Ellen Axson Wilson to Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Telegraphic Address:
Vanelp, PAnd so you are now sixteen! We talked about it over and over day before yesterday, and Papa said that if he had been sure where you were he would have sent you a cablegram. I hope you had a happy day, darling, wherever you are. It certainly is serious that Margaret's college opens before our return. It seems to me almost too much to endure, to reach home and find her missing; but Papa insists that I must not keep her because that it would put her at a great disadvantage this this first year to enter late. We will just have to be brave and endure it, I suppose. Of course I will go to Balt. to see her within a few days & Papa will go too just as soon as possible. Aunt Margaret will give her a good start, and that is a great comfort to me,—& doubtless to her too.
This week in Paris has been the busiest yet for me. There is such a wealth of beauty inviting me & so little time that it is impossible not to be going practically all the time. I am standing it firmly though; I suppose if I were not so happy and exhilarated I would be more tired. But it is simply glorious!—words fail me to say how I am enjoying the Louvre. I go & come from there alone on the omnibus, so Papa is spared the fatigue of taking me about constantly; and I hope is having a rather restful time. Friday we spent at Versailles and were both dead tired on our return. It was a hard day but a very interesting one;—of course I havn't time to tell about it now. We stopped at Amiens as we planned on our way here and saw its glorious Cathedral. Tomorrow is another all day excursion either to Chartres or Rouen,—we haven't yet decided which. Chartres would be the easier trip, but Rouenwould be the has the grander cathedral. Of course we have studied Notre Dame here to our satisfaction, besides two or three of the great Rennaissance buildings, like the Pantheon. We have had lovely weather here, and have had the most charming drives about the beautiful, gay city. The views up and down the Seine from the various bridges, with the great buildings piled up so picturesquely on either side, is really magnificent. But of course you have heard about Paris all your life, & it is foolish to waste time describing it in a general way.
We have the most delightful stopping place;—Mrs. Van Pelt's. She is a New Orleans woman, or rather she was from a sugar plantation near New Orleans. She is just as sweet and kind as she can be & she has the best things to eat that I ever tasted! The house is filled with the most agreeable Americans, some 20 or more of them Tell Cousins Lucy and Mary it is the very place for them. They ought to come and stay for months. They would have the time of their lives. Mrs. Van Pelt has such a pleasant circle of acquaintances outside her own house, both Americans & French. But all that too must keep until my return. We have so much “society” here that even on Sunday it is hard to get time to write;—must close now excuse this scrawl. We leave for Switzerland Tuesday night & get back here a week from the next Friday.
With unbounded love to all