12 Leamington Road.Villas
Bayswater
W
March 18th 1912
Dear Professor Haeckel,
I cannot tell you how kind I have thought it of you to send me these friendly words with your portrait ‒ it is a beautiful picture & such a dear herrliches Gesicht. It makes me long to see you again, and assuredly if kind fate takes me to the || dear Vaterland this summer Jena will not be forgotten.
But I am grieved and distressed to hear that your health is still not good, & that the deplorable accident of last spring has left you still suffering. How I do hope that with the coming spring & the „liebliche Fest” of Pfingsten you will feel stronger in spite of your 78 years. ||
At Xmas time I was amazed to see in „The Athenium” that Mrs T. Huxley had an article in the „Cornhill Magazine” describing scenes of her girlhood in Australia & her first meeting with the young Dr who became her husband after many years of waiting. Mrs Huxley is now 86. I wrote to congratulate her (for in the old days she was a kind friend to me) & I had a charming letter from her asking many questions about our family.
Poor old England || seems in a bad plight with this terrible coal strike & the doings of the Suffragists; one can only hope that good may come out of it ‒ as, indeed, I believe it will.
Again thanking you warmly for your portrait which I shall prize greatly, & wishing you free from suffering, believe me
Most sincerely yours
L. Dora Schmitz
