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English text

[Partial translation]

Dear Karl, Margie and Children.

Dear Margie, we received your letter and thank you for it [...] also got the letters from Willi, Hedwig and Emmels aunts [...] we are still doing well [...] Ma has a bit of a cold [...] last week she had the sniffles and this week diarrhea too plus headache and stomach ache [...] up till now we have only had frost two times [...] but sunshine is hard to find. Karl, your economic situation is going downhill again [...] what is to blame? Are the wages too high, or is it the profits which raise manufacturing costs so high? [...] Christmas is in two weeks and then New Year’s [...] we hear that little Paul is still being very good and is gaining weight, so that you parents are enjoying him, we too are happy that fortune smiles on you. Karl, you want to know if the old boat is still on the Lahn River. It was replaced by a new one about ten years ago, it is still in good shape and can easily do its work for another ten years. It is not being used any more than before. Pastor Eikmeier is getting a new car, they decided against a used one. Karl Dillmann from Limburg will see to it. Here too, the world continues on, to the pleasure of some, to the pain of others. [...] once more, greetings and good wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Your Pa, Wilhelm Emmel.

[Mother] I do not want to neglect wishing you a blessed Christmas. I hope that Santa Claus brought much to the children [...] what did Joän ask for? Little Paul does not yet know anything about it, but he will be happy to see the Christmas tree [...] Greetings, God’s blessing, Your Mother.