[according to this and the next letter they just arrived in Patterson, when did the came over to the US, when did they arrive at Ellis Island and how long did it take them to get to Paterson?

It is clear Paterson is where his halfsister Pietje lives]

 

Paterson February 18, 1925. [Wednesday, strange for it has all the suggestion that is written on a day off like sunday]

 

Dear Tjamme and Atje!

It has been some time since we received your letter and in great joy. O, don't think Tj. en A. [if] they wait that long, we will wait too [to write letters], not at all! write back as soon as possible, since we long for your letters, that is the only thing we can get from you, mom and dad en Br.[other Pieter] and S[ister in law Baukje]. But Ihope you will understand how busy we are over here, during daytime at work, in the evening visiting [people] left and right; but that will ease off I think. Well Tjamme you asked for Dirk and aunt Eke, [these relatives have still to be resolved] he has a great buissiness over here! Wat a beautiful house, we have been through it, the number of rooms they have, I don't now by heart. En than this

 

big houshold, one learning for this another for. So it needs something in such a household. But there is some [money] made, he laughed it away when we told him you wrote he might make as much as 30 dollar. He told us to write that he certainly did! I think Tjamme that he makes at least 60 dollar a week, he does not want to tell us and laughs at it. Well Tj. and A. we bought us some inventory, not all yet, but what we needed the most urgent. I haven't had a day when I wasn't in a car, every at my boss's farm, and no day goes by when we don't use the big trucks. And then we have a tractor which pulls the dungcar spreads (the dung) all by itself, we load the cart and then we have to wait until it is emptied, but that won't take long, believe me! (he doesn't want to give the impression the don't work hard!) And he who refuses to work [hard] isn't welcome, but on average [the work is] less heavy (but busy). But it is beautifull sight, [all the mecanical machinery]

 

if only you could see it all for yourself, that would make it worth while. And next summer I will write about it once more, what will it be beautifull by then. Yesterday we made quite a trip with Sidney's [Sierd Dykstra son of halfsister Pietje Machiela and Piet Dykstra] car, I was at home (not at work I mean), but what one sees! It is worth while to own a car Tjamme, the roads are nice, the tires won't break [no tubes, wikipedia tire] that easy, and than two lanes [a separate lane for each direction] terrible the amount of cars. I am still astonished, they just [as if it was the most normal thing on earth] go by car to the factory, there it is full of [parked] cars. I don't have innertubes on my bike, it has rounded tubeless [tires] filled with air, one [still] has to inflate them as over at your place. And the appletrees grow just at the roadside and also in our [his emplyer's] fields. [not in a secluded orchard]. It is truly beatifull here! I only wished I could get our dear parents en Br.[other] and Boukje and more of them over, because it [life]

 

is better over here. But it is getting more difficult to get here [this translation is a result of reading between the lines]  And it also was quite a journey to get here. How glad everybody was when they saw land. It was winter [wintery conditions] and cold, but we stood on deck half a day before arrival. We saw fields of ice flowing towards us, and also the river was filled [with ice], and the mountains were covered in snow, you will undertand that it was a beautifull sight. Yesterday [Tuesday] we have been [driving] among the rocks  [ the highest elevated point in Het Bildt are the dikes, about 10m above sealevel, the "cliffs" in the provence of Friesland would be as high, the higest point in the Netherlands, we call Vaalserberg (Vaals mountain) in the far south of the Netherlands is 320 m, 1079 ft You won't find a rock in het Bildt, reclaimed land from the sea, all silty and clay soils, scattered wiht sea shell remains, only rocks in the provence will be found in the forementioned cliffs. These cliffs are the end and side morenes buldozered in by the gleters of the last iceages. Some of the islands in the Waddensea on the other side of the dikes have a kernel of this gletsjer debris. The biggest rocks Jan came would have been the railway bedding pebbles among the tracks through St Jacobi Parochie which was build around 1902], they hacked their way through it. And this huge waterfall, that does something to one as well, en so we see everyday something new. We also will enclose a picture this time and just tell brother Pieter ans sister Boukje we will write them next,  and they will get some pictures too. And I will take one [a picture], myself on the mountain, with the entire valley below with everything in it, that is be a nice scenery. This is how it also looks from our [employer's] farm down into the valley. Now, beloved ones, with this I end, say [don't forget to] hello to everybody! And receive this letter with the blessings of the Lord together with the sincere greetings of Jan and Trijntje Piet and Pietje and K[ids].