11 August 1910, Letter from Elise Frautschi to her uncle Johann Jacob Frautschi and his family (enclosed with 24 August 1910, Letter from Johann Jacob Frautschi to Christian Frautschi)


University of Wisconsin-Madison. Max Kade Institute. Frautschi Letters (MKI/Frautschi3/1910LetterD)

Electronic version: http://frautschi-letters.mki.wisc.edu/let/JJ1910/Elise1910.html

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<head>From To Date</head>
<opener> Bissen
<dateLine><date value="1910-08-11"></date>11 August 1910</dateLine>
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Dear Uncle and family,<lb>
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As we told you in our card already, we received the magazines in good condition. We really enjoy them each time they come, and to thank you for them I would like to write you a letter. On Sunday, 31 July, we went to Barwengen. We had a fine Sunday with relatives there. But on the way home that evening we really got wet-it rained cats and dogs, which has happened many times this summer. It has seldom happened that we have had two days in a row without rain. It was really tough to get the hay put up. On the few days [sic?] days when the weather was good the people had to work until they were ready to drop, the sun also had lots of work to do to dry the hay quickly. Thank God that in most areas the hay has been put up more or less. We will also finish the work with the Mattheu [different variety of hay] if we can have two days of good weather. Dear old Dad-despite his age-has been doing his utmost to help and the dear Lord has blessed all of us with good health which is something marvelous. On an estate farm near us, where cousins Jon. Petersel used to live, there are thousands of little piles of hay (Schalli we call them) waiting for the sun, but the hay has not yet begun to rot and we hope that the people can get part of it put up. But enough of that, we musn't [sic?] complain when we think of the countless people who have suffered water damage in our country-we can only consider ourselves blessed. Last spring we had a real tragedy in the home of one of our neighbors. A man in his 50s who had labored hard all of his life and had sustained his family well hanged himself on a beautiful Tuesday morning. His daughter who lives with him had already had to cut him down the previous Sunday, then she preached to him about heaven and hell but Satan had already taken control of the man. It is so terrible and for his relatives unforgettably sad. He left three daughters, one is married, his wife-who was a sickly woman-died a year ago and a son in whom they had great hopes died in a forest accident a few years back. Last fall the man inherited a lot of money from a brother who had amassed a fortune in a dishonest manner. He then began to deal in cattle with his inheritance and did not do much work after that, but he began to drink, sometimes too much and he made some stupid business deals. The money he inherited was not blessed money and when he saw that he had made some bad deals he became despondent and did himself in. And why? Because unfortunately he had lived without God his whole life. There is nothing we can do in such cases but to quote the psalmist: "Forsake me not, and put not thy hand from me, Lord, my salvation!
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