From: Emmental, Bessarabia
25 November 1912
God be with you Dear Staats-Anzeiger!
I can’t forget you and I have to once again send a report. In Issue #15, I also read a correspondence from my brother Joseph in Canada. I am always happy to hear from him, but he writes too seldom and not enough. That is why I want to do just the opposite and write diligently.
The last time I reported about the constant rain and it is still the same today. The people are still not done with threshing, the corn is still in the field, and the harvested corn is rotting at home. Not long ago I was in my old hometown Krasna. There the people were done with the threshing and also mostly done with the corn. There the grain ripens faster so that they could finish with everything before the rainy weather.
Now I want to tell a story that took place in a German village close to Tarutino. There, two men got together in a tavern. I could mention them by name, but I want to call one a sexton and the other one the Hungarian who had a grocery store in the village. They talked about this and that and finally started talking about fancy sugar.
As is well known every grocer praises his goods. The Hungarian insisted that his sugar was better than the sugar sold in the other grocery store at Senifri’s. The sexton insisted that it was the other way around. Finally they made a 5 ruble bet, which they had to give to the tavern keeper right away. A messenger was sent to get both kinds of sugar. The people waited impatiently for the return of the messenger and when he finally arrived it was said, “Go ahead brothers and be merry. Bartender, pour your most expensive wine. The 10 rubles have to be spent.”
Now the sugar was put on the table. The Hungarian said that his sugar was better and the sexton said that Senifri’s sugar was better. But the majority had to decide and they were on the sexton’s side so that the Hungarian had to fight hard. Finally, they played a trick and exchanged the Hungarian’s sugar with Senifri’s sugar and put it in front of the Hungarian, who believed he had Senifri’s sugar and said that it was not as good as his sugar while he had his own sugar in front of him. Now they started clapping their hands and shouted, “You lost! You lost! Bring more wine and let’s drink to our health!” They drank and ate and were merry until the early morning. Then they went home, but as you will easily know not in a straight line.
The Hungarian started shouting to his worried wife from far off, “Don’t worry dear wife, I won 5 rubles!” The sexton came home and told his wife the same thing, but he looked so pitiful that his maid Clementina went into shock and got sick and had to stay in bed several days. Liquor and wine turn a human being into a pig and on top of that causes much harm. Since both gentlemen lived close to each other, soon the wives met and insisted their husband had won the 5 rubles from the other’s husband. How the gentlemen explained it to their wives, I can’t tell, but the sexton was singing with such a clear voice the next day in church like never before, so that the people racked their brains trying to figure out what he might have had to drink. No offense!
Just so that someone may not say I shouldn’t talk about other villages but rather talk about my own village, I also want to report something from Emmental since the people here are not all angels. There are bad ones and good ones here just like everywhere else.
Late last year there were several weddings here and when a man plans a wedding there always has to be plenty of food and drinks for the guests. But some women are not happy with what is being offered and secretly they take a bottle of liquor from the table and hide it under the apron, to still have something to drink after the wedding. They don’t consider this stealing. When the music starts playing to dance, such women certainly can’t dance since they have to hold on to the liquor bottle under the apron. But in order to pass the time they scold and gossip about the dancers and about the men dancing with women other than their wives while trying to dishonor these people. How do such people expect to justify themselves in front of God?
Another bad habit is starting, not to use another more severe word, when some women in case of a death start drinking and laughing out loud in the home of the deceased. I consider this very sad and tactless.
In closing a few short poems.
PATIENCE
Why does the word patience rhyme so well with the word grace?
Whoever has patience earns heaven’s grace.
Hardships are easy on him. Big things he will soon get done,
since on all his paths, God follows him with his mercy.
MOTHER
The nicest name in the whole world, the nicest name on your lips is mother.
Yes, no other word is as deep and soft, so heartfelt and rich in ideas as mother.
It sure has a profound power when children are saying it: mother.
When it reflects from children’s eyes, when it sings from children’s hearts: mother.
When this word sounds, high honor all her life has the mother.
And those who had it and did without have not had any luck on earth, mother.
In closing, I would like to know why the eager reader Philipp Seifert is not sending his reports. I also mailed a letter and a picture to Peter Krenzel, but I never received an answer. He is also a reader of the paper and should be reporting something. Also, someone ordered the paper West Canada for me. Whoever that person is should report in the Staats-Anzeiger so that I can at least thank him. (*Editor: The sample issues are being sent promptly to the various gentlemen. Hopefully, we will succeed in winning a few readers.)
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the editorship and all fellow readers of this paper, and especially to my dear old mother and my brother in Canada.
Zachaeus Kopp,
Son of Martin
From: Stebbins, Morton County, ND
3 January 1913
This is my first correspondence since January 12 of last year. I went to school in the interim and have learned a few things, so I can now write a few lines as well.
The weather is still mild. It was not the best of harvests. We yielded per acre: 7-12 bushel wheat, 2-5 bushel flax, 15-25 bushel oats and the grain prices are weak, as they are everywhere else as well.
I wish all my comrades in Krasna best of luck as recruits in the military this year and hope they all get shed of it soon. There are so many of them, I cannot name them all.
Zachäus Kopp was looking for the address of Barnabas Steier. It is Raleigh, Morton County, North Dakota. Greetings to him as well!
Greetings to Joseph Kopp in Canada, an avid reader and writer to the paper. I am always happy to see the correspondence! Many readers feel as I do. Greetings to the publisher and all friends, and fellow readers of the Staats-Anzeiger!
Eugenius Riehl