From: Krasna, Bessarabia
7 June 1931
Dear Staats-Anzeiger!
The people from Krasna really got used to drinking wine, because everybody had plenty of it. However, in the winter of the year 1928 almost all vines froze, and therefore most people have no wine. Whoever wanted to squelch his thirst with wine, had to buy it. It was not cheap, and money was scarce. As a result of the big money shortage many a wine lover was forced to go on credit with the tavern owner.
That’s what Mr. Anton A. Leinz did. I do not know for sure if he is a passionate wine drinker. I only know that he loves wine. All in all, that is not bad, because Luther said, “Whoever does not love women, wine and song, remains a fool all life long!” The worst with Anton, however, was that his billfold was always empty; and that’s how he got into debt with the tavern owner. Anton already owed 500 Lei on credit for wine he had consumed. When the tavern owner asked for his money, which stacks up at 20 Lei per kilogram (Liter), the debtor said, “I don’t have any money, but I still have a little wheat. I’ll give you 10 Pud (361Pounds) for the debt. Then I should be allowed to continue drinking on credit?” “Yes”, said the tavern owner, “I go along with that. Bring the wheat.”
In the evening the debtor went to work. He lugged the wheat to the tavern owner and put it in his stable. He called the tavern owner who checked the wheat and said, “Just leave it set here, because first thing in the morning I will take it to the mill to have it ground into flour.”
While the wine drinker was working with the wheat in the attic, his wife was sitting in the living room and heard the commotion. When the noise stopped, she immediately hurried up to the storage area to check on what had happened there. To her biggest dismay she realized that her little heap of wheat had disappeared. Immediately the suspicion pointed toward her husband, who surely must have spent the wheat on his drinking. She pondered on the situation as to how she could trap her husband to admit to the theft and to get the wheat back, because she needed bread for herself and for her many children.
While ruminating in her despair she remembered the story of the old Juliana Marthe, who also once had to endure great grief. The old woman was very thrifty and saved a nice little sum of money, which she buried in a heap of wheat so thieves would not find it. Then it happened one day that her husband and his helper put some wheat in a sack to take to the mill. Unfortunately, the money ended up in the sack and would either be destroyed during the grinding or, one of the workers would find it and quietly keep it for himself. How some of the old people grieved about the loss of their money! “Maybe my husband can also grieve like that when I tell him that I buried 1,000 Lei in the wheat.”
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Besides her beloved husband she left behind several children. This should serve to inform the following: His brothers Joachim near Shields, N.D., Raimund in Canada, and the sister of the deceased, namely Marianna Ternes near Raleigh, N.D., and her husband and my Uncle Rochus Ternes. Further information for Raimund and Joachim Koch that their oldest brother Jakob died in March.
In closing, I greet the entire reader’s circle and the esteemed editorship.
Severin Becker