The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-01-30
LETTER IS FROM serbia
Miss Ida Kratsch Writes to
Mankato Lady
DOING THE RELIEF WORK
Love For People Because of Their
Hospitable Ways; interest
ing Note

The following letter was received
by Miss Nellie Burt in this city. 1t
was written by Miss Ida Rose Krats
CHI, who is now q nurse in Serbia:
Serbia, November %, 1919.-The
days do fly even in far away Serbia
and l never did mean to let year go
by without answering that lovely
letter you sent me last Christmas.
Now I'm hoping this will reach you
about holiday time. We have so few
chances to send mail out from here.
We depend altogether on fieeting
guests.
l came down here to Serbia in
| September with two of my friends
! to do relief work with the American
Red Cross who established a mission
here a year ago. Serbia had been at
war for about eight years-as you
know-and was just about exhausted.
Now that they have had good har-
vest things are picking up, and we
have seen a wonderful improvement
in our three months stay.
Our life here is quite different from
the exciting one of last year, and the
days spent with the Army of Occupa-
ton and we do miss the American
boys by whom we were constantly
surrounded. Here there are just five
/. OF us and we are the only Americans
in town, but we have happy family,
two doctors and three nurses, cook,
housemaid and a chauffeur and an
| interpreter. We have a home Zone of
| the best in town. and we run our
own mess, have the best things in
| the world to eat and good beds.
Our hospital is about four blocks
| from here where we do a lot of sur
gerry. We have Serbian girls and men
trained to do the work under our sup
ervision. We are not in anyway tied
and our time after four is usually our
own. ] do public health work which
keeps me out all day. have a school
clinic here and in some of the neigh
boring towns. Once week / go to a
little mountain village where there
| is coal mine, so my days are all
| filled with interesting things. ] love
| the Serbian peasant for his loving,
simple ways, and I've never found
more hospitable people. Nothing
seems to give them more pleasure
than to serve an American with
whatever humble food he may have.
They have many queer customs.
Each family some time during the
year has Slava, the anniversary of
the day the family first embraced the
INy,scfs nr, I'LL ps@ M. L..
open house. 1t is not customary to
invite people as they all come UNI
invited, but being strangers we are
usually asked. The other day we went
to the butchers house. 1t seems he
has been away at war or was a pri-
soner of war for eight years and this
was his first "Slava." He certainly
made the most of it, drank freely
with everyone who came and showed
us right good time. They serve on
that day some cooked grain, then
cake and wine, then some very sweet
preserve, then Turkish coffee. It's
always the same everywhere one
goes. Today his young daughter came
to tell me that her father was insist
ing on her marrying a Serbian officer
| who is forty, while she is not yet
sixteen. She insists that she will not,
while he insists that she will She
says she is sure of beating, but she
prefers that. Marriages are in most
cases arranged by the parents and a
girl who is not married by the time
=, she is twenty is too old to be con-
sidered
Thursday will be Thanksgiving day
and we will celebrate as usual. Al
ready have our turkey, which is not
unusual, as we have turkey twice
week. Poultry is very reasonable and
we have lots of it. We will have our
interpreter and one of our little Ser
bian girls in as guests and will try
to show them what an American din
ner is like. Their Christmas is about
two weeks later than ours as they are
still using the old Greek calendar.
| could tell You many more things
of our life here, but will spare you
1t has been wonderful two years
since left the Old U. S. A. France
was wonderful, so was Germany, and
hope you can see it all some time.
[ We hope to go to Constantinople and
! Athens before returning in the spring.
Best of all has been the companion
ship along the way-so many won
derful friendships have been formed,
and there is going to be so much to
remember. Sincerely, Ida Rose Krats-
| Oh. n
Miss Kratsch was assistant librarian
i when Miss Minnie McGraw was Ii
!. bEarian here. She was born and
raised in Mankato, her father being
one of the early settlers of This cifu