[Partial translation]

10 September 1926

Thank you for your letter of August 28th. I wrote to Willy already as well […]And Johanna writes every week. I sent your letter to her, too. She likes the school very well. […] Things are quiet around here. The Heinolstein family? They were gone for three weeks, and we took the opportunity to paint the stairs. Mr. Ritterling is doing ok. He came down on the 1st to pay his rent. Nothing has changed in the back house. Old Mr. Mehl just keeps going, as does his big mouth. […] Two weeks ago, the daughter of the Alt family got engaged to the younger Willkomm. He is 22 years old and she is 18. The Wilkomm [sic] folks were here, and the event was duly celebrated. The Alts have an apartment on Adelheidstrasse, but he does not have a job yet.

Next Sunday, Wilhelm from Nordenstadt will go to Allensdorf in order to arrange a wedding date. Luischen from Bersrod is at the clinic in Giesen because she is not doing well. Ernst was here yesterday and told us that she still has a fever. I am not sure how serious it is. Apparently, the children are in Giesen as well. Let’s pray that the good Lord will help her get better again.

Grönninger would buy our house, but we want to wait and see whether we can leave next year. Once we know for sure, we can still go through with it. We keep hearing that house values are supposed to increase again. If that is the case, we should wait and get the extra profit. House values will certainly not go down. How good that we did not sell our house during the time of inflation. As you know, Germany has been admitted to the League of Nations. We do hope that this will bring some relief. Construction is booming here; the entire corner of Kiedricherstrasse is being developed. Beyond the parade ground, everything is full of scaffolding poles. Of course, the work is done very cheaply. Bankruptcy profiteers are meddling in all these jobs. They seem compelled to snap up every job and always offer to do the work for half of what it is worth. […] Paul wanted to know how Bechtheim is doing. Shortly before Whitsunday, another son was born to Wilhelm. Everything is still the same with his wife. Since the spring, his in-laws have been living with him. In addition, he has a maid, whom he pays 50 marks per month, a farmhand and another young man, who helps him with the paperwork when needed. Herrmann is living in Ansbach; he was unemployed for many months, living on 53 marks per month. Then, the company in Idstein, where he was an apprentice, hired him as a traveling salesman. He now earns 100 marks plus commissions. He was here recently. If only he had an apartment in Idstein as well. He has a little baby boy, who is about one year old. We saw his wife and son in Frankfurt at the mission festival as well. Herrmann and his wife are very nice and likeable people. They really deserve to do better. Rudolf bought a house in Aumenau. His wife runs a grocery store while he works for the railroad. Rudolf has lost a lot of weight. Their sister Minchen in Lokum has had another baby boy; Lydia from Ennerich was there to take care of her. Apparently, things are no longer going well for August. He is doing his own baking again. Many are unemployed in that area as well, but everyone wants to keep eating bread, of course. Naturally, they have trouble paying for it. On the 21st of this month, Willi Dittmer is leaving from Hamburg aboard the [SS Arabic]. The boys from Nordenstadt know him quite well […] he is very much like Karl Beuerbach, not too intelligent, but supposedly quite apt at farm work […]We thought of you frequently on your birthday. I baked a prune pie since the prunes are ripe now. […] Father says hello, too. Give my regards to Willy as well. [...] Your mother.