From: Emmental, Bessarabia
18 January 1912
Dear Staats-Anzeiger:
First of all I want to report that I took a sled journey through southern Bessarabia.
On this journey I came through many German colonies and gathered much news, but alas, the news I heard on my first and second day during the journey was not so very pleasant.
From all sides I heard that some days before along the Danube River the reed flats were burned out and all the wolves that lived there were seeking asylum in the steppe of the German colonies and causing a lot of fear and damage. This was really unpleasant news for me since I was without any weapons and yet had to continue my journey. As I said, I had to carry on and put my fate in God’s hands.
Happy and without incident, I arrived in the colony of Arzis at my nephew Thomas Januscheitis. During my ride, I listened to many stories. I was told that on the second Christmas Day, an apprentice boy from the colony of Postthal wanted to visit his parents in Kulm, a distance of about 12 km. On his way to Kulm, he met three wolves. Since the boy was just a short distance from a road sign, he sought his rescue there, sat down and started to cry for help. Since wolves catch their prey only with a jump, the wolves settled around the boy and waited that he might stand up and run away. But the boy carried on crying for help. At the same time the pastor was riding by with a coach driver from Postthal to Kulm; both heard the cries for help but didn’t realize from which direction the cries were coming. At last they came closer to the place where they saw the unfortunate state the boy was in, but they didn’t have a gun with them and couldn’t do very much. They circled the wolves and the boy until the wolves got the idea that it might be a dangerous situation and ran away. The boy was saved in this wonderful way.
Further I was told that in the night from the 6th to the 7th January, 60 sheep of a German landowner were killed by wolves. On the same day, on an open way not far from Tschemoschlia, two new furs, torn up completely and four boots were found. In one of the boots was still a piece of a human foot, really a terrible find, which scared me stiff because I was completely without any weapon.
At my nephew’s in Arzis, I rested for one day. We talked a lot about our friends and acquaintances near and far. Of course, we came to talk about our friends in America and since I had an issue of the Staats-Anzeiger in my pocket, I opened the paper to show it to my nephew and make him aware of the news from America that is to be found in the Staats-Anzeiger.
My nephew liked the paper so much that he asked me to subscribe to it for him. To fulfill his wish I went to the post office of Arzis to send the required money to the Staats-Anzeiger in Devils Lake and asked for a money order form. I knew the full address but because the form required the name of the county the editor is located and I didn’t know the name of the county, I was forced to delay the money order until I could find out in which county Devils Lake in North Dakota is located. After some back and forth I found a teacher with an old American address book, sent the money and went on with my journey the next morning.
I regret now that I don’t have an American address book since in a similar case I would be in bad luck again. My wish is that the Staats-Anzeiger might send me such a book and I would pay the price right after receiving the book.
(*Editor: We would like to remark that Devil’s Lake is located in the County of Ramsey, but it is really not necessary to write down the county in this case. The following address is sufficient in every case: Der Staats-Anzeiger, Devils Lake, ND, USA. The county is only necessary if the address is in a small rural town, but Devils Lake is a town with more than 5000 inhabitants, no county required, every postal worker in the USA will transfer the letter to the right address with only Devils Lake, ND, USA. The letters USA are short for the United States of America and every postal worker abroad must or should know that such a letter belongs to America. We noted that on every letter we get from Russia is written in Russian: United States of America. Well, that can’t do any harm but the Russian postal workers should know that USA means United States of America. Regarding the sending of the address book to our honored correspondent, we’d like to say that it is not necessary and even having such a book would not be of much help because especially in both Dakotas, the counties are divided continually and sometimes four counties come out of one county and one would have to buy a new address book every three months to know exactly in which county a town or location is located. These divisions take place because the state is getting settled more densely and the divisions become necessary for practical reasons. As I said, it is not necessary to write down the county but of course it doesn’t do any harm. We are fond of short addresses and recommend leaving out the county in the address especially when a letter goes to a larger town. By the way, the subscription of Mr. Thomas Januscheitis arrived correctly and we’ll send the paper to him right away. Our honored correspondent, many thanks for his efforts!)
Continuing my journey, I came first to the colony of Teplitz, which has about 500 inhabitants. From there to 1 Fere Champenaise, then to Paris, then I arrived at my friend Anton Kunz and his wife Amalia, who is my sister’s daughter, in Krasna. I stayed there just for a short time, found a good reception, stayed overnight, but I had to hurry on because a thick fog came down and I was afraid that if the snow melted very fast, it would put me in a difficult situation with my sled. In the morning I went for a short visit to my mother and my friend Johannes Gross and went on to Tarutino. From there I went without any delay to the wool-spinning mill, bought some wool and went to the dye-works of Mr. Scherible, swapped the white wool for colored and went on to the colony of Postthal. After I arrived there I took care of my business and went on my way home through the colony of Tarutino, Berasin, Borodin, Perseanovka, Wosnosensk, Mathildendorf, Petrofka, Taraklia and Kainari until I finally arrived again in Emmental without incident and without seeing a single wolf. It was all right with me since I wasn’t very keen on the idea of meeting them.
And now, dear brother-in-law Georg Mastio in Wathena in Kansas, I’d like to say that I read with pleasure your report in #23 of the Staats-Anzeiger and now I know that I have two brothers-in-law in America. Because of an error your name was misspelled and I didn’t know if you were really my brother-in-law, but now it is clear. Since I saw in your report the address of our brother-in-law Jakob Marthaller, I wrote him and sent him our photo. Today when I received #23 of the Staats-Anzeiger, I received also a letter from brother-in-law Marthaller with the information that he received my letter and the photo. He also announced that he is living 141 miles away from you and spent the holidays with you and had a good time there. He also asked my wife, your sister Franziska, if she would write more often. Maybe I don’t have enough time since I write so often to the Staats-Anzeiger. But he shouldn’t worry, I will correspond to the Staats-Anzeiger continually and write to him often enough to satisfy him. Also to you, dear brother-in-law Georg, I will write as well since I have enough time left despite the letter writing.
For now, dear Georg, I will not write an extra letter. I will send a letter to you later although I don’t know if you’ll get it since I reckon the address Kansas, Wathena, George Mastio will not be sufficient. (* Editor: Will arrive for sure.)
Romuald Dirk
From: Emmental, Bessarabia
23 January 1912
The weather today is very difficult and has been for a long time for poor people here in the south of Bessarabia since we needed usually in two winters not as much fuel as in this winter alone. For more than a month, the windowpanes have been covered with a thick layer of ice. On the 16th and 17th of January, the weather became a little milder, the windowpanes cleared up and everybody was pleased that the hard frost came to an end, but suddenly it changed and the window panes were frozen over again. We hadn’t any use of the sleds for some winters but this winter they were very useful and have been in use for more than a month. In this winter, we were spared from illnesses so far. May God protect us furthermore!
Kind regards to my sons-in-law Ignatz Gross and Eduard Richter in Morton County, North Dakota, to my daughters Amalia and Eugenia and to my friends.
Please give the message to my nephew Peter Januscheitis that I have sent back the power of attorney, the reasons will be in a separate letter. Greetings also to all friends in Canada, to Lorenz, Joseph and Johannes Fendrich, Desedarius and Adolph Wagner and also to all acquaintances who immigrated on 28 March of last year from Emmental to Canada.
While I am writing these lines Karl Maas has been popping in. When he heard that I was sending greetings to all my acquaintances through the Staats-Anzeiger, he asked me to greet his son Lorenz. I want to tell Lorenz that his father was very sorry and cried because he could not think of why his son has forgotten his parents so quickly and doesn’t hear from his wife or himself. The father explained that he has written very often but has not received an answer. The deeply hurt father asked me to let his son Lorenz Maas in Maple Creek, Sask. Canada, know that he does not take this lightly. The Staats-Anzeiger is coming around in the world so far. Maybe this message will get to Lorenz Maas too, and will bring him to think of his parents, either by sending the Staats-Anzeiger or a letter or both.
You friends and acquaintances in Canada, it would be nice to hear from you if the Staats-Anzeiger is welcomed as much in Canada as it is here.
Michael Plotzky sends greetings to his son Johannes in Allan, Sask., Canada. He thanks him very much for sending the Staats-Anzeiger. The paper brings him much pleasure. He gets the paper regularly, but he is still waiting for the prize scissors and asks his son and also the editor to send the scissors if it hasn’t happened already. (*Editor: We can’t remember if we sent the scissors or not or if his son gave us the order to send the scissors, if so, certainly the scissors have been sent. We ask Mr. Johannes Plotzky to clear up the matter so we can take care of it.)
And now, dear editor I have to stop. Because of the circumstance that I fulfilled the wish of many people to send regards, the correspondence became much longer, but such wishes can’t be declined so easily. (*Editor: We are not against it, especially if the address of the recipients of the greetings is not known and the help of the paper is required. But usually private messages should be sent in a letter. If it must be through the Staats-Anzeiger, we ask that you keep it short since this privilege could turn into evil because such messages are interesting only to a few readers and we want them to be interesting for all readers.)
Well, finished for this time, will write more very soon.
Greetings to all,
Romuald Dirk