Thursday, February 17:
Eva’s birthday; the “tune” is played. Great joy among the little ones. After lunch children, fancy-dress party. In the evening a letter from Prof. Nietzsche, which pleases us, for his mood had given us cause for concern. Regarding this, R. says he fears that Schopenhauer’s philosophy might in the long run be a bad influence on young people of this sort, because they apply his pessimism, which is a form of thinking, contemplation, to life itself, and derive from it an active form of hopelessness. — I write to M. M. — A fright in the evening—Fidi fell off the sofa!