From: Emmental, Bessarabia
29 January 1912
I would like to put my dear colleague Anton Jochim in Harvey, North Dakota at ease and let him know that there is no danger of a revolt against the Germans in Russia. Such reports are based on rumors. The conditions are still as before, and the prospects are yet the same. It is indeed good that our future as planned by God is not going to be known until it happens; otherwise it would be quite bad for some people. With that in mind, we are looking into the future happily and cheerfully. You dear colleague and I can’t do anything in such matters, since one does not grant us the right. I never judge things that I am not allowed to regulate. I leave that up to the men whose job it is to hopefully do their duties. It is more important to me to find out how it is in the lower levels. What progress is made there and what retrograde.
I was very happy about the report from my colleague. I hear with enjoyment that my reports are also liked. This time I have to keep it short. Up until now I had to sit on a stool and write this correspondence since there was no table available and I was ready to stop. But then a gentleman was kind enough to let me use half of his table. Now I want to add a few sentences.
My colleague Mr. Jochim would like to know where our colleague from school Johannes Dirk is residing and what he is doing. Now, the old patriarch resettled from Bessarabia to Tschernomoria where he was looking for his fortune, and he found it. First, he was able to become the owner of 100 dessjatin (250 acres) of land, and after the death of his wife Anna Barbara, he married a young girl of the age of 20 years old. Not everyone has such luck! I do not have any detailed news about him. It is very likely that P. Dirk, that is how he signs his reports, doesn’t live very far away from him. P. Dirk probably means Poncianus Dirk. If that is the case, I ask him to write more, and especially let me know if his old parents are still alive and where they live.
I also have to report that Adam Mueller Jr. from Emmental received a ticket for a trip by ship and by train from his father Franz Mueller in Canada. He traveled to Krasna to get the necessary passport. On top of it, they also sent him money, but he doesn’t know where to pick it up. If that young man would have come to me with his letters and tickets, I probably would have been able to explain it to him. I don’t know if he has anyone to help him with that or not, that will be found out as soon as he returns from Krasna.
I can’t abstain from sending greetings to my brother-in-law Georg Mastio in Kansas through the Staats-Anzeiger. I am asking him to send me his complete address; otherwise I cannot send him our photo. (*Editor: We can help with that. The address is George Mastio, Wathena, R.R.3, Kansas, USA, which is the correct address.) I am also greeting my colleague Anton Jochim and all my other friends, whatever State they might live in. I am asking all of them to write for the Staats-Anzeiger.
I am sending a special greeting to my friend Johannes Moser in Canada. Should you once again find a paragraph in my correspondences about which your wife will make a funny face, you have to distort the report just like a certain pastor who had to distort the name of a schoolteacher who was named Johannes Kuhschwanz. This does help and has been proven.
Happy is the person who forgets what cannot be changed. Greetings to everyone from –
Romuald Dirk
From: Krasna, Bessarabia
10 February 1912
I waited and waited for my precious paper, the Staats-Anzeiger, and finally it is here! I am very happy with the publication and will do my best to introduce the publication to my friends and family as well. I have no doubt that they too will appreciate this paper as much as I do. (*Publisher: Thanks much for your efforts.).
I received a letter from my brother-in-law Joseph in Canada, who complains about not getting any mail from me. I have written him on a regular basis. We are all healthy here. Let us know how mother is doing and how the little children Reinhold and Adolph are doing, and if the Canadian winter is making room for spring. I have to admit that I am getting a lot of information about America and Canada, where my parents, friends and relatives are making a new home for themselves. The news is a treasure and brings much joy.
Our weather is nice here and the mercury is on the climb, a bit higher every day. Field and meadow show that Old Man Winter only holds a light reign now and spring is around the corner. A mild wind blows from the south and the lark climbs high in joyous song of spring, starlings have arrived and all signs portent spring!
I hope the destination of my little letter is not the garbage pail. I am sending greetings to all my friends and the fellow readers of the paper.
Melchior Weber