From: Emmental, Bessarabia
28 November 1921

Worthy Staats-Anzeiger!

On the 16th of this month, I received your valuable writing dated 25 October. I immediately replied with my correspondence #5, which I hope you have received all right. (*Editor: It was already published in Edition #43.) It is a pity however, that the newspapers and letters arrive here so irregularly. Since Edition #26 of the Staats-Anzeiger only Mr. Hieronymus Nagel has received #32. There are a whole lot of other readers who did not receive any edition.

As you know from my previous correspondences, I work here in the postal department. People come to me all the time inquiring about letters and newspapers. I cannot give them what I do not receive. If the Staats-Anzeiger is amiss for a week then it seems as if a close family friend is missing. Many have also written to their friends and relatives in America because of free tickets. Almost every day they ask in vain for replying letters. (*Editor: We are sorry that the newspaper arrives there so irregularly. From here it is being sent regularly and on time.)

The old Johannes Volk is longing for a letter and a little money from his son Peter. He is old and in dire need. The old mother is operating the spinning wheel every day, but it is impossible for her to make enough money for them to make a living. The father is already too old to work, especially during the winter. During the autumn he had been employed by 8 farmers to watch over the produce fields. He was supposed to be paid 200 leis for that service, but those people to this day have not paid him that money, which certainly is an injustice. But nowadays what can be termed what is right and what is unjust? Everybody just does as he pleases. The Tenth Commandment just doesn’t seem applicable to many people.

Our old steam-driven mill has a new owner, namely a Russian nobleman who intends to rebuilt and modify the whole complex. He has already ordered new rollers from Germany, but they have not arrived here yet.

The old miller Gottlieb Flegel is still living here and sincerely greets his brother Joseph. Should the Staats-Anzeiger get to Grossliebental in South Russia, (*Editor: Yes, the newspaper is being sent there.) then please send a greeting from me to my old comrade Elias Salzer. I wish he was here with us.

Now a little story. During the war between Napoleon and Prussia a German from Swabia who had to serve in the French army came into a deserted Prussian village. The village had been raided. In the center of the village there stood a nobleman’s estate, which also had been pilfered like the rest of them. The Swabian was very hungry. He searched this building all over without finding anything to eat. Finally he came upon a living parrot shrieking pitifully in a cage. He wanted to roast this bird. So he pulled out his bayonet and went stabbing after the bird. That is when the bird suddenly screamed, “Respect, I am the general!” That scared the Swabian so much that he stood at attention and presented arms saying, “Your Excellency forgive me, but I didn’t know that the Mr. General would be a bird!” With that he made a “left face” and marched off to still his hunger at some other place.

In closing, I send a nice greeting to my old mother in Elardee, Saskatchewan, Canada.

What great feeling in my heart,
How cheerful is my mind,
When I am with my father and my mother.

They love me so dearly,
I am their dear child,
And I cannot be happy,
Unless they are happy too.

I shall always love them,
And always be obedient,
I will never sadden them,
So that they will always be happy with me.

With a greeting to everyone,
Zachaeus Kopp