BLACK FOREST INTERLUDE
if such are offered to them—they are entirely free in that regard
—but in accepting a professorship which is not limited to a term
of years the incumbent is expected to have the present intention
to remain.
We wish now to put the Department of Philosophy on a
definite footing with a good promise of stability for several years
to come, and we should very much like to include you in
our plan. We value highly, however, the element of stability
and continuity. Given this element of fixed intention on your
part, we shall be glad to welcome you alone for service next year
from October 1st to June 1st; but we should of course greatly
prefer that you come with your family, making a visible transfer
to this country of your household and your household goods.
I am very sorry to hear that you have had any return of nervous
disorders. Would not you be less liable to such attacks if you
too settled down upon a fixed and definite course of life, settling
once for all the great question of the country in which you will
pass your prime, and your children will grow up? I can easily
understand that to have such an important question open for
years might be very disturbing.
You may be very sure that all your colleagues in the depart¬
ment and in the Faculty will be very glad to have you decide to
cast in your lot with them, and I assure you that I shall share
their satisfaction.
On account of the shortness of the time which now remains
before the issue of the announcements for next year I must beg
you to cable a Yes or a No as soon as you have made up your
mind on the proposal contained in this letter. You can use as an
address, “Eliot, Harvard University, Cambridge.”
Mrs. Eliot and I are both well, and send our best wishes
to you and Mrs. Münsterberg.
Believe me, with great regard,
Very truly yours,
Charles W. Eliot
Previously James, whom Münsterberg had also informed
of his plan had written :
Cambmdge, Mass, Feb. 27, 1897
My dear Münsterberg:
The President’s letter will reach you simultaneously with
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