Serbske Nowiny: 1854
Mention of Australia, America, Texas and Kilian in Serbske Nowiny
By clicking on the link you will find the original article in Wendish.
1854
Jan. 28, p. 32: Seereise nach Südaustralien. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
The following is on sale in Smoler’s bookshop, price 5 New Groschen:
Sea Voyage to South Australia,
Made in 1848, along with the 1853 return trip.
According to compiled diary transcripts
and with news about South Australia
and the city of Adelaide publication of
Ernst Kaulvers
(with an illustration: "The Tropical Baptism.")
February 11, p. 46: "S. Australia" by John Ponich. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
S. Australia
from
John Ponich
Ponich, among other things, says: We arrived in Australia in the month of February. At that time the land was not a pretty sight, because everything
had been burned by the sun and heat, and the harvest had been gathered in. The bushes and trees in that month are not green, nor is there any green
grass to be seen, except beside the rivers and in the gardens. That the land burns up like that, that happens every year during those months, when you
have cold weather, and when we arrived in Australia there was a great drought and the land was suffering more than in subsequent years. – When Höhna
saw that the land was so hard at the time, when it is completely burnt up, it seemed to him that it was not possible to work it. But I am bound, on
the other hand, to remind you of your land. Experience teaches you that before the harvest, if someone wants to plough fallow land, it is almost
impossible to get into the earth, and if you can, it is probably only with great difficulty and effort, especially at a time when there is drought. It
is the same if you want to plough into the corners at the end of August and in September, if there is no rain. It is like that too in our Australian
land in the first three months of the year, when often there is no rain or very little. Therefore, the land is not workable at that time, the earth is
closed, just as yours is closed by frost. But here several things are to be observed. First, that is a resting time for the land, as long as the earth
cannot be worked owing to drought. For just as your earth gets a rest thanks to the ice and snow, so here and in all hot countries it happens thanks
to the heat of the sun. Secondly, the dry time of year is very good for corn which, when it is fully grown, ripens very nicely, and, if rain does not
fall, produces a lot of flour. Thirdly, the dry time is also a great advantage, because when the corn is reaped, it can stay outside for such a long
time in sheaves and stacks, until the whole crop has been reaped.
Fourthly, it is also a great advantage on account of the barns, because when emigrants arrive in Australia they cannot build themselves barns
immediately, but they gather their corn into great heaps and beside it they make a place, on which they then without the slightest delay thresh the
corn with cattle or with flails.
(Conclusion to follow).
February 25, p. 64: Wostjewenje. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Announcement.
The new, very cheap transport conditions on which I can accept emigrants to all harbours in America and Australia and a list of the names and
departure times of ships due to sail to all those harbours from Bremen and Hamburg can be seen in my office. And I give any other answers to all
questions from emigrants free of charge.
Bautzen, Wendische Str. no. 11/225.
Emigration Agent by Royal Appointment,
J. G. F. Niecksch
I have just received from the former wind-miller Rychtar from Rodecy, who has been in Australia for more than 12 years and has made a great fortune
there, a letter full of very interesting news. The same can be inspected and read in my office.
J. G. F. Nieksch.
March 4, p. 70: Conclusion of "S. Australia" by John Ponich. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From Australia
from
Jan Ponich
(Conclusion)
In the province of Adelaide there are good Protestant pastors to be found, named Frytsch, Meier, and Kavel, and they are no moral pastors, but preach
the pure gospel. Until recently, it is true, there were no churches and no schools for us near Melbourne, but how could you expect that, seeing
Germans have only recently begun to live there. Now, however, a German church is being built in the finest square in Melbourne town. The authorities
gave 2040 pounds sterling to help in addition to what the German congregation is so successfully collecting. They also have, in addition to those
three, an Evangelical-Lutheran minister, Mr Götha, who received his call last year and came to Melbourne from Sydney. He began his duties in Melbourne
in November 1852 and, for so long as the German church remains uncompleted, the English, out of sheer love, have given him one of their churches. And
Mr Götha, as I hear, is a pure Protestant minister, who does not fail to preach from the heart and with benefit, etc.
March 18, p. 85: "List s Ameriki wot Jana a Hanßa Kaschpra" First Part; Commonly known as the "Johann Kasper Letter," giving details of the 1853 ill-fated
voyage of the brig Reform. You can see the entire English translation by Joe Wilson at 027.000 Texas Wends Letters and Documents.
March 18, p. 88: Wostjewenje.
Same as February 25, p. 64.
March 25, p. 92: "List s Ameriki wot Jana a Hanßa Kaschpra." Conclusion of the "Johann Kasper Letter."
April 8, p. 109: Přilopk: Listy s amerikanskeho...; Wóndanjo.... Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Miscellaneous
* -- * Newspapers from Leipzig and elsewhere tell us about a sad disaster, which the great and fine ship ‘Marco Polo’ recently suffered. This ship,
which on 9 November last year set sail with 661 emigrants from the English port of Liverpool, when it had almost reached Australia not far from
Melbourne, struck a rock and hit the rocks with such force that it was damaged, broke up, and sank. Most of the emigrants were spared and kept alive,
but they all lost their property and assets.
* Letters from the big American coastal town San Francisco dated 16 February this year write that recently in the proximity of this town a great ship
called ‘San Francisco,’ which had hit a rock, broke up, and a large number of the passengers on it came to a dreadful end.
* Recently a man was passing through Bautzen on his way to his native town Liberec (Reichenberg) in Bohemia. Some years ago he had emigrated to the
land of Texas in America, but he did not find things so rosy there as people had previously written to him from there to Bohemia. So with his wife and
three children, of which the youngest was barely a year old, he had travelled back to Europe. He complained especially that everyone that did not know
English there was, everywhere and at every opportunity, beaten and persecuted, that everything there was very dear, because although work was better
paid than in Europe nothing was left over from your wages; that only someone who took a lot of money with him could prosper quickly; and that there
were a lot of tricksters.
April 29, p. 136: Wopißanje Texasa. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
‘A Description of Texas’
In Smoler’s Bookshop beside the Reichentor the following is on sale: ‘A Description of Texas’ at 5 new silver groschen (in German).
13 May, p. 147: Ze Serbow: S Wukrancžicy.. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish Land. From Weigersdorf.
From Weigersdorf. The police recently suspected a certain Wuchatsch, a resident of our village, of participation in a theft. So they
searched his house, during which Wuchatsch partially cut his throat and so was in danger of death. But he did not die and the wound is said to be
healing.
June 10, p. 181-182: Knawedzenu. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
‘For Information’.
For Information. Sometimes people who wish to emigrate to America have been earnestly advised by emigrants themselves to sail direct
from Hamburg or Bremen and not to travel via England. And still there is always a great number of emigrants, it is said, intending to make their
departure by way of England. That has led me to make comparisons between the two routes and inform those who are concerned. The emigration offices in
Hamburg and Bremen are obliged to deposit in Bremen 5,000 talers in gold, in Hamburg 10,000 marks banco, and in Altona 12,000 marks courant as surety
that all laws passed to the advantage of emigrants are observed and their agents appointed across the country and confirmed by the authorities must
also deposit between 600 and 800 talers as surety. The captain and sailors on German ships are Germans and are there to help their countrymen with
advice and action, and German ships sail direct to the land chosen. As the fare is fixed so it remains. It is quite different if anyone travels via
England. All contracts made in Germany do not apply at all to an English navigator. Against him it is possible to proceed only by way of English law
which is very disadvantageous to emigrants and even then only if the contract was made in England itself. By English law, in case of accident, the
navigator is permitted to care for emigrants as far as the country specified or to return their money and land them wherever he likes. German
emigrants and their luggage travelling via England are transfered three times, which causes damage to property and often harm to the people
themselves. It wastes time, and the emigrants themselves have to pay for the resulting journeys by railway and for their stay in England, which may
easily cost 10 or 12 talers. Living on English ships with poor and often very dirty Irish people is also a very great problem and very harmful to
health. On English ships – where the captain and sailors are from a totally different people and speak a totally foreign and unknown language, no
communication can take place – and many honest emigrants, who allowed themselves to be conveyed on English ships, have told in what an unchristian way
they were treated and they got so little food that they nearly starved to death. If a Berlin agent in this neighborhood has offered to take emigrants
to Texas via England for 48 talers per person, the costs in England are definitely not included, and they can easily come to 10 or 12 talers, as
already mentioned. I, however, am authorized to say that, if a number of emigrants travel together, I can take them from Bremen to Texas on the first,
best ships without any delay on the journey: adults for 50 talers, children aged one to ten for 45 talers, and under one year old free of charge. I
can gladly give anyone further information.
Bautzen, 5 May 1854.
J.G.F. Nieksch, emigration agent with royal commission.
June 17, p. 187-188: Ze Serbow: Swósporskeje wokolnoszie. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish land.
From the Weißenberg area. Everywhere and all the time people are talking at this time about emigrating to Australia or America. As we
hear, a number of people from among the Wends are planning soon to leave their fair homeland and sail across the sea to an alien and unknown land.
Some of them intend to go to Australia, but the greater part wish to go to Texas in America and there found a new Wendish colony. Whether they will
succeed is very questionable, we think it more likely that those who this year go to America will scatter like all the others who have emigrated
before them, particularly because later each one, when he has reached his promised land, will have to consider where or how he can best feed himself.
It is well known that a man in America or Australia must work and toil himself, if he wants to get on. There too roast pigeons do not come flying into
your mouth. Indeed, to begin with everyone has to work harder there than in Europe, because there you cannot take over cultivated land but must create
your farm out of the desert. Anyone who is really satisfied with very little will feel all right in America, but he will fare no worse at home here.
Finally, as to the reason why this year so many Wends intend to embark on the uncertain and dangerous journey across the sea, we have heard various
opinions. Some consider that the Lord in his anger will soon punish the peoples of Europe and think that beyond the sea they may perhaps avoid his
judgement. But they forget what David says about such running away in Ps. 139, verses 7-10. Many thousands of people who this year and last year set
out for America from Europe, never saw America, but found their rest in the sea, that rest which they had sought in vain here in Europe. Others, on
the other hand, say, if you ask them why they are travelling away, that there are too many taxes here, that everything is too dear, that no one can
achieve success here. That is often heard, and we can reproach no man if he aspires to move from a donkey onto a horse, provided he does not forget
what St Paul says in his Epistle to Timothy 6.6-9 about people who are dissatisfied. A certain dissatisfaction may drive anyone from his homeland, but
real hardship is surely not driving anyone away, for all those who this year are moving away from our land, so far as we know, are well provided for
and could easily have stayed here and fed themselves adequately. But that is the way of the world and the old experience retains its validity that
man, when he has no hardship, will always try to invent some hardship for himself.
Jenč. M.
July 1, p. 203: Ze Serbow; S Budyschina... Australije.... Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish Land.
From Bautzen. Today or tomorrow a number of Wends will again leave their native land and set out for Australia. They are: Handrij
Brint, Pjetr Hennersdorf, Jan Cżech, Pjetr Cżech, Jan Jeńko and Hańża Hajnschkez from Rackel; Handrij Schmidt, Jurij Kleinich
and Jan Kleinich from Cortnitz; Michał Dejka from Nechern; Pjetr Sswora and Handrij Krawc from Drehsa; Handrij Bjeharʹ from Gröditz;
Cżech from Seidau; Schcżjepank from Rascha; Brühl from Bautzen; Seiler from Salzenforst; Heńka from Obergurig; Mikel (?) from
Neupurschwitz; Hańża Falantez from Oberbuchwalde and a little girl whose name we do not know from Oelsa; -- with wives and children all
together about 47 souls.
July 1, pp. 204-05: Schto ßmjeł do Ameriki wuczahnycz? Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Who should emigrate to America?
(From the book Leitfaden für Auswanderer: ‘A Guide for Emigrants’).
It is already a long time since all kinds of people began emigrating to America to seek their fortune there, which they could not find in Europe. Some
of them thought and still think that they would find a country there, where they would be warmly welcomed and would be able to make a living without
worry and work. Many have thought that, after arriving in America, they would receive from the government there at least enough assistance to be able
to work a piece of land and they persuade perhaps decent people, but ignorant people, to join the migration. But such opinions and thoughts are empty
illusions: deceived in their expectations, such improvident people either come to a bad end or return to Europe impoverished, so that they may at
least die in the country where previously they did not wish to live. There are still many who have a strange opinion of the happiness which is waiting
for them in America. There are still many who look for prosperity in distant places, praising a foreign land and disparaging their native land, but
often find more disaster in foreign parts than they ever imagined. America is not a country where there is perpetual peace and continuous prosperity
and where you get all you need without toil. America is not a land where all are equally happy and free and where there is total order and total
reason; America is not a land where courts of law, priests, policemen, and soldiers are not needed, but America is a land of sweat and a land of work!
– An emigrant who is not able to live purely from interest on capital, must work very hard and, in fact, harder than anywhere else. To clear virgin
land from primeval forest and obstacles demands greater effort than is needed in European agriculture. – Everyone can follow the trade of his choice,
but, owing to this freedom, anyone who has found himself good earnings is likely to find to find so many competitors breathing down his neck that he
will have to use all his might to avoid being squeezed out by others. So in one week in America a man may wipe more sweat from his face than in Europe
in a whole year, in Europe where you are working fields already prepared and where the daily and weekly wages are already fixed. And because more and
more people keep arriving in America looking for work, every year it is beginning to get harder to find a good job. So you have to be an exceptionally
good worker if you want to keep a permanent job. The advantages America offers are: you can easily acquire a bit of land, you can choose any trade,
taxes are few, you can believe or hold any opinions you like, and you can express your opinion. – After a few years the emigrant (or rather the
immigrant) gains citizens’ rights in America, and after a time he may be elected a juryman, a representative, or some kind of official; anyone who
seeks or demands more than this is cruelly deceived, because nothing at all is done there for foreign immigrants. (Continuation follows.)
July 1, p. 206: Kruchi s australiskich listow. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Extracts from Australian letters.
From a letter from Pjetr Döka of Angas-Park, 31 January 1854 ... Dear friends, We are not short of work, for a week ago I finished getting the harvest
in, then we dug potatoes, and now I’m going to do the threshing, partly with flails and mainly with oxen. We reaped our wheat (72 Schock)* in 21 days,
that is myself, my wife, and a servant girl; it is not suitable for mowing, because the straw is very hard. The potatoes have not turned out very
well, because we did not have enough rain. You think that it is very difficult to work with the plough here, because I use 4 oxen, but the heavy
English plough is very good when you have roots and tree-stumps in the field. For a German plough you need only two oxen. I want to mention too that
for reaping and threshing I employed an extra man. My servant girl is a certain Hana Schcżjepankez from Rascha, but she is getting married soon
and then I shall be without a servant again. So I should be very glad if a young girl would join us who would like to work with me as a servant. I
would give her a good wage, etc., etc.
*Schock = threescore
July 8, p. 212: Continuation of Schto ßmjeł do Ameriki wuczahnycz? Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Who should emigrate to America?
(From the book Leitfaden für Auswander: ‘A Guide for Emigrants’) (continuation).
Whoever migrates to America is entirely dependent on his own resources. No one looks after him, no one comes to his aid. And yet, he who is adaptable,
who is hard-working, thrifty, and able to withstand hardship (but only if he is all these things), is more likely to make his fortune in America than
anywhere else. Because everything is there, provided you know how to find it and get hold of it. The government is in no way there to help immigrants.
It is aware that with them, if they are strong and industrious, it increases in strength, but they must never forget that America is a country of
equal rights and that therefore nothing can be gained by one person to the disadvantage of another, because if anything were given to anyone, it would
in reality be taken away from the wealth of the other inhabitants. Immigrants can gain nothing except the rights which are there equal to all. They
may hope to support themselves by being thrifty and industrious. – Whoever wishes to live in America and to be liked there must, you might say, shed
his European skin and put on a new one, because everything is different there. There are strict laws there, but the people are not dependent on the
state or government, but the government is dependent on the people. And above all Americans know that no one goes there for their sake, but that
everyone has gone there for his own advantage.
From the foregoing you can already begin to realize who should emigrate to America and for whom America is best suited. America is only especially
suitable for farming people and craftsmen and only they should emigrate there. Yet even for them there are many things to bear in mind, and we can say
this much: young, strong, industrious people who have some savings and who know farming and a trade should come to America, especially people between
20 and 40 years of age. Anyone who is 50 should leave America alone; for such as he will find it difficult to become acclimatized, that means he will
find it hard to get used to the air there. Such as he will find hard work there for his old age and can no longer use the fruits of his efforts. Above
all, whoever is sensitive and weak should not opt for America. Only someone who is healthy in body and robust of mind should go to America, for he
will have to withstand a lot to there, for which strength of both body and mind is necessary.
July 15, p. 221: Continuation of Schto ßmjeł do Ameriki wuczahnycz? Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Who should emigrate to America?
America is above all suitable for farm laborers. Whoever is hard-working and has learned no more than how to chop wood or plow, or only understands
such women’s work as is here carried out by servant girls, to them America can be recommended, but only if they are industrious workers. In America
there is always a shortage of farm laborers, because anyone who has saved 100 or 200 dollars is in a hurry to become his own master as a farmer.
Laborers employed by farmers earn 8 to 10 dollars a month, women servants 4 to 6 dollars. – In New Orleans wages are higher, but there in the summer
months it is terribly unhealthy and therefore cannot be recommended to anyone. The farm laborers in the country eat mostly at the same table as their
master. In some places separately or only after the master and his family have eaten. Relations between master and labourer are not very friendly,
because each is trying to get as much out of the other as he can. A master will dismiss a laborer instantly, if he can make more profit out of someone
else, and a laborer will go instantly to another master, if he thinks he can earn more from him. – If he is industrious and very thrifty a laborer may
in a few years reach a position where he can buy himself a piece of land but cannot afford to employ other laborers. He must then work alone and very
diligently until his children grow up and take over the heaviest work. – Women never work in the fields, but take care of the work in the home and
farm buildings, and possibly in a kitchen garden.
For both laborers and farmers America is a good country. But every farmer must remember that the status of the laborers is not like that here at
home, because a laborer can move away whenever and wherever he feels like it. So whoever can manage without laborers is in the best position, because
he saves himself a lot of vexation; but if he does not want to bother with laborers, he will have to work very long and hard if he is to improve his
lot.
Apart from that, America may be recommended to craftsmen. But it is demanded that they be skilfull and speedy, keep their word, honest and
god-fearing. Those that are not will remain in poverty for the rest of their days. – Craftsmen work for a daily wage, by piece-work, by agreement or
by measure. They do not all earn the same amount, but it can be said that one who gives satisfaction will earn a dollar a day and his food. New
emigrants who have to take the first work that comes their way must manage on 6, 5, or even 4 dollars a week and will have to pay for their food and
accommodation 2 or 2½ dollars. (To be continued.)
July 22, p. 230: Hdy a hdže dyrbi jedyn do Ameriki wotjjecž? Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Where and when should you depart for America? (From the book ‘A Guide for Emigrants’).
Anyone who is thinking of travelling to America should leave Europe in the autumn. That is the best time, because then the heat, which in the summer
predominates on the shores of Texas and causes all kinds of dangerous diseases, is considerably reduced. The route to Texas through New Orleans is not
recommended. It is best if emigrants travel to Galveston or those who want to get to western Texas go immediately to Indianola from which town they
can then head for the interior. But anyone going to Texas should not depart from anywhere except Hamburg or Bremen.
Many emigrants travel through the English port of Liverpool. Liverpool certainly has some things in its favor. It has fine, big ships, and by sailing
from Liverpool you can avoid the North Sea and the English Channel, where it is sometimes dangerous or a tiresome route, and the sea-journey is
shortened a little. But all those advantages are nothing in the light of the difficulties you are bound to suffer, namely passengers’ luggage is
transferred at least three times and inspected for other reasons. The English cheat the emigrants in all possible ways, especially if they are
ignorant of the English language. They are, moreover, tormented by the Irish, who are travelling on every ship, and the behavior of the English
sailors and crew is unbelievably coarse.
Whoever wishes to travel via Liverpool sails first to Hull from Hamburg on a steamer. Usually the ship is so overloaded that the emigrants already
have a lot to suffer. From Hull you cross to Liverpool by train, but first your luggage is taken by officials and is returned to the emigrants later
in Liverpool. Often it is in such a mess that it could make you weep. In Liverpool emigrants have to wait until their ship sails. It is all right for
those who find a decent hotel. However that may be, one thing is sure: for everything you have to pay high prices. But it is only on the ship itself
that the misery really starts. We have already mentioned the Irish emigrants and the English sailors. They would be enough to drive you off the ship,
if only you could escape. But the greatest disaster is that each emigrant has to cook his own food. Many people probably know already how unpleasant
it is when only two housewives are obliged to use one stove, but how unpleasant it is when perhaps 500 emigrants have to cook their food together is
almost beyond description. (To be continued.)
August 12, p. 252-253: List australiskeho wuczahowarja s Glückstadta.
September 3, p. 276: Ze Serbow: S Dubrawki; S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the land of the Wends.
From Dubraucke. Old-age pensioner Böhmer from here, aged 66, was found hanged on 16 August. He had in fact intended during the
present days to emigrate to America, but had changed his mind. And because he had already paid the money to emigrate, he was so upset that he fell
into gloomy thoughts, in which state he ended his life by hanging. Otherwise, he left behind a good reputation. Jenč.
From Bautzen. In recent days we have seen much of the baggage being conveyed to the station belonging to people intending to travel
to America or, more precisely, to Texas, in order to found a colony there under the leadership of Rev. Kilian from Weigersdorf. Their departure should
have been during the first days of this month. But that did not happen, because it is not possible to dispatch them from Hamburg, as was hoped,
because Rev. Kilian is obliged to wait until a complaint, which is said to have been made against him, on account of some instigation, is settled. So
it may possibly be a fortnight or more before the emigrants can leave, if they mean to wait for Mr Kilian. That he could be imprisoned, as is reported
here and there, is not true. It is also questionable whether anything will come of the colony in Texas, because the Indians there are said to have
started a violent war.
September 3, p. 278: Nawěštnik. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Announcement.
According to reports we have just received, an English ship again was recently wrecked at sea, on which there were more than 500 emigrants and they
all lost their lives. – Up to now, however, there has not been a single case (thank God!) of anyone among all those I have assisted to travel to
America or Australia losing their life at sea or suffering any damage.
Bautzen, 30 August 1854.
J.G.F. Niecksch, emigration agent by royal warrant.
September 9, p. 283: Ze Serbow: S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Land of the Wends.
From Bautzen. At midday last Monday a great crowd of emigrants departed from the railway station here, who intend to settle in Texas
in America and there, under the leadership of Rev. Kilian (hitherto pastor of Weigersdorf), to found a colony. In all they numbered about 531, and all
of them Wends. Because there were so many of them, they had taken a special railway train, consisting of nine carriages, and for it they had to pay
180 thalers as far Dresden. From Dresden they traveled on, again with a special train, and arrived in Hamburg the next day, whence they intend to set
out to sea. For the sake of good order each carriage had one emigrant as supervisor, who had a sign on his hat, and the person who will have them
conveyed to America on his ship sent some people from Hamburg under whose supervision the emigrants were to make their way as far as that town. At
their departure from Bautzen a large crowd had gathered and the emigrants for the most part were all weeping. Many of them had never suffered any
privation in their native land, and some said only the fear of war was driving them away, but others, from Prussia, said they were leaving on account
of their faith. These were those who belonged to the so-called Old Lutheran parish there. There were also many, however, who were hoping that in
America their physical assets would improve. But as to whether that will be, we still have our doubts. It is possible that they are preparing a better
future for their children, but they themselves will surely face much drudgery, if they mean to struggle through to something better.
Here it is said that the emigrants in question took about 73,000 thalers with them and perhaps 6,000 hundredweight of all kinds of domestic
equipment. As to whether that [sweat?]* is really so, we cannot guarantee. But we do know that they took with them many hundreds of Wendish school and
church books.
Although Rev. Kilian was present at their departure, he could not travel with them, because he is under an accusation. That will, however, probably
be quickly settled, so that he can later catch up with the emigrants, because he intends to cross on the steamer.
*[Translator’s note: The word pot ‘sweat’ is unmistakable here, but its function in the sentence is obscure. A misprint perhaps?]
September 9, p. 287: Nawěštnik: Wutrobnje Božemje. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Announcement: From the heart farewell.
To all my friends and acquaintances in our dear Wendish land the undersigned, on his emigration to Texas in distant America, says a most heartfelt
farewell. May the Lord God in his mercy bless each one of you richly with spiritual and physical gifts.
We are going to Texas
And say farewell to all.
Yet a tear falls from our eye
And our heart is deep in thought:
Thank you for all your friendship.
May God grant you happiness.
To us, however, on the deep ocean
And also in that distant land
May he grant us the grace of his protection
And give us all that we need.
Pampel from Särchen near Klix.
______________
A heartfelt farewell
on emigrating to America
from Jan Nowak of Lömischau, 2 Sept. 1954.
To Mr Vogel of Guttau.
First, I say to you, Mr Vogel,
God be with you; now I am sailing across the sea.
This memory I have taken with me:
The love that I have enjoyed from you.
To my dear mother.
May the Lord God be with you, dear mother!
With warm thanks I cry this out to you.
Take me into your prayers,
When you send them to heaven.
I shall never be able to repay you
For what you were to me, I feel that well.
To my dear sister and younger brothers.
Now God be with you, dear brothers,
Now that I have departed from you.
Farewell to you too, dear sister,
God bless you, that I wish to all.
I cherish the hope
That one day we may meet again.
To Mr Hiob in Preititz.
In friendship, with deep feelings,
From abroad I call farewell to you.
God bless you at home and everywhere.
I am sailing to a new dwelling.
May God be with you, and with me too,
Till we are carried to our graves.
____________
A warning for boys.
Pretty Hanka and handsome Michalk were sitting by lamplight at around ten o’clock and the girl said with feeling that she for two weeks had been
pining for her old beloved.
When in the evening she went to sleep,
She thought of him;
When she rose in the morning,
She longed for him.
So you, dear lads, -- don’t let yourselves be cheated like that. – There is plenty of infidelity everywhere -- fidelity lasts two weeks. I had just
gone there to visit Hanka, so I met her – Sitting with another man. What was I to do?
I took the trouble
To walk for two hours,
And so I myself encountered
What I had heard from gossip.
- Jank.
________________
Emigrants to America and Australia are cared for by me with the greatest care.
J.G.F. Niecksch, emigration agent by royal warrant.
September 16, p. 291: Ze Serbow: S Budyschina dwórniscjcza. S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish Lands.
From Bautzen Station. Rev. Kilian, hitherto pastor of Weigersdorf, who, as we reported a week ago, has been declared not guilty by
the authorities, departed with his family at midday on Wednesday from the station here to Hamburg, whence he will travel to America. Because his
friends only last Monday left Hamburg for Liverpool in England, he hopes to catch them up there, especially as he informed them immediately by
telegraph of his departure. – It is most important that he reach them quickly, because a great conflict is said to have broken out among them.
From Bautzen. A week ago we were reading in this newspaper that a week ago on Monday a large crowd of emigrants had gathered at the
railway station here and from here, leaving their native land, traveled away to America to find happier homes there. The writer of these lines had
also gone to the station early in the morning on that day. It was less curiosity to have a look at the emigrants than an incident of dishonor and
trickery that caused him to be there, of which shortly before he had had occasion to learn in his profession concerning one these emigrants and
perhaps so that he might help a good, poor widow to her rights. The aforementioned incident was as follows. A short time ago a certain H. Sch. in J.
near R. died, leaving a widow and several children. His legacy came before the authorities for administration and distribution among the widow and the
children. It turned out that the deceased owed 200 thalers to the M... church and that this debt was now owed to the church. But the widow brought a
letter showing that the deceased had never received this money, but had allowed it to be recorded against his estate and borrowed it for a certain J.
Ss., a mill-owner in Sd., so that this J. Ss, who had been unable to give enough surety for the money, was the true debtor. And it was not enough that
the deceased had done J. Ss. this kindness, but the wife of the deceased (now his widow) had lent J. Ss. a further 27 thalers from her own money. For
this money too she brought another document and thereby proved that she was due to receive from J. Ss. the said loan of 27 thalers. J. Ss. was
summoned before the authorities and here he conceded that he owed not only the 200 thalers which the deceased had borrowed for him from the assets of
the M... church but also the 27 thalers to the widow. Shortly before this, however, because he was planning to emigrate to America, he had sold his
mill and was still owed 400 unpaid thalers of the price by the purchaser, which were to be paid by Christmas this year. In order to pay the said debt
of 200 thalers he relinquished a half of the 400 thalers, or 200 thalers, to the heirs of Sch...k; to the widow, however, recording, like everything
else in the documents, the fact that he had yet to receive 200 thalers for his former mill, he promised that he would pay her 27 thalers by 31 August
at the latest. This reassured the widow, who believed his word and did not demand any further guarantee, because she was due to receive payment in a
short time. Yet the person who had not paid her within the time limit was J. Ss., and when she now discovered that her debtor was no longer to be
found and did not appear before her, she went on 2 September to the authorities and asked them to seize 27 thalers for her from the 200 thalers which
her debtor was yet to receive for the mill and deduct them from the payment at Christmas. The authorities immediately agreed, because her request was
made openly and was justified; but when they looked in the documents and hypothecary books, where the 200 thalers were recorded, they discovered,
sadly, that J. Ss. had relinquished these 200 thalers too with proprietary rights to a certain H. Ss. in W. Źdź. [Groß Särchen?], so that
nothing further could be demanded. From that the good widow realized and recognized that J. Ss. had repaid her kindness with deceit and tricked her.
She had reliably discovered, however, that J. Ss. was leaving for America and that perhaps he had his property at the station here. The writer of
these lines went to the station in order to find the aforementioned property and possibly J. Ss. too and make him pay up. Here he did indeed learn
from many emigrants that J. Ss. was travelling with them; but he did not find him here, because he was not able to wait for the departure. It was said
that J. Ss. had dispatched his luggage to Hamburg several days earlier. The writer was not authorized or commissioned to search any further for Ss.
and his baggage. He had concluded that J. Ss. was guilty of deceit and trickery and he had not formed a very good opinion of the said crowd of
emigrants that kept and tolerated people like that among their number. And he has not kept a favorable opinion of them. In this opinion he was
confirmed still more that same day at the station by a friend F. he found there, when he heard that F. too was expecting and looking for a debtor who
was departing for America and still owed him a few thalers. Oh, what fine Christian, pious emigrants, to leave such a reputation behind them! But you
my dear countrymen, who have remained in your native land and try to make an honest living here, be on your guard against the prevarications and
deviousness of such people in future who intend to emigrate but are still in debt to you, do not allow yourselves to be pacified by a flattering face
and good words, but demand from them whatever you are entitled to by the laws of God and man, using the utmost severity, including the hand of the
judiciary.
The writer here has given no names, because he hopes that those concerned will understand his words. He also expects that H. Ss. will pay the good
widow the 27 thalers, especially because J. Ss. is his son. If that does not happen, the writer will take the liberty later of revealing his name and
that of his son to the public here.
--- . M ---
September 16, p. 296: Wostjewenje. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Announcement. I make arrangements for emigrants to New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, and to Galveston, Texas, every two weeks on
quite good ships at very cheap prices, amounting to (to the first three places named) 37 thalers (gold), and to Texas for an adult person 40 thalers.
For children the price is reduced by 5 thalers and children under one year are carried free. All further information is available from the
undersigned.
J.G.F. Nieksch, emigration agent by royal warrant.
September 23, p. 300: Ze Serbow: S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish Land
From Bautzen. Concerning the emigrants who recently departed for Texas, it was generally said that one of them hanged himself in
Hamburg, because he became sorry that he had left his fatherland. We know nothing for sure about this and therefore it is probably a lie. But we have
learned from a letter that the emigrant Matej Scholta from Wunscha died in Hamburg from a head sickness, and that the Wendish emigrants expelled Jan
Scharat from Dauban from their association on account of his stinginess.
September 30, p. 308-309: Ze Serbow: S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish Land.
From Bautzen. There was among the emigrants, who a few weeks ago left their fatherland here and departed for America via Hamburg, a
certain N. from W. on the Saxon-Prussian frontier. In this man, as we have had the opportunity to discover, the fatherland has lost as little as it
did in J. Ss., whom this newspaper unmasked two weeks ago.
The said N. is just such a fine fellow as J. Ss., who like him sought by means of fraud to leave a reputation and good name behind him, in what was
up to now his fatherland, and to preserve a good memory through dishonorable behavior.
When N. decided to emigrate to America, he tried to sell his farm, which he owned in W. After a while he found a buyer, a certain W., to whom he
also sold his business. In the course of the purchase the buyer W. spent 30 thalers for the seller N., at his request, promise, and other such words,
which N. was responsible for paying as feudal tax. So W. lent N...n the 30 thalers, and the latter promised him that he would return and repay it as
quickly as possible and when he sold his rye. But whenever W. reminded him of his debt, N. said he had not yet sold any rye. And so he put W...r off
and delayed until the time of his emigration came ever closer. And indeed because of his emigration he was always out and about, chasing round nearby
villages, and rarely saw W...r, and just before his emigration he disappeared altogether, and W...r never clapped eyes on him again; but his crops and
rye, as it later turned out, he had secretly sold much earlier and put the money in his pocket. So now he has fled and sailed away and, because he did
not pay W...r, he has defrauded him out of 30 thalers. – N., it said, was one of those matadors who emigrated and we mention here only that he has a
brother, hitherto in K., who is now under investigation and in gaol in the town courthouse here on account of the theft of wool, committed against the
factory owner Mörbitze. Finally, N. was a man who made himself out to the world to be devout, raising and dropping his head and turning his eyes to
heaven, constantly condemning the world and its sins. He always had the word of God in his mouth and condemned others who did not behave like him,
while holding himself to be righteous and chosen. – O, dear Wends, be on your guard against saints like him!
--. h. --
October 14, p. 323-324: Ze Serbow: S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish Land
From Bautzen. In the letters which arrived last week from the American emigrants we learn that they left Hamburg on 10 September and
that Rev. Kilian caught up with them in Liverpool in England, where they had to remain for a few days on account of sickness. Sickness was fairly
widespread among them and many children, in particular, have died. In Liverpool one whole family died, with the exception of one son, namely a certain
Schatte-Mrósko, his wife and his grown-up deaf and dumb daughter, all from Jahmen. So that he could make a more secure future for his deaf and dumb
daughter, that is the reason (it is said) why Mrósko emigrated, and now he has died abroad, himself with his wife and his deaf and dumb daughter. On
the whole, you can discern from the letters we have seen that many emigrants would like nothing better than to return home, if only there were some
way of doing that.
Jenč.
From Bautzen. In the multitude of emigrants who left here a few weeks ago for America there is said to have been a fair number of
rogues and cheats. This newspaper has already published three items about them, which have made us aware of the nobility, honesty, and Christian mind
of that emigratory gang, whose departure the fatherland now regrets so bitterly. Here we permit ourselves to add a fourth item to the honor and praise
of the said devout people whose material and spiritual hardship here, the depravity of the human race, and one misery after another drove them away to
a new and better world, to happier and finer dwelling places. The watchmaker H.J. lived in K. until the said emigration. The same had much earlier
made the close, but not very honest and honorable, acquaintance of a certain M. Sch. in K. with the promise that she would be his future wife. M.Sch.
gave birth to a child and H. became a father. He was now by the laws of God and man bound by a father’s duties to the child and its mother. But who
frivolously forgot about this, who rejected mother and child, who did not want to know about fatherhood, who destroyed the injured innocence of the
mother and rejected her, forgetting the damaged honor of chastity? This was all done by H.J., who no longer wanted to know about anything and so
little considered himself duty-bound to contribute the money specified by law for raising his child etc. and compensate the mother somehow for her
ruined honor, let alone that he should remember his promise and fulfill it as quickly as possible. All this, however, in the end compelled the mother
to bring an action in the court against H.J. for herself and for her child. On his first appearance in court he could not deny paternity; but because
he was not willing to pay more than half the lowest annual contribution prescribed by law, and could not come to any agreement with either the
plaintiff or his child’s guardian or with the authorities, the petition had to wait for judgement. But what did H.J. meanwhile think up to escape his
obligations? To emigrate to America and secretly slip away, that was the idea that now seized him; he tried to carry it out too and there was a good
opportunity. His father and his friends in the little town of W. had long been planning that he should go, and because he feared, probably on account
of his said obligation and the lawsuit, to appear before the authorities there and have an emigration passport issued, he furtively – and in this
trickery his father was involved – had himself registered by the W. authorities in his father’s passport as a family member. M.Sch., however, heard
about this and so she went to the authorities there and petitioned them, revealing what H.J. had fraudulently done, to restrain and confiscate his
emigration document. This confiscation was immediately implemented and his name was immediately deleted from his father’s passport. H.J. now could not
leave with the others; but, as we have later heard, he knew how to get what he wanted by another piece of dishonesty and fraud. A week later than the
other emigrants he followed them to Hamburg, where he caught up with them and joined them one day before they continued their journey to England. But,
you may ask, how could he travel without a passport. We have learned the answer to this question. He got himself one from his brother-in-law, a
certain U. in W., who, because he had earlier intended to emigrate, had had one issued to himself, but then changed his mind and therefore stayed at
home, so that he now was travelling not as H.J. but in the name of U. That is the nobility, honesty, and Christian mind of H.J. to which we referred
above, and even if it is not U.’s fault that H.J. got his passport, he may yet easily suffer the punishment provided for under articles 247 and 248 of
the criminal code.
-- Wehla. --
November 4, p. 348: Ze Serbow: S Wóspórka. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish land.
From Weißenberg. In no. 41 of Serbske Nowiny it was said that a certain H.J. from Klix had managed to get an emigration
passport from the grinder here, Pětr Urban, and with the same then emigrated to America. Later it has turned out that the aforesaid Urban is
entirely innocent in this respect and not the least guilt can be ascribed to him concerning J.’s emigration. This is conveyed here to public
knowledge to clear his name.
November 11, p. 356: Ze Serbow: S Budyschina. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
From the Wendish land.
From Bautzen. Some letters have arrived here from Ireland from the people who set out for America. In a future number ofSerbske
Nowiny we shall publish from them what is worth publishing.
November 18, p. 365-366: Wucžahowarjo do Ameriki. Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Emigrants to America.
In recent days a number of letters have come into our hands, which Wendish emigrants, who had set out for America, have sent to their friends. All
these letters are generally very short and in each one the writer mainly tells only how he or his family has been getting on and does not say much
about the other emigrants. But in one thing all the writers are agreed: that the Lord God has cruelly afflicted them. For if we count together all
those who are mentioned in various letters as having died, they number 96 dead, and the sickness among them had not yet come to an end. We shall
publish the names of the dead in Serbske Nowiny, as soon as we receive the details from Rev. Kilian, who has remained in good health. That
will not be until he writes from America, and at present we do not know if he has even left England.
In all, the Wendish emigrants were one week in Hamburg; from there they spent two days and two nights on a steam-ship on the way to Hull, where they
set foot on English soil. From Hull they traveled by train to Liverpool, which lasted one day, and there they waited two weeks. Then they embarked on
a sailing ship to travel on to America. But because cholera broke out among them more and more, after three days they stopped in the Irish town of
Kingstown,* where possibly they are still waiting; because all the most recent letters are written from there. And so that our readers may see what
sort of thing the emigrants write home, we shall quote from a letter which one of them has sent. She writes: “I must suffer much and do not know if I
shall survive. A sickness has appeared among us and brought great sadness. Our Jank died on 30 September and his brother Jan on 5 October. They are
both buried in the cemetery just outside the town of Kingstown. We do not know when we shall continue our journey; because we cannot leave until the
sickness stops. But it is still with us etc.”
*Translator’s note: The account clearly states Kingstown, now Dún Laoghaire (Dunleary) on the western coast of Ireland; however, this is a mistake on
the part of the writer because the correct name of the town that the Wends stopped at was Queenstown, now Cobh, on the southern coast of Ireland.
December 23, p. 405-406: Pŕilopk: Njekotre amerikanske nowiny... Translated from Upper Sorbian by Gerald Stone.
Some American newspapers write that the bodies of the English ship’s captain, Captain Franklin and his comrades, for whom searches have been going on
for years, have now been found frozen in ice. – We think that this is no more than some kind of American hoax, that is a lie.
|
![[*]](images/davis/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
