From: Krasna, Bessarabia
21 October 1912

Worthy Editorship!

I have to be brief this time. Time is scarce, and we have much work with hauling the stalks of the Welsh corn. The Welsh corn itself has been brought home. The yield is great. Last year there was a lot, but this year there is a lot more. The farmers have finished seeding the winter wheat and the growth of the seedlings in the fields is already fairly good. Also, there was no shortage of rain. Among the people in Emmental, there are some that have not as yet done any threshing. They no longer need to do so. Because of so much rain the crop is totally rotten.

On the 14 October, we had a little snow with a temperature of 1.05 Reamur (about 30 degrees Fahrenheit). Since then we have had, thank God, constant warm weather – one day nicer then the other – with a temperature of 12 to 14 degrees Reaumur (about 55 to 62 degrees Fahrenheit). Many children still run around barefoot. On 30 September, around eight o’clock in the evening, a God forgotten villain attempted to murder a six month old baby in its cradle at Martin Weber’s (Senior) by shooting through a window. The bullet punctured the cradle. However, through God’s protection the innocent child remained unharmed and didn’t even awaken out of its slumber. It continued sleeping calmly and peacefully until its mother took it into her arms. The mother stood about seven feet away from the cradle, and the grandmother sat right next to it praying out of a Christian prayer book. How miraculously our Lord protects us from the wrongdoing of evil people.

What God bestows onto you
Preserve as a pledge so true
Of His good will and grace
Wrap love around like a lace
With every day anew.

And what He takes for good measure
Let Him have it all with pleasure,
One day the time will be here
When you will learn without fear
To praise the Lord for all so dear.

“Do not judge anything that you could be judged on; don’t condemn, so that you will not be condemned,” saith the Lord. – After all, if someone takes two rubles for one, then his sanctity is not so great, says Hubertus.

Now, arrogant boaster, think before you speak whether slander or dishonor is a mortal sin. I answer yes. 1. When one ascribes a depravity to one’s fellow man without knowing for sure or, when one magnifies his real mistakes; 2. When one discloses and spreads one’s fellowman’s mistakes without need. That’s what one calls dishonor and slander. Because of that the principle commandments of brotherly love is being transgressed.

Do unto others, as you want done unto you. Dishonor and slander often is caused through envy, hatred and evil. Saint Barnabas says, “Whether dishonor and slander are worse than listening to the one that commits dishonor and slander, is hard to decide. Whoever speaks like that has the devil on his tongue; whoever likes to listen to that has the devil in his ears.” Woe to the man who causes anger. Fearsome is what the holy fathers (popes) teach; namely, that the biggest part of the human race will be condemned because of dishonor and slander.

Protect us, O Jesus, that we may not be blinded through hatred or ill will, and with evil slander disgrace our fellow man, and that we may not be exposed to the dangers of this grave sin. If someone suffers because of slander and dishonor, he should take comfort in that the generous God treats such with great significance. Focus your sights on the Saints and the Old and the New Testaments, then it will not be difficult for you.

St. Joseph was accused of adultery and innocently imprisoned. The gentle David was decried as a bloodthirsty man, who therefore from God ………. Text missing ……. will be plagued. The pure Susanna was accused of adultery, put to trial and sentenced to death. Only the love for God is life.

If you can consecrate your heart to love, then God will have given you enough. The boaster’s holiness merely rests on money that is why he takes two rubles for one. – Jesus Christ, the most Holy of Holy, was slandered as a blasphemer who worked with the devil. He was accused and sentenced as one who led the people astray and was shamefully put to death. O, you patient Hubertus! When a boaster says everything imaginable bad about you, it cannot harm you. O, innocent Jesus, you who was decried as a pleasure seeker and a drunkard, for one who worked with the devil, for a blasphemer and for one who led the people astray, I surrender myself to your Godly will. O almighty, generous God, you who has given us your creation to oversee, we implore you for the grace of true caution and spiritual wisdom. We ask you, O Lord, to give all the rich a sense and will of charity, to look after the poor and treat them with compassion.

Not like the proud boaster who will take two unearned rubles for one and carries on like a wolf that attacks the sheep. Also, O Lord, bestow on all the poor, your grace to be grateful to their benefactors, and through their prayers earn a dwelling in heaven. O, you God fearing, pious and proud boaster, beforehand think carefully about the similarity of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, and who of the two went home justified - The decent and pious, or the poor repentant sinner. He who elevates himself shall be degraded, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

How, in fact, are things with my friend Michael Volk? I am about to believe that you no longer are a reader of this dear newspaper, because one does not hear anything anymore from you. Don’t you have any more money to pay for the paper? If so, go hunting and kill a wolf so that you can subscribe to the paper again. I sincerely greet you and your family.

Do not be so lazy in writing. I would like to see something from you in the newspaper very soon.

I also greet my sister, Theresia Kopp, and her children. Well Joseph, keep on writing diligently. I also greet all coworkers and readers of this worthy paper.

Respectfully,
Anton Gedak