From: Makarofka, Bessarabia
13 July 1913

Totally worn out and not feeling like writing, I am reaching for my pen to ask the readers to forgive me for not being able to write for the valued paper for a long time after this report. That’s why I am asking the readers and correspondents of the paper, who have often been invited to write to their relatives and friends, a favor and write. Some people don’t have any idea about how delightful it is to hear something from relatives and friends in the paper. From what I have noticed in the paper, it has often occurred that friends whose ways had parted and who had not heard anything from each other for decades once again were connected through the Staats-Anzeiger. (This should be called “Life’s Enlightenment”.)

Many people in the New World even make big sacrifices of money and trouble to have the Staats-Anzeiger sent to relatives and friends in the old homeland. But with some people all is for naught and they still don’t write. Such people you can denote as dying away or dead characters, since they have no understanding of friendship and relations. You can already recognize a certain person on the outside. When you enter a room, which is lived in by bright, assiduous people, you will surely find magazines, newspapers, various catalogues, ink, pen and paper on the table. But when you find the table year after year covered with a thick layer of dust, there you send hundreds of newspapers and books for free but nothing could be accomplished by doing so. I have to get away from this subject otherwise, I get to deeply involved and waste precious space and time.

Even though I have very little time, I have to report to my children in Morton County, North Dakota that upon the wish of my wife in Taraklia and my children who live at home, I visited them from 29 June through 1 July. The visit was a depressing and also a happy one. When I looked at my wife upon entering the house, tears came to my eyes, since after her 3-week long sickbed I had only her shadow in front of me. The children were very happy to see their father again and even my wife explained after a day of my visit that she felt totally healthy and suggested not to lose any time at home because of her. Since indeed it was impossible for me to have a long visit, I stayed for 3 days. Mainly, I looked for a good doctor and left my wife on 2 July in the care of the doctor to go back to my job. I’m already working at my job for 11 days.

Happy about my wife’s satisfactory health condition, I want to spend a few minutes and submit a story to the paper and the readers, about what happened at a wealthy German colonist’s place.

The daughter of Mr. B. from N. was married 8 years ago to a shoemaker in F. by the name of Johann M. Since she was pretty, Johann gave her everything she wanted. But the Mrs. M. became very proud and it didn’t take long before Johann became extremely henpecked because of her tormenting him. After 4 years of marriage he passed away. The austere woman now lived alone as a widow.

She was known in the meantime as “the bad seven” in the surrounding area. Because she was beautiful and rich, she found a man again after a short time. He had hopes of getting along better with her than the first husband, and he married the pretty and well-off widow. They were barely married, when once again one heard that the beautiful (now I have to call her by name) Loisa also treated her second husband very badly. Sure enough after 3 years she had to bury him also. The beautiful Loisa now had her household in the village P. of her first husband. Her parents lived in R. Her parents had to hear from all sides that their daughter Loisa was such an unfit wife and was named, “The death of men.” The parents turned away from her also and hardly ever visited with her. That’s how the weeks passed.

Finally, last year there happened to be the widower K. who was brave enough to give it a try and asked Loisa to marry him. Pretty Loisa liked K. who was a respected man and she said yes. But without the parents’ knowledge and approval, K. didn’t want to marry the pretty widow. He drove to R. and announced the plans to his future in-laws. They explained that they didn’t have anything against the marriage, but since K. knew what had been going on in the marriages of their daughter and the two deceased husbands, they wished to be free of all responsibilities in case K. would also have bad experiences with the pretty Loisa. K. promised to not accuse the parents and asked for the parental blessing. He then drove home and married Loisa.

They were barely married when Loisa started harassing her third husband in every possible way. But the good Mr. K. wouldn’t put up with Loisa’s bad behavior and asked her repeatedly to please treat him the way a wife is supposed to treat her husband. But since Loisa didn’t listen to him and continued her bad ways, K. decided to try means to cure his wife. He didn’t want the same thing happening to him as had happened to his predecessors.

He went to the cabinetmaker and ordered a large, strong cradle without his wife’s knowledge. After a few days, he let his servants bring the cradle into the house, but when Loisa saw it she was really riled. The husband warned his wife to behave herself otherwise he would be forced to put her to bed in the cradle. When Loisa heard that she went crazy. Very quietly without showing any agitation, the husband called the servants and ordered them to bring some covers and a rope and to put his wife into the cradle. Then K. covered up his wife nicely and strung the rope across the cradle so that the blanket could not be kicked off with the feet. He then ordered one of the servants to rock the cradle and sing, “Heia bobeia, tomorrow we go for a walk. Tomorrow we go pick flowers where the grasshoppers jump around. The cradle goes rock, rock sleep my little fat bundle.” But when the beautiful Loisa didn’t want to have anything to do with this business and started screaming loudly her husband came, lifted the blanket and did what mothers usually do with disobedient children, and spanked her bottom hard with the words, “Quiet! Quiet!” That’s how K. handled Loisa until she got rid of her rudeness. But sometimes when Loisa faltered and started out again with her old habits all her husband needed to say was, “Quiet! Quiet!”and everything was delightful right away.

Now that our K. had turned Loisa into a good wife and was living with her in harmony and love, he set the day for the wedding, rather the wedding banquet. He also invited the in-laws. When they received the invitation, they were sad and believed that their son-in-law was inviting them because he had trouble with his wife. But whether they wanted to or not they went on their way on that certain day and drove to their children in P.

When they arrived in the courtyard of their son-in-law’s homestead, they noticed exemplary order and it was quiet, which the case had never been before with Loisa. The servants approached and unhitched the guest’s horses. The son-in-law welcomed the dear parents and accompanied them into the house. Their daughter was busy in the kitchen and the son-in-law talked to the parents until Loisa had the meal on the table. Then the son-in-law asked his in-laws to dinner and everyone sat down quietly at the table. The in-laws who noticed the quiet and the order asked the son-in-law K. why it was that with him there was such discipline, which had not been the case with their daughter’s former husbands. Loisa felt perplexed right away and wanted to answer ahead of her husband, but when her husband noticed this he just looked at her and only said, “Quiet, Quiet.” Loisa was immediately gentle and the son-in-law was able to give his father-in-law an explanation.

Then the son-in-law said, “Your pretty Loisa, now my dear wife, was begotten by you as a child, but she was never brought up as such.” The son-in-law made the necessary reference to his in-laws and asked them into the bedroom after the noon meal, where he had trained Loisa. He showed them the noble cradle and explained to them what trouble he had had in turning the dear child into a modest, unassuming and honorable woman. Finally K. told his in-laws, “Dear in-laws I have invited you today for the right dinner of joy as a remembrance of the wedding with your daughter Loisa, since up until now she was not a wife but an ill-mannered child. Now that I have trained her to follow rules, I once again am asking for your blessings on our marriage. I now love and respect your daughter Loisa as my respectable wife.” The children and the parents then shook hands and sealed the newly completed matrimony with hugs.

For one year now, Loisa is enjoying the respect of the village. Today she is far ahead of the women in the village in her generosity and gentleness.

In closing, I hope that the women readers of the Staats-Anzeiger don’t misinterpret my report as putting down all womankind. That is not the intent. Just the opposite is true. Women with an education and a good upbringing and especially women, who often make room to read newspapers and magazines, are in high esteem with me!

But now I will stop so as not take up more room. I now want to inform my children that even though the worthy paper is delivered to me here, it is still read at home in Taraklia. My wife only allowed me to change the address under the condition that I send the paper to her after I have studied it.

My dear wife will be happy that I mentioned to correspond a little less since she never liked it when I wrote essays concerning women.

I am greeting everyone here and there.

Respectfully,
Romuald Dirk

From: Colonsay, Saskatchwan, Canada
11 August 1913

We have favorable weather, and the condition of the field produce leaves nothing to be desired. It has been raining here for several days, but today we hope to see the sun once again.

There is nothing new to report from Colonsay, but since I owe, I have to send the money to our editor, Mr. F. L. Brandt for the Staats-Anzeiger for another year. I hope that all fellow readers will follow my example so that the editorship has nothing to complain about. (Editor: We received $2 and will send you the desired Regensburger Marien Calendar for the year 1914 as soon as it is published, which should be the case by 1 October. Thank you very much!)

We hope that we can attend a mass once again in our town on 24 August.

With a friendly greeting to all readers of the paper.

Mrs. Jakob Brückner

From: Raleigh, Morton County, ND
18 August 1913

A farmer will first write about the weather. That’s why I must say that it is not the best around here. We have had a drought for a long time; therefore the harvest will most likely be meager. Everyone has finished reaping. Once in awhile one can hear the whistling of the steam engine of a threshing machine. Soon we shall find out how much grain per acre we harvested.

Peter J. Müller near Strasburg, N.D. is hereby informed that my grandfather, Mathias J. Müller in Krasna, South Russia passed away on 21 June. That was very sad news for us. But without grumbling, we have to submit to the will of the Highest. May the Lord grant the deceased eternal rest! Sincere condolences to my grieving grandmother.

About a month ago, farmers were very busy cutting hay, as was E. M. and his farmhand. As evening came, E. M. told his helper to hitch up two horses to the wagon and tie the remaining two to the rear of it. Then they hurried home. The road lead through several fenced-in areas. The farm hand at every gate had to dismount and open the same. That’s how it went through three or four gates. Arriving at a fairly deep creek, our E. M. told his helper to pay attention to the horses behind the wagon so they wouldn’t tear off their halters and run away! When the helper looked behind the wagon, the horses were nowhere to be seen in the immediate area. The search started. Finally, it was almost midnight, and they had gone back almost all the way, looking everywhere. They found the horses still hitched to a machine in the hayfield where they had worked. They were standing at a pile of hay and were feeding peacefully. Also a nice story!

Greetings to my aunt Johanna Arnold nee Kopp near Jamestown, N.D., and all readers.

Emil Joseph Kopp