{envelope}:
Mr. Thomas Gushul,
P.O. Box 209
Coleman, Alta
Canada

{stamp}:
RICHMOND CALIF
JAN 10
6 30 AM
1924

Richmond, Calif.
9th January 1924

Dear Brother:
Sincere thanks for Your letter containing a letter from Fedir. When I finished reading it I started crying, and my wife asked me why I was crying, so I translated the letter into English and she started crying.
It saddens me a lot that they complain about me so much. I did not promise them anything. But one way or another, that’s the problem. Tommy, do You realize how horrible it would be for the old Father? He relies on his boys while getting older but if they would be taken away the old Father would perish together with the younger sons, and I am not able to help everybody.
I will tell You the truth. It is a little bit my fault, since I did not write to them for various reasons. The biggest reason is that when I asked the Father to send me to a gymnasium he did not want to listen to that; and the second reason is that he tortured me heartlessly and forced me to work like a horse. Your mother will tell You that many times I ran away barefoot in the snow chased by my father’s fierce threats.

[2]

When I think it over inside my head then sometimes I see that I have cold blood, but when I think of how many times a sharp ax was chasing me then I think otherwise. Speaking the truth, not the brothers should be held accountable for that, but when you write a reply, in order not to make others angry, you need to address everybody. I recall how last Fall I sent a dollar to everyone but, not knowing how many of them there are, I did not send enough. So they shamed me. Till this day I do not know how many of them there are. I know my kin, that is the late Vasyl, Mykhas, Fedir, and Marusia but as far as the rest of them are concerned, only God knows.
When Vasyl died I was in Fernie. He could not be brought to Canada because of the war. Later, when Mykhas and Fedir matured enough to earn for themselves, the time passed and I got married. It took a lot of money; then I did not work over the whole summer, from July till Dec of 1922. Having a wife and no job forced me into debts. Then my wife had a surgery last winter, and it cost me $500. I am now getting out of debt while hundreds of others debts replace it.

[3]

I started getting paid well, but would You believe that nobody pays thousands in the beginning. I was working for a long time for $12500 and now I have $17500. It is expensive to live in California. So, in order to get advanced I got a course in Accountancy and paid $19600 for it. It helped and I now have a good job. But I still do not have hundreds of dollars spared, since the more we earn the more we spend, plus we have to pay off the debts. I pondered about this and that, and decided to start doing photography. I will not write about expenses, for You know yourself how much it costs to start. Then a course on photography. It cost me around $100 and I still have a lot to study. What can I do?
I am very grateful to You for Your intention to give money to Fedir for his travel, but if I cannot give $150 for the shift-card now, at the end of the month, I would give $50, then another $50 next month, and another $50 in April or May. One cannot borrow anything from anyone over here. I am quitting my photography studies, selling all the photography equipment and so on; forcing my wife to get a job (if she does not resist and leave me), but that’s all, God damn it,

[4]

I can do to help my brothers. What would You advise me about it? But when he would arrive at Coleman, what would he do? You should know that I am unable to pay for his boarding forever, and if he does not find a job he will suffer worse than he would at home. I know that You would not let him perish but You must support Mother, wife, and children, so I would not have a grudge against You for neglecting him. I cannot take him to America because they only let in several people from the same country, and if he would be denied entry he would die of grief on his way back home. For this reason I think that Canada is the best option. Maybe he could be brought to Montreal and there he should tend to himself with a little help from me? You know better – I am just writing it because then I would save about $50 on the shift-card, and he could sign up in Montreal as an extra-gang to go to the west, and travel for free. I myself did that several times, so, with our help, he could travel a bit while paying for himself.

[5]

        Another thing. If You can take him together with the sister’s husband, then take them both and we will work it off between us as brothers. If you cannot, then he has to wait till I save to pay for the whole trip. Trust me, I am putting aside my way of life in order to help him. Whether he pays for that or not, I am starting now the process. I paid twice for my travel.
        At the end I will tell clearly and only to You, into Your ear: my heart is aching and it is very hard for me but what can I do if that’s how our fate is.
        I will write to them and find out who they plan to send first, Mykhas or Fedir. And when You reply to them do not scold me a lot in front of them, for they themselves will scold me for that.

My best wishes to all of you
Your Brother,
Dmyter