept the letter in order to show it to Sri Aurobindo along with your letter of this morning. I am returning it to you in this notebook.
February 27,1934
I like to write to you something every day but I do not know what to write.
You know, maman, what Sri Aurobindo wrote to me.
1 Since I did not keep any connection with those I had left behind (mother, sister, another brother), the feeling that I had none except the Mother was very real.
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Don't you ? He wrote: "Keep yourself inwardly confident and open, all will be done."
I am not sending it to you; because 1 want to keep it with me so that I can read it whenever I want. But I shall bring it to you one day when I see you and then we shall read together.
Your little child
Sri Aurobindo read it to me before sending it to you; but if you have some difficulty deciphering it you may bring it.
March 5, 1934
I tried to draw the "irises" for the crown but I did not succeed.
If you like, tomorrow morning I shall show you what I have done and you will show me how to draw it.
I find it very difficult to copy this iris from the photograph.
Certainly, my little child, with great pleasure I shall show you tomorrow how to make this crown. Bring the exact form of the crown drawn on a piece of paper and also the photograph — I shall take care of the rest.
With all my love.
March 16, 1934
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My dear little child,
I am glad you have recovered so quickly. You did well to get your throat painted by the doctor.
I am returning you your iris envelope, but perhaps you do not need it any more ?
April 1, 1934
My dear little smile,
It would have to be something of prime importance that I wanted to tell you for me to take the initiative of writing to you.
I am already quite busy enough with the answers I must give to the letters and notebooks I receive.
But that does not prevent my love from being always with you.
June 26,1934
No, my dear child, I am sure I did not tell you that you wanted to hide something from me. When, under the pressure that I was putting on you in meditation to calm the agitation of your mind and vital, you started crying, I thought that perhaps it would relieve you to tell me the cause of your grief, and when you did not answer, I simply asked whether you did not want to speak — in order not to insist uselessly. You were mistaken if you thought I was showing displeasure.
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You have, unfortunately, for some time now, closed yourself up inside and that is the reason why I cannot help you as much as I would like to.
July 7, 1934
My dear child, it is certainly a very unusual way of understanding this vision. I had not interpreted it that way at all. The images in these visions are always symbolic and one should take them as such.
The rocks represent material Nature, hard and rigid, but which conceals within it the stream of life. Due to the resistance of matter this stream of life frees itself with difficulty and barely manages to emerge into the light. But with a little concentration and .insistence, the resistance of matter is lessened and the living energies are freed. This image applies, as it were, to everyone but in the present case it concerned you since you were there, and I took it as a promise that your difficulties would yield and that you would soon be able to emerge into a luminous consciousness, free and happy.
With my love
July 11, 1934
Tomorrow evening we are going to buy the white cloth for the sari. But for that I need some money.
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If you give me Rs. 25 1 shall send you back all that is left over after the cloth is bought.
I am sending you Rs. 30 to be on the safe side;
if anything remains just send it back.
September 4, 1934
I have the big table and the big frame in the hall. I want to shift them. That is, I want to put the table where the frame is now and the frame in the place of the big table.
I have asked Chandulal to give me two coolies to shift them because the table is very, very heavy.
He has asked me to take your permission. So I am asking your permission.
Certainly he can give you two coolies, perhaps even three.
September 5,1934
Ten yards of the cloth has cost Rs. 25 As. IS. That is, Rs. 2 As. 9½ per yard. I am sending you Rs. 4 A. 1.
This evening we (Datta and I) dyed the big 10-yard piece. But it was not successful: the dyeing is irregular
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September 7, 1934
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—some places dark and some pale. You will see it tomorrow morning.
My dear child, I did not reply to you at once because I wanted to see the cloth first. There are of course irregularities—but they do not seem to be irreparable.
I don't think it would be good to dye it again. It would become too dark. But we can take the irregularities as a movement of -water and underline them with a fine golden thread. Then it will look as if it were done deliberately and it will be still more beautiful. The next time I see you I shall show you exactly what I mean. Don't worry, it will be quite all right. You may start your work right now.
September 6,1934
/ do not feel like doing the fishes now. I shall do them in five years.
I would prefer starting on the green sari with gold and silver dragons, for the 21st February, 1935 — if you can ask someone to do the drawing. Because the cloth (green) and the gold and silver thread are all ready.
I am disappointed, I cannot do the fishes now.
You can ask Krishnalal if he would draw the dragons for you.
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You are my little child and you will always be my little child, this fact is certain.
But when little children prove themselves unreasonable, it is very difficult to talk reason to them. Now if you want me to tell you what I think, it is this: Sanjiban has taken a lot of trouble and has done a very beautiful drawing, a beautiful cloth has been bought at a cost of Rs. 30, you and Datta have taken great trouble to dye it, and I tell you that I have found a means of utilising the irregularities of the dyeing to make a sari much more beautiful than we had thought; and yet without considering anything, you write in a bad mood: "I no longer want to do this sari, I will do another"; and naturally I thought now I shall have to ask Krishnalal to take the trouble to do another drawing, and if by chance, there is again some difficulty, this little child is capable of saying' once more: "I am disappointed, I don't want to do this sari" and Krishnalal will have worked for nothing. That is why I told you to ask him for the drawing yourself. He has just sent me, this very day, the model of the crown with fishes. It is very, very beautiful. And if you want my opinion, I suggest you begin by doing this crown and that will put you back in tune for the sari itself: and you will see that everything will be all right, absolutely all right. I am sending you the model of the crown.
Septembers, 1934
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Tomorrow evening we are going to finish the book "The Athenian Reader" (Lectures athéniennes). Then what other book do you choose so that I can read it with Chandulal ?
For the moment, I don't see clearly what would be best. But I shall talk about it with Chandulal today and we shall choose something interesting.
November 4, 1934
I have caught a cold, it is giving me a headache and bothering my eyes. My throat hurts also. It is very naughty, this cold, it prevents me from doing my fishes.
Maman, what to do?
It is a nuisance that your cold is not gone. You could perhaps take an infusion of eucalyptus. They can pre- pare it for you at the Dispensary, and if necessary they can also give you some potassium chlorate for gargling.
March 5, 1935
I am very happy that your cold is gone....
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Caresses from your maman who loves you.
March 7, 1935
You are right, these medals are very ugly; the heads are real caricatures, that is why I did not give them myself, so that those who don't want them may refuse them.
Our blessings are always with you.
April 5,1935
You had promised to give me what you. had written on "costumes". I don't know if you have found it. If you have not found it you can give me "Historical Trials" (in English).
Chandulal has told me that you would give it to us to read.
From the book "Contes pour les enfants" (Stories for Children) we have read almost all the stories.
As soon as you give us one of these ("Costumes" or "Historical Trials") we shall return this story-book to you.
I have searched hard but I have found neither the
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article on costumes nor anything else that could be useful. "Historical Trials" is with Esculape at the moment. When he has finished I shall give it to you. Mean- while, I am sending you a drama about Joan of Arc. You must be very careful with it because it belongs to the collection of the "Illustration". It would be better to leave it with Chandulal rather than take it to your room.
Love from your maman
May 17,1935
This morning I went to Lila's for I felt like working with her. I cleaned some wheat and picked out the little stones from it. Is there anything wrong in doing so ?
When D. saw me working there, he looked at me with big eyes and told me, "Go home, go, your fishes are calling you, go."
It seemed that he did not like my working there.
I shall not go henceforth. But if you don't mind, I want to know whether there was anything wrong in what I did this morning.
Your little smile
I see no serious wrong in your having gone to work with Lila if that pleased you, but it would have been better to have informed D. first — as he is responsible for keeping things running smoothly and in an orderly fashion there: he should at least be informed.
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Love to my little smile, from her maman.
May 29, 1935
You mustn't be afraid. If you see something that frightens you or if you have an unpleasant sensation, you must call me and the thing will disappear. When you are awake, surely you are not afraid of an approaching storm-cloud: why should it frighten you at night ?
Put yourself in my arms without fear and be sure that nothing can harm you. My force and my protection are always with you.
June 18, 1935
You are absolutely right, and I don't see why, in- stead of reading interesting things, you should start doing boring exercises.
To learn a language one must read, read, read— and talk as much as one can.
With all my love
July 10, 1935
My dear little smile, You have very well described your state and since
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you are so conscious of it, I feel you will soon master it.
It goes without saying that our help is always with you to bring you peace and silence and it is absolutely certain that peace and silence are going to settle in you never to leave again.
Most affectionately
August 8, 1935
(A letter of Sri Aurobindo regarding an embroidery design)
Vasudha,
What a beautiful fish! and every detail so perfectly filled in! It is a supramental fish surely!
September 12, 1935
You are quite right. I prefer a beautiful embroidered sari to a lace gown by far. It is not a question of number or need. For years I was perfectly satisfied with two saris per year — but I am proud of the beautiful things my dear children make for me and I wear them with love and joy.....
My blessings and love are always with you.
Your maman
December 10, 1935
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Naturally, I am not saying that for Chandulal who is a good friend to you and will always have some good advice to give you when you are in difficulty.
March 23, 1936
I want to work with Lila in the granary. Do you approve ?
It doesn't seem to me a bad idea — but before giving final approval I would like to know how you expect to organise your day, how much time you will spend
in the granary, etc., etc....
June 2, 1936
From now until the month of November I cannot give more than two hours per day. Because I want to finish this sari for the 24th November.
And I don't think there will be much work in the granary for some months because alt the big work (of wheat) is already finished.
But after the month of November I want to spend as many hours as are necessary on this work, if you agree.
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Perhaps you would like to know about my embroidery. I am telling you here what I think. If it does not seem all right to you, you must tell me.
Undoubtedly of all things it is embroidery that I love most.
When you spoke to me of taking up work in the granary, I thought you wanted to do it for relaxation, as a kind of rest, for a change of work is always a relaxation, and that is why I welcomed the idea. But as far as you are concerned, I think your embroidery work is much more important than anything else you might do and I would not like it to suffer in any way. So I gladly agree to two hours of work per day in the granary (as a trial to see how you feel about it) but I cannot agree to your giving more. In any case, for the moment and for some months these two hours of work will be quite sufficient. Later we shall see what arrangement we can make. So I am going to speak to D. and arrange the matter with him. What are the best hours for you ?
My dear child,
What an excellent idea and what marvellous execution ! Will you tell Tara and Lila that I have admired their work and have been so touched by their kindness that I was quite moved.
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