November 1854

Dear Sister,

Our letters seem to be few and far between, although not as few as those exchanged by father and our uncle in Philadelphia. These averaged one apiece at five year intervals. You really ought not to wonder too much about the long silences, because it is quite natural for those in the process of building a new house in a strange country to have memories of their old home become dim and of secondary interest. It is often hard to recall a mood in which to write an intimate, chatty letter. Believe me, my dear wife and I often think about you and speak about you, Louise and my brother. However, a letter is a different proposition, it is, truthfully difficult for me to find time.

You will understand that better if you happen to have seen any of the copies of the “New Yorker Abendzeitung”, a number of which I mailed to my brother-in-law recently. I hope at least some of them arrived safely. I am an editor, which in this case means that I, with the help of my assistant, write the entire paper, with the exception of those few articles which are reprints from German papers.

For lack of better things to write about, I am going to describe to you our daily life in detail, because I imagine that will be of mere interest to you womenfolk than long explanations of American political and social conditions. Anyway, if you are interested in the latter you can read them in “Atlantis”, published by Katz in Dessau. I write an article for this publication every month. You and Louise might not enjoy reading them particularly, as they are written more or less “learnedly”.

I promise to keep this letter in a lighter vein. I have pricked the birds-eye view of New York on the letter head with a pin in two places, you can see the pin holes if you hold the paper against the light. The one to the right is our house, the one to the left my office. It takes me about twenty to twenty-five minutes to get my office from home (distance is approximately ½ German mile). In bad weather I take the omnibus. Omnibuses connect all parts of New York and the cost is only 6 cent a trip. Translated into German this sounds like much more than it really is, because money here is reckoned in cents. Some things, even so, are cheaper than in Germany. For instance, a stein (seidel) of Bavarian beer coasts only 4 cent. On the other hand, the rent for our three rooms is $120 per year, which would be sufficient to rent a whole street in Zerbst.

We live simply. My mother-in-law wakes me up at 6:30 am. She gets up half an hour earlier, starts the fire and makes coffee. I eat a light breakfast and then go to the office, where I arrive sometime between 7:15 and 7:30. I remain there until 3:30 in the afternoon, bring my lunch along and eat at my desk. Our deadline is 3 o’clock. Mornings until 12 my colleague and I have to rewrite all the press releases which have been delivered the night before. These are all in English and so it means lot of work. From 12 until 3 I write the lead articles, which are to appear on the first page of next day’s issue. This working under pressure and, if I didn’t happen to be able to write rapidly, I might get into difficulties. We employ five typesetters.

When I finally finish I go home, eat lunch, drink a cup of coffee and become a “home body”. If the weather is pleasant, my wife and I either take a walk and window-shop in front of the richly decorated store windows or we take a boat ride. There are many steam boats. We either ride across to Brooklyn (visible to the right on the picture), or the enchantingly located Hoboken (in the left background). From Hoboken we have a marvelous panoramic view of the city. Fare to Brooklyn is 1 cent, to Hoboken, which takes half an hour, it costs 3 cent.

Last fall we often went to the Glass (Crystal) palace (that building is also visible in the picture in the right background). You undoubtedly have read something about the big New York Industrial Fair. Bekoran and Vollschwitz received a medal for their silk exhibition. As newspaper editor I had season passes, which admitted my wife and me, otherwise it would have been rather an expensive pleasure as admission was 50 cent per person. Although the Palace is more than a German mile from our house, omnibus fare, as I mentioned, is only 5 cent so it was a most economical diversion.

In winter we go regularly to the German theater, under like fortuitous circumstances, i.e., on passes. This theater has been flourishing since last year, under the direction of Wilhelm Boettner, of whom you have heard. We have also go to concerts, like the one given by Mme. Sonntag, etc.

If we stay home there is plenty to read, just to look through the many newspapers. I read those in English, my wife the ones in German. Bertha has made good progress learning English; but she speaks it better than she can read. As you know, we have no “little” family as yet. Askan probably told you that Bertha was delivered prematurely of a little girl last September. The child was born dead. Up to the present time, the stork has not yet notified us of another visit. Bertha was very sick for a long time, she is better now, but considering the sad outcome of our first attempt, I don’t know whether we should wish or an immediate repetition. In the absence of children we ourselves live almost like children, we laugh, joke, pout, love and kiss and stay young in body and soul.

As to my personal appearance, several acquaintances who came here from Dessau last winter think I look much happier and better fed than formerly in Dessau. That seems strange to me as, in general, people wither in the dry air here (since the prevailing winds are westerly and all moisture has vanished in their long travel across this tremendous section of the globe). People have a tendency to look like dried herrings. It is probably due to this that among a million men there are scarcely a hundred with actual “bay-windows”. The American is slender, dryish, sinewy, bony and muscular. The red, apple-cheeked immigrant loses his color within a year and annexes an elegant, pale complexion. Frequently, when Americans live awhile in Europe the reverse is also true. My wife has been more affected by the climatic difference than I, she is no longer plump, but slender and in this way, at least, has become a true American. I believe women in general are slimmer here than anywhere else in the world.

But I am becoming involved in a physiological discussion, which will only bore you. However, our life flows along at such an even tempo that there isn’t much to write about. My position, in general, has become much better and more certain during the last year, since the ownership of the Abendzeitung passed from the hands of a company of book publishers and printers into those of Rauchfuss, who is now a sole owner. My salary is approximately $700 a year. This amount is not as bountiful as it sounds translated into German money, as you can see from the various prices I have mentioned before. However the fact that as editor I receive passes to many entertainments, must be reckoned into our earnings, as I would be spending money for them if we couldn’t get in free. Besides my salary I am earning extra money writing for various English publications.

I must describe one expedition we took, because of the pleasant pass situation. Last 4th of July (which is a holiday here, because in the year 1776 the United States declared themselves independent of England on this day). I made up my mind to take a real vacation trip with my wife. In as much as the 4th of July came on Tuesday and there is no Sunday edition of the paper I easily arranged to be free the one intervening day. So we had 3 and one third days to spend. Now what do you think we did with these 80 hours? In Germany we would probably have taken a trip to Woerlitz, or at least to Berlin. But here in America one doesn’t bother with such short distances, given such an unusual opportunity to go places. My wife and I decided to go to Niagara Falls, which is 96 to 100 German miles from New York, i.e. as far as to Venice from Zerbst or as far as Pressburg, if one travels via Dresden, Prague, Olmuetz, Linz and Vienna. On an express train this distance is covered in 16 to 18 hours. We took the Saturday afternoon at 4 o’clock, rode all night and arrived in Buffalo at 9 on Sunday morning. We stayed with a friend, de Hear: (remember I was editor for the Buffalo “Democrat” about two years ago). Monday morning we rode to Niagara Falls (only 4 German miles from Buffalo). It takes an hour on the train. We remained there from 10 in the morning until 7 in the evening. After staying in Buffalo overnight we took the train 6:30 Tuesday morning and arrived in New York at 9:30 that evening, so that by Wednesday morning I was back at my desk at usual.

This trip ordinarily would have cost $60, but it actually cost us only about $12. Railroad tickets alone would have been $36. But as editor I not only had a pass for the entire distance, but for my wife for two-thirds of the way – from New York to Albany, wo we had to pay only $5.00 for her ticket. In Buffalo we stayed with de Hear and in Niagara the hotels would not accept payment, because they preferred to have me write something praiseworthy about their establishments. The other $7.00 was spent for meals while travelling, for carriages at Niagara Falls and for souvenirs, bought from the Indians. These are mostly beadwork articles, sold to tourists at Niagara Falls, very much like the cut glass at Karlsbad.

You have heard about Niagara Falls. They are one of the most awe-inspiring natural wonders of the world. If you look at a map of North America, you will see five large lakes along the northern border of the United States, separating them and the British possessions, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. These are all connected. The first four are several hundred feet above sea level. Lake Erie empties into a narrow channel, called the Niagara River; and it is here that the mass of water hurls itself over a 200 foot cliff to get to Lake Ontario and later to flow via the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. In the middle of the stream there is an island, accessible to the American shore by roams of a bridge. This island divides the river so that it rushes over the dizzy edge in two, rather than one, fall. The stream width is at least 3000 feet. It is impossible to describe the magnificence of the spectacle, it must be seen and felt. Nowhere else has Nature given man a near view of her Might than here.

Only 50 years ago the shores of Niagara saw only wild Indians, now they are bordered by thriving towns and villages. Buffalo has 70,000 inhabitants and the little town at the brink of the Falls has 5000. There are a dozen luxurious hotels, as the sport is used as a summer resort by the elite of the country. The hotels are as large as the castle in Zerbst: there is a large depot innumerable carriages for hire and one can hire servants and guides. It reminds me of larger capitals of Europe.

Some distance below the Falls a suspension bridge is built across the river. The bridge hands between walls steep as a fort higher than the gorge. It is a railroad bridge and one can see locomotive hauling long strings of cars across the dizzily swaying bridge, which is not supported by any arches or pillars.

New York, May 22, 1855

I was never able to finish this letter to you. Now an acquaintance is returning to Dessau and has been so kind as to volunteer to take along a little gift to you, together with the letter. The gift is a portrait of my wife and me. My wife also sends a purse, which she bought from Oneida squaw at Niagara. It has no particular value, except that of a greeting. Bertha tucked a flower into the purse, which she picked on Goat Island at the edge of the Falls. I imagine the flower will be mostly dust by the time it arrives.

We had a severe winter. The poor suffered greatly because of a poor harvest last Fall. Business suffered also and newspapers, too, because their chief income from advertisements and they consisted mostly of short announcements. But, as I mentioned before, I earn extra money by writing for English papers, which pay very well. For instance, for one article which task me four evenings to write, I received $30, for another, shorter one, $15. The elections last November brought $100 (writing for them-Ed.) and from my articles for the “Atlantis” I received $55. In all I earned about $850 from May, 1854 to May 1, 1855 (that is the way contracts are dated here.) My salary was raised on May 1, so that I will receive $780 from the Abendzeitung this year and I hope, with extra work, to earn at least 900$. Unfortunately I must let up on my work somewhat, as my health suffered from too much writing last winter. I am better now and you probably won’t notice any marks of illness on the picture. On the other hand, my Bertha has been rather unwell the least few weeks. This has no further significance except this, that by next year I may be able to send you a picture on which a third small person will share the spotlight with my wife and me.

Now, my dear little sister, farewell for the present. Please give our very sincerest regards to Louise, our brother-in-law, brother and all our other dear ones at home. Please write me as soon as possible. With a kiss for you, in my thoughts at least,

Your brother,
Hermann Raster