From: Cullen, Saskatchewan, Canada
8 March 1915

I received a letter from my son, Joseph Müller from Emmental, South Russia. Since many readers of the paper are from that area, it might perhaps be interesting to make a part of it known in the paper. (*Editor: The paper will be mailed to you as asked. The letter contains many news items, which were already reported in the previous issue but we want to gather several items from your letter.)

Emmental, Bessarabia, 14 January 1915
Dear parents and siblings!

We have daily rains and snowstorms. The weather is so wet that many mud stables have collapsed and the few that are still standing will probably collapse during the next days.

The holidays were quite sad. Nowhere is there music or singing since there is endless misery due to the war, but we have to endure it with patience.

Again they drafted recruits and now it has been hinted that those from the age of 43 and up have to go, and then all of them will be gone. As far as we know, no one from here is dead but many are hurt. No one knows where Johannes Arnold and Egidius Volk are. Alexander Nagel wrote on the 11th that he is sick from the food they are fed since they get nothing but raw potatoes and beets and whatever they can find in the fields.

There is no way of telling how things will be around here, since all men are gone and the women can’t run the farms. We wanted to leave our leased land alone and also not continue to pay. But yesterday the Isprawnik and the Pristaw (Russian Officials) were here and ordered that the money had to be paid in seven days. Therefore, it may happen that soldiers will drive us away from here to Siberia, like it has happened already. There will be no questioning whether one can pay or not. There is a simple order: The money has to be paid! Dear God, if we do pay then we don’t have either a cow or a horse on the farm and we wouldn’t be able to sow, even if we wanted to.

Oh God, dear parents, how lucky you were to have left from here. And oh how happy we would also be if we could be with you now! Dear parents when peace comes and I am still alive, I am not staying here another hour even if I have to go begging at your place.

Please write more and often about what my brothers are doing job wise. Jakob knows how to write and still we hear nothing from there! I am off for four months, from 22 November to 22 March. I was very ill due to grief and sorrow, but I am better now. When I was given this time off I was stationed in Odessa. You still don’t hear about peace.

Joseph Mueller

So much about my son’s letter. A letter from my son-in-law Joseph Gross from Emmental sounds equally sad. How this will continue only God alone knows. A greeting to everyone.

Mathias Mueller