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p 408] He sends greetings to Dr. Ebel, adding that he has heard rumours that Ebel is to take a practice in Richterschweil, which if true would please him greatly. [Voellmy, v 1 p 32]

Late March (no definite date) Two of Bräker's nephews are recruited for service in Piedmont, Bräker is involved in securing payments promised to their father, this becomes a very tiresome business, not resolved till the following November (see entry below). [Chronik, p 408]

April is an unusually spring-like month, the harvest is promising enough to bring prices of food down. The meadows are already full of hay, the bees are swarming and by the beginning of May ripe cherries are brought to market. But in May the weather turns cold again, the haymaking is delayed and the apple-trees are infested with caterpillars. Bräker decides not to write anything yet about the new business: "So go to sleep for a little while - my tiny - little factory - until you come to your strength and I can say something to your credit: for you are still very much a child and need looking after." [Chronik, pp 408-409]

June brings more rain, which interferes with the haymaking, but the fruit harvest, especially grapes, promises to be plentiful. Bräker is even further in debt because of the new factory, but he trusts in God: "If I did not believe in God's providence - then at this time I would create a God and Providence for myself." [Chronik, p 409]

11th July J.A. Sulzer writes to Daniel Girtanner about Bräker: "That you will now try to help other people who need help, I have never doubted. But if I may as a friend recommend someone to you, then my friend Bräker stands out above others. O Girtanner! A hundred simple guilders, how inexpressibly much good they would do to this amiable man who is still struggling hard with the cares of making a living!" [Voellmy, v 3 p 39]

At the beginning of August Bräker fears bankruptcy. But "even if I had to work as a stable-boy, I might well be better off, than languishing under such a burden of debt." [Chronik, p 408]

8th Aug. Bräker's grandson Ulrich Bräker is baptised in Wattwil, but dies on the 24th.

16th Aug. Bräker receives a flying visit from Councillor Füssli. In his diary Daniel Girtanner writes of Bräker: "His uprightness of mind and honest faithful heart bring me joy, but with it grief for his troubles in old age, for he has to do very heavy work in the factory and is in fact only the servant of his son-in-law". [Chronik, p 410]

21st Aug. Sulzer to Girtanner again: "Share this letter with Ulrich Bräker, whom I love, to whom I have for so long given no sign of life. We should ask him to enter into our circle. He excels us all in thought and experience. He will embellish all our inexact observations with the stamp of truth, and compensate for all that is lacking in our experience and abstractions." [Voellmy, v 3 p 39]

Bräker begins entries for September with an account of the weather for the year so far. There has been a lot of damage and some deaths caused by flooding. A man was drowned in the clearing of a bridge over the Lederbach in Lichtensteig, Bräker himself almost slipped into the water, but a good friend grabbed his arm and pulled him away. [Chronik, p 410

13th Sept. to 4th Oct. Bräker travels to Zürich and Bern. On the 13th he goes via Laad, Goldingen, Rüti, Kempraten and Feldbach, and spends the night at Stäfa. On the 14th he goes by ferry to Wädensweil and visits Hans Jakob Hauser and his wife Susanna (

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