286 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



November 16th, 1S53. 

 You ask me, dear father, why I have not sent my let- 

 ters through Bottcher, as formerly, and wonder whether 

 there has been a misunderstanding between us. This is a 

 new proof, that you cannot familiarize yourself with our 

 conditions and their changing possibilities. As I experi- 

 ence it, as I carry on my warfare, so do thousands of 

 others struggle for an existence. As I have written to 

 you more than once, the only way to succeed here is to 

 take the first chance which offers itself, no matter what 

 it may be. And this is exactly the case with Bottcher, 

 who has just decided to enter farm-life, to plow, sow and 

 engage in similar pleasures which the Goddess of agricul- 

 ture may have in store for him. He had long since sev- 

 ered himself from his mercantile connections and kept a 

 small hotel in Union City— about eighteen miles south of 

 here. Many times I had not the slightest knowledge of 

 his whereabouts, and it therefore would take me three 

 times as long to send my mail through him, as by the 

 ordinary channel. This accounts for the change. As to 

 my personal good-fellowship with Bottcher, there has 

 been no break ; on the contrary, everything is more agree- 

 able than ever, as I have been able to return to him the 

 sixty dollars which he so generously loaned me in time 

 of need. As to the New York post-mark I cannot en- 

 lighten you, but believe that the fifteenth of June is the 

 correct date. It takes from twenty-five to twenty-eight 

 days to go from here to New York (via Panama), and 

 twelve days from New York to Aix la Chapelle is not 

 uncommon. The postage, whether paid here or over 

 there should be the same, namely thirty cents or thirteen 

 silvergroschen for single weight. Thirty cents here is 

 scarcely enough money for a good cigar, while thirteen 

 groschen will suffice to buy yourself a bottle of good 

 Bavarian beer every evening for two weeks in succes- 

 sion. I want you to figure upon that and not to ask me 

 again to let you pay the postage of my letters. Please 

 send your mail through Bartseh. There is no reason for 

 a change, as I have hitherto been well treated, and as 



