From: Santa Izabel, Brazil
20 August 1931
Honored Editor Mr. Brandt!
On the sick list is Georg Dutenhoefer, son of Paul, who has appendicitis and should have surgery. The doctors demand 500 milreis for such an operation, which the man cannot pay and therefore has to postpone the surgery. Also the son of Joseph Kupfer, who is the son of Daniel, has been ailing with rheumatism for quite a while. He has been in the hospital in Lins for two months already.
Elisabetha Dutenhoefer, nee Massin, wife of Mr. Paul Dutenhoefer is also ill and has been bedridden for two months already, apparently from weakness due to old age. She is only 61 years old but it seems that our climate is not suitable for everyone. Sunday before last, when I walked home from the city, I visited the sick woman and asked her what her sickness was. “Oh child,” she said, “I don’t know myself what ails me. The dear Lord probably knows that I am already old enough and therefore will call me to him. But Joseph, she continued, you read the Staats-Anzeiger, haven’t you heard anything from my brother Michael Massin?” With a heavy heart I had to give the woman a negative answer. Despite her weakness the little woman sat up and said; “Joseph, when you write to the Staats-Anzeiger again, then please inquire if my brother is still a reader of the newspaper. His address was Orrin, North Dakota. His sister Elisabetha would like to hear from him. Most likely he will do so if he is still a reader of the Staats-Anzeiger.” (*Editor: He is not a reader in Orrin, North Dakota, but maybe under a different post office. Hopefully, he will let himself be heard from.)
Now we want to turn to Emmental, Bessarabia and contact Joseph Paul, our comrade from the war. We ask him why he doesn’t write in the Staats-Anzeiger anymore, which he surely reads. I greet the old colleague and ask him not to be so lazy when it comes to writing else friends in America will get discouraged and will no longer pay for the subscription. (*Editor: The reader was Rochus Paul, but his friend Mr. Hittel in Canada has not paid anymore just because the reports ceased to come.)
Celestina Loeb, widow of the deceased Joseph Nagel, recently received two letters from her parents Celestin and Margaretha Loeb in Emmental. In the letter she read that Markus Moldenhauer while working had fallen off a train and under it’s’ wheels. But he still can talk about being lucky, since his leg was only slightly injured.
Since May, the above mentioned widow resides with her two little children at our neighbor’s Anton Schaefer and his wife Dorothea, nee Kupfer. This couple does not have any children. Another widow lives with Anton and his wife, namely his brother’s wife Regina Schaefer, nee Bender with two children. They justifiably earn the kingdom of heaven on earth! They know and understand what it means to honor the widowed and orphaned. Their very own parents could not be more caring than our neighbors.
We have guests with us since 16 August. They are Aloisius Herrschaft and Georg Wutschik, son of Lorenz. Both are from Montebello. They are people from Krasna. We found out from our friend Mr. Herrschaft that he and several others of his fellow countrymen will move to the state Rio Grande do Sul after 1 October. Mr.Wutschik will remain on the coffee plantation for now. He sends his sincerest hello to his brother-in-law Linus Mueller, son of Martin and asks if he has received the pictures. Mr. Mueller resides somewhere in Canada and his brother-in-law Georg is of the opinion that if he hasn’t already done so, then he should order the Staats-Anzeiger and start writing.
The two gentlemen complain that they live totally isolated and lonely, and have not received any letters lately. A paper for entertainment doesn’t exist there at all. We gathered and gave the latest issues of the Staats-Anzeiger to them so that they would at least have something to read. This is sad and only those who have experienced something like it will understand. Many already intended to order the Staats-Anzeiger, but lack of money will not allow it. Good friends in North America could do something like that. Then again nowadays one does not want to demand too much, nor offend and bother those friends up there. Mr. Joseph Bender has resettled with all his belongings on our “Fazienta Santa Izabel” since 22 August.
On 9 July, our straw hut with all the Welsh corn we had stored in it, burned down. This was a heavy blow for us because the corn was a good part of the food supply for our cattle and us. But with God’s help we will also overcome this hardship.
Joseph Foeth