Aphoristic Writings, Notebook, and Letters to a Friend, by Otto ...

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Picture postcard of the Baltic Sea.
18th August, 1902
Half past midnight, between Sunday and Monday. I sit in a hotel by the beach, and
see before me that part of the sea which glimmers beneath the full moon.
Hello!
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Copenhagen, 19th August 1902
¼ to 12 at night.
My father has now returned that hundred marks to me again. I thus go yet to
Christiania. Please poste restante there.
Otto W.
Now it will be finally tested on a two-day sea voyage, whether I am seaworthy or
not.
Dear friend!
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Frederikshavn (Northern tip of Jutland),
21st August, Thursday 10 o’clock in the morning.
Excuse the card, that is, for the time being I am saving in order to gain as much as
possible in Norway, and from here even the postage is expensive. So I now have 14
hours of sea travel behind me, and under that I spent almost the whole night on deck
during considerable storms and up to 4m high waves; and I am seaworthy! as I had
not expected otherwise of me. I believe that from nothing can the dignity of man so
suffer than through seasickness. It’s characteristic enough, that the women all became
seasick.
Of your letters, there is much I have not yet answered. Not because you do
likewise with mine, but because that is perfectly natural. We both seem to want to put
off discussions till my return (first week of September, around the middle). One
fashions a message on things of little importance, to help the other to fix a picture of
the moment.
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