Lachen, January 19, 1866 My Dears! 
It is with great joy that I am sitting here to give you the news, my dear ones, of our well-being and health, which hopefully will also be the case with you all. Now, my dears, I want to tell you here that you have made us very uncomfortable for this reason. — In September you wrote us two letters, both of which we answered immediately & after that we sent — through Rachhael [Rachel] Mayer, who wrote home about this quite a while ago — a scarf [or necktie] and a bottle of wine to each of you, my dear brothers, and our dear mother sent along some dried plums for the two sisters [Karolina & Em’s wife] and a few potatoes for the new brother [Karolina’s husband], for which we have also not received any answer. Are you no longer thinking about home very often, my dears? Or since we don’t doubt that at all, because you, dear Heinrich, have so often [page 2:] brought us joy with your letters since your departure, in other words immediately, & since I have not received a single line written by your hand for a half year, dear brother Emanual, or from you, dear sister Karolina, after you wrote us in your last letter that you were going to get married soon, we have been waiting for letters from you and from my brother for a long time. Now, my dear ones, in the evening when I go to sleep, our dear mother and sister ask if we’re going to get a letter in the morning, and then in the morning when I get up, [they ask] did you dream last night about your dear siblings? And so one day after another goes by & we don’t get any letter. So, my dear ones, when you get this letter, write right away so that we will be reassured again. Also, I can tell you that the Mortges get letters very often, and can firmly assure you that business here at our place is very bad. Our dear father always has to stay home, because he [page 3:] can’t walk around very well, but we’re still doing his old hobby as before, [?he is losing weight, looking like a skeleton and very thin?]. He [father] asks me to greet you warmly and he wishes you all much luck/happiness. Now my dear ones, cordial greetings and kisses to you from your parents and siblings. In the hope of hearing from you and seeing you soon, I remain your loyal brother until death. Karl Mayer
 on behalf of everyone Once again, I’m hoping for an answer soon.