Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-09-19
Letter From Germany.

trip across the ocean; could not
have been better, with the excep-
ton of some very hot weather the
first three days, but when we got
close to England we ran into
thunder storms, cool weather and
cool rain, all over the North Sea.
] left New York August 18th, at
s A. M, and landed in Bremen
haven at 7P. NJ, on the Goth, and
went right through that night, ar
irving at my sisters, in Zeinsen,
at 7 A. M, August 21st. There is
where | expected to find my moth
er, but she was not there. Nobody
knew me at first. The next day |
went to Hedwigsburg by Braumch-
weig, to my youngest sisters,
where | found my mother, sitting
in front of the house, and my
sister with her. | walked up to
her and said, "How do you do,
MRS. Rieke?" then she told me her
troubles and cried, and asked me
if l knew her; l said ''yes nam, l
have seen you before and know all
about your trouble; you have sons
in America, and August said last
spring that he would come and see
you. You said if you could only
see him once more you would be
ready to die.' Now, Mr.. AXE, |
tell you / could not say word
more-that was where I broke
down. was just about to ask her
if she would know him if she saw
him, but it was fall off" with me.
She has a wonderful constitution.
The next day she and [ went to
Munchehof, my old home, where |
was reared, but no one knew me.
Of course, it soon spread over the
town like wild fire, and old and
young came running to see.
My mother and | went. back to
Jensen so | could see the Kaiser
parade, which came off yesterday,
the 9th, in the city of Hanover,
the Tenth Army Corps of 10000
men being on the field. The Kais-
er came at 10 A. M, riding a gray
horse. First, he rode down the
line of the old war veterans OF
1S70-71, saluting by saying "Good
morning, comrades!" and when he
came to the end of the line he
reached out his hand to shake with
the last one, when his horse made
side step and down came Will
liam. But the Crown Prince and
Eitel Fritz, who we're right behind
him, jumped off their horses and
helped him up and onto another
horse, and then the inspection
went on. | had a ticket to the
grand stand, and with my field
glass could see everything.
The weather here in north Ger
many has been, for the last six
weeks, very cold and disagreeable.
Everything is yet green in the
fields. would like to have an
American farmer with me, so that
he might see for himself that one
acre of ground here has more oats,
with straw five feet high, than our
farmers have on ten acres. Here
they don't have the dingling of the
COW bells, for they are all in the
barns, winter and summer, and
bedded down with straw, to make
manure. There is nothing here
running at large. There are plenty
of apples and pears. Potatoes are
green yet, and clean; they don't
know what potato-bug is.
The houses here are all built OF
brick, which are a half inch thick
er than ours, and cost from six to
seven dollars a thousand. The
breed Of horses have changed here
from the Hanover to the Belgium
stock. The streets, except those
macadamized, are all granite, from
one village to another. Apple
trees, loaded down with fruit, or
each side of the street, which has
a fine four-foot sidewalk on one
side. The streets are all a little
higher in the middle, SO the watel
can run off into the bitches, which
are built of paving rock. 1t will
be many, many years, before
America will be like this country
The farmers have all the moderr
farm machinery from the thresh.
ing machine and self-binder to thu
smallest cultivater. They all com.
plain of the scarcity Of help.
| Bro. AXE, / hope you are il
good health. Remember me tc
my few friends.
Yours, Respectfully,
AUG. RIEKE.
Jensen, Germany, Aug. 2S, '07