Donnybrook, January 27, 1913

Dear parents, sisters and brothers-in-law,

dear Mina, thanks a lot for your dear letter and the pictures that arrived just on Christmas eve. You could not have sent us anything more wonderful. We were so please, we would not have recognized you. You are already so old and little Willi is so grown up. We have seen from your last letter how everything is going. It is certainly hard for you, because you are so alone and you have to take care of your old parents. The .... cries every time he reads your letter and says he does not want to go out any more. His father would not recognise anymore and his mother was so sick too. Is she doing better, now?

We had a hard year last year. Adolph broke his foot. The horses made a bolt [ran off] and the waggon ran over his foot right at the ankle. It's healed by now but he still limps. It's the foot where he had .... eight year ago. When that happened Lydia's oldest son Carl (from Karl Bintz) shot off two of his fingers, ... right at the thumb and the forefinger of his left hand. It's healed now. He found a dynamite catridge in an empty house and set it on fire. The face was hurt as well but is healed by now. ... Emil said it was Lydia's fault, and she then left him. She stayed with us and at Carl's. She has now returned to him. Last week we received a letter from her. She writes that he is much better than before. Me and father are rather healthy. Of course, there is always something to complain about, but as long as you do not have to stay in bed it's not so bad. Carl is married for eleven years by now and they are getting their seventh child this spring, but don't write anything about it. Luise stays there the whole winter. I believe the older you get the harder it is to sleep. We didn't do too much this year. The harvest was rather good, but the prices are too low. The livestock is very expensive, meat costs 15 to 18 cents, pork 20 to 25 cents, potatoes 20 to 25 cents, 60 pounds or one bushel, butter 30 to 35 cents....

[... who build a house for Karl Friedrich, the brother or son of the shoemaker.] We feel so sorry for Mina Görtler. It's harder as loosing somebody. Because then you know that he is taken care of. Why did he turn that way? Didn't the live a good life? Fritz just married. He has a beautiful young wife. She is only 15. Her parents are French, they own an inn in Donnybrook. Her name is Marie Dumall [???] Hedwig is also getting married this month, her groom's name is Oscar [Kinnard]. He's a handsome guy, 25 years old and owns 180 acres of land, horses and all machinery. He's a good catch. I think you are getting pictures soon. Heinrich and Adolph are staying on Heinrich's farm and are both looking for a wife...

Luise is staying at Carl's. She is so tall and big and weighs 130 pounds and is 15 years old. Harold is so tall, people think he's 15, but he's 13 until next August. He helps Dad a lot.

[Obviously here was a piece of Hedwig's gown attached to the letter]

Hedwig got married on January 10^th. It was a blast. Everybody danced until 9 in the morning, she got lots of nice presents. She and Lydia and Heinrich are now living close together. It's 3 hours away from us. We had a good winter this year. In the beginning it was not cold and there was little snow outside. Now it's quite cold, -34° Celsius [-31°Fahrenheit]. Usually we have forty [-40° Fahrenheit]. I want to write you that we have the telephone at home since last summer. All the farmers can talk to each other. We and Carl and Fritz and the the people from Nothweiler can talk now without leaving the house.

I want to finish now and hope that you receive the letter in the same good health as it left us. Best wishes from all of our children and from Dad.

Luise and Friedrich Feldner

[German poem about the memories of love] Greeting to the Kindelbergers, Ludwig Friedly, Mina Schneider and all friends and acquaintances.