Excuse this belated reply to your very kind May Day greetings(2). Its almost literally“a day after the fair”. What with fixing the mosquito net, queuing for sweets at the co-op store, fetching & distributing letters, & the thousand and one odds and ends which eat away ones time, the red letter day was over before I know where I was(3). Well(4), here go my best wishes in which my wife joins. Your letter makes me ashamed. I feel guilty like a swindler who has won your“gratitude”without doing anything to earn it. Your characteristic generosity has led you to overestimate the aids to study I gave. Yes, vocabulary is important. Pedagogues used to distinguish a pupils active or (5) writing & speaking vocabulary. As you know, the latter is far more extensive than the former. How to turn the supinely passive into the nimbly active—that’s the big problem(6). However, enough of shop talk. Tomorrow to the battle & more power to your elbow!(7)
