Opoczno, 31 October 1926 To my beloved nephew and brother and his worthy wife, Esther, Two days ago, I received a fourteen-page letter from you. Devoted brother, you ask for forgiveness in your letter for delaying in answering me. Yes, Sol, this time I will still forgive you. Do you know why? Since your uncle is a bit of a businessman, he understands that in the midst of the season, when the iron is hot, there is no spare time to write fourteen-page letters to uncles... I know of a great many Americans who don't write to families all year long, who are little interested in them. And if one nags them too much, they prefer to send a check for $50 or $100, and they don't write a word; they conduct themselves in a bourgeois manner... However, can I really compare you to those other Americans? No. I am accustomed to receive a letter from you every two weeks, just as I write you a letter every two weeks. And when one accustoms a child to something, later on it's difficult to break the pattern. To me, your letters are just like food for the spirit. I nourish myself with your letters just as one who is starved stills his hunger. Your letters satiate me, but the more I read of your writing, the greater my desire to read more, and I have also answered you, Sol, as to every word. For example, you write in your last letter that since you have been in business your grandmother has not found it necessary to come to see how you are doing. However, when she heard that you had bought a stove at a bargain price... Yes, Sol, how much truth, how much anger, lie in these words??? I myself have much pain and aggravation from them. Why should it be that way? What sort of shame has she had from you children? To the contrary, she should surely have been your sainted mother's replacement, your comforter. And, as a final touch, what happens: she even wants to get a bargain from you... Would my mother, may she rest in peace, as your grandmother, also have dealt in this way with a beloved grandchild??? Ah, certainly not. I remember a year ago, when she lay on her deathbed, she called me to her side, clasped my hand and asked me to read for her all of your letters to me. In addition, she hung your picture near her bed and couldn't get her fill of looking at her beloved grandson of whom we are all so proud. I am really not able to grasp why it is that your father's family treats you children in such a coldblooded fashion. However, when I hear how your own father treats you, I am not puzzled by the rest of the family. But, Sol, don't take all these things too much to heart. Be sure that you don't change your standards. The most important thing is for you to see to it that you surpass the rest of your family as far as capital is concerned, because you have long surpassed them as far as character is concerned. Then you will see that everyone will crowd around you like leeches. When your father-in-law was here, he also let me know that you are not on very good relations with your father's family, except for Dave (Kutchinsky). It would be understandable if you were interfering with their ability to make a living, if you were stealing their customers; it would be appropriate in a small town, not in Chicago. However, let's hope, dear Sol, that over the course of time all those who would like to see you set back will all one day see you a big, strong, mighty businessman; this is the wish of your truly devoted uncle and brother. Now then, my devoted one, you are surely anxious to hear what is doing with your uncle in Opoczno and also what is doing with your aunt. So, I am writing even though I have already written you everything in my earlier letter. After all, you are entitled to learn more about everything. I have already told you about everything that took place respecting our business up to Succoth: how it's going in general and what the earnings situation is in particular. Now I can add that last month Wrzesien (September) we were not in operation because of a bit of a renovation that took place in the mill. Further, my devoted one, I can let you know that I am working very hard in order that I might achieve success. Although it's difficult to relate everything on paper, nevertheless I will portray what the business looks like. You know very well the sort of foundation on which I entered the business... Six months ago, when we made the deal, there was your $200, Lazer's $200 and $200 borrowed on interest, for a total of $600. At that time, we bought 200 meters of corn for the money to deal with. Up to the new (crop), i.e., until Sierpein (August), we repaid the borrowed $200 figuring that, after the new (crop), corn would fall in price by 50%, as happens every year, so that we would be able to acquire 300 to 400 meters of corn for the mill, instead of 200 meters of corn. But I am well known for my kind of luck, not recently but for a long time, and there was a drought in the country. Corn did not develop properly, and it increased in price by 50% so that, e.g., a meter of corn that formerly cost 30 gulden costs 40 gulden today. This amounts to $4.50 per meter, and if we have a basic capital of $500, we have approximately 120 meters of corn, and our mill can handle 300 to 400 meters a week. So you can imagine how we have to work and slave away in order to accumulate the money we have to gross. There are moments when I am slaving away so that I forget to eat a meal. And I am a stranger here in town. My brother-in-law, Lazer, helps me a great deal in all respects, both with lending money and with other things. The business is not an exceptionally bad one, but it requires capital. You can't run a mill with such an amount, particularly when there is such inflation respecting grain. And if we don't have the necessary capital for it, naturally the business suffers, and we are killing ourselves since we have no alternative to borrowing large sums every week at interest, and what should be our profit is instead the profit of the lender. However, Sol, I don't want to complain to you any more. If you were here with me, perhaps I would relate everything precisely, but since we are a great distance from each other we can only learn through letters how both of us are struggling, whether with your 200 stoves or with my 120 meters of corn. You make provision so that the people in Chicago will be warm in winter, and I provide Opoczno with flour. Both of us, both of us, have a single goal, a single objective, to live and exist decently in the world. So, nothing more of importance. Heartfelt regards to you, your wife and sisters, father-in-law, mother-in-law. Uncle Lazer, Aunt Esther, cousins and family send you heartfelt regards. My wife and children send you their heartfelt regards. Please answer quickly. If your customers don't let you write, tell them to come from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and write an answer to your uncle from 11:00 to 12:00. With respect, Wolf Lewkowicz All material Copyright 1995 by Marshall L. Zissman and Sol J. Zissman.