Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family

Title

Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family

Creator

Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958

Identifier

WWP23054

Date

1919 July 29

Description

Letter from Jon Bouman to his family.

Source

Gift of William C. and Evelina Suhler

Subject

Correspondence
Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920)

Contributor

Rachel Dark
Denise Montgomery
Austin Shifflett

Language

English

Provenance

Evelina Suhler is the granddaughter of Jon Anthony Bouman and inherited the family collection of his letters from the years of World War I. She and her husband gave the letters to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum in 2013.

Text

July 29, 1919

My dearest,

    I received yours of the 25th and today the letters from Mary and Betty, all of which were very welcome and gave me great pleasure. You would have expected a letter from me, I know, ere this, but let me begin with the beginning.

    My journey was prosperous enough; I got away from Victoria in good time and when we got near the coast, half a dozen aeroplanes rose from somewhere. Three of them got along side the train and raced it, easily outstripping the train although we were going at a good pace. The others did remarkable stunts in the air, somersaulting like mad things; it was an extraordinary sight. The viseing of passports did not start until we were in Boulogne harbor, so we were some hours before getting into the train there. The boat was packed as usual, and I with many others had to lean against a railing or somewhere as there was no seating accommodation at all. I didn’t mind this as I knew I would have a long sit in the train. A novelty was that I was asked if I had any German or Austrian or Bulgarian or Turkish securities on me, and I had to empty my pocket book to show that I hadn’t. Otherwise the formalities were easy. I got a good lunch on the train; it had started raining heavily but I was then safely ensconced in my seat. Nothing remarkable about my fellow travellers, and we got to Paris very punctually. Thanks to my only having hand luggage I came away quickly and got a taxi to the hotel where my room was ready for me.

    At the office I tumbled into a house of woe, for our French Battershell person had finally given it up; the poor chap had long been ailing, he used to fall asleep with a cable message in his hands, and the doctors have identified his malady as cerebral aenemia so that he will never work again and probably will give up the ghost quietly one of these days. So his Petty Cash accounts were in a rare mess. Then Topping’s wife had run away from home, and Topping himself was as drunk as an owl, swearing he would jump into the Seine; then became maudlin, confessing twas all his fault. The couple may however fix things up again. All this was very unwelcome for me just coming back, and Roberts was grousing because his ship could not sail owing to a strike at Havre. He is supposed to sail on Thursday but is not at all sure.

    Then I had to go and see the Mexican minister and when I got back with my head full of Mexican affairs, in blows old Rooseboom with the stunning news that he is going to get married in October to a Dutch spinster lady of forty-four summers, three years his senior, and that they have hired a bovenhuis on the Suezkade in The Hague – “nothing for a man of my taste”, he observed ruefully but he thought “he might get used to it.” The way he told me all this was too killing for words. It seems the affair had been “hanging” for some time and it was settled during a visit he paid to The Hague this month from which he had just returned. She hasn’t a cent to bless herself with, he says, and she seems to be a fussy person while he is a martyr to nerves. He told me in his artless way how she started rummaging in his luggage “to help him pack” and he exploded: “Kind, do you love me?” “Yes, darling, of course.” –“Then kind, would you kindly leave me alone while I pack or I shall go crazy!" . . . .

    It appears he is going on some kind of a business mission to Romania for a month, but the train doesn’t take him beyond Trieste and he was awfully exercised about food, whether he would have to take some with him. I advised him strongly to do so for there will be nothing for sale at station buffets in Croatia and Slovenia. He is to be back at the end of August. Poor old Rooseboom, I wonder how he will settle down in his bovenhuis on the Suezkade!

    Of course with all these things I have been hard at it all the time, and this is the very first chance I have of writing. Herewith a letter from Pugh which I must answer, so send it back to me. By now I hope you have got the piano. In a few days I will send you £15 which I hope will keep you going till about the end of the month of August. You needn’t pay the electrician’s bill until then. I do hope the Mackenzie outfit is going to be a success; as they are Scottish it looks rather promising I should think.

    I am sending you some views of decorated Paris; I still saw some of the illuminations on the Magazins du Louvre and the Lafayette Department stores. They were splendid, just a sea of fire. Paris has been far more tastefully decorated than London, and the cenotaph here was also a much more impressive affair. I will write more when sending the cheque so goodbye, dears, for the present. I am in excellent health, hope you are the same.

With much love
Thine,
Jack

Original Format

Letter

To

Bouman Family

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/1919-07-29.pdf

Citation

Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958, “Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family,” 1919 July 29, WWP23054, Jon Anthony Bouman Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.