Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Title
Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Creator
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958
Identifier
WWP23062
Date
1919 September 1
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
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
13 Place de la Bourse
Paris Sept 1 .
Well, all-of yez –
That was a nice fat parcel I found on my desk on Friday, and with mothers cheerful letter I felt quite happy. The pictures were very much admired by the little Moroney girls whom I saw last Sunday – I had the great bulging letter in my pocket and I thought I must just show them. Little Sylvia Moroney is a very matter of fact person and she thought the cutting showing a man going into the bathroom and coming out wasn’t like me because “he had only one eyeglass and I had two.”
Betty’s picture of “Bolshie” is really quite good, but I also liked the dog and the vase of roses that Mary did.
Now I must tell you about my adventure on Friday. I went for a five hours walk through a wood and lost my way because the road I took became a path and then finally disappeared altogether so I struggled back through the under growth and tried another path that also stopped dead at a wire fence. Only I could see the wire mesh had been bent at the bottom as though someone had crept through, so I crept through too, and so I finally struck the right road and came to a little village. It was a very tiny place but it had lost four men in the war. Their names were on a bronze plate on the church wall; you see them everywhere. Owing to having lost my way I was late for lunch and there was no place to eat so I pushed on another half hour to another village called Bougival of which I sent you a postcard. This is a charming riverside village and I made at once for a restaurant. The lady was just doing her ironing as lunch time was long past, but she at once made me a very good lunch which I had out of doors in the front garden overlooking the river. The restaurant lady kept a lot of chickens and cats and dogs and they came all around me. It was a round table with four chairs around it. I sat on one and three great fat hens on the other three and one hen on the edge of the table trying to steal my bread. And the dog and a cat on each side. The lady called in a neighbor to look at the sight. She laughed and said “No, but, Monsieur! Did you ever see the like? Chase the beasts away, Monsieur!” But I said: “I shall do no such thing; they are my friends and they shall dine with me.” So they all got their bits and the chickens ate the grapeskins and I made them race for whole grapes rolling along the ground. What larks! The dog didn’t care for those, he wanted meat, and so did the cat.
This doesn’t look quite so funny as it was in reality; the hens haven’t come out quite properly!
[Drawing of Jon Bouman eating at the round table and chairs, with the chickens seated in the chairs and the dog and cat on the ground.]
Afterwards, walking along the river I was caught in a fierce rainstorm but sheltered under a clump of four huge chestnut trees; very lucky they were there or else I would have been soaked! But I also had my umbrella.
I am just called away, so must stop. By the way, that drawing of Betty in the bath was good! She looks like a young giantess. I shall have to write to Bill separately later about him being “cross and stubborn” because of the heat. I never heard of such a thing!! Don’t forget to HUG mother, and many kisses allround from
Dad
Paris Sept 1 .
Well, all-of yez –
That was a nice fat parcel I found on my desk on Friday, and with mothers cheerful letter I felt quite happy. The pictures were very much admired by the little Moroney girls whom I saw last Sunday – I had the great bulging letter in my pocket and I thought I must just show them. Little Sylvia Moroney is a very matter of fact person and she thought the cutting showing a man going into the bathroom and coming out wasn’t like me because “he had only one eyeglass and I had two.”
Betty’s picture of “Bolshie” is really quite good, but I also liked the dog and the vase of roses that Mary did.
Now I must tell you about my adventure on Friday. I went for a five hours walk through a wood and lost my way because the road I took became a path and then finally disappeared altogether so I struggled back through the under growth and tried another path that also stopped dead at a wire fence. Only I could see the wire mesh had been bent at the bottom as though someone had crept through, so I crept through too, and so I finally struck the right road and came to a little village. It was a very tiny place but it had lost four men in the war. Their names were on a bronze plate on the church wall; you see them everywhere. Owing to having lost my way I was late for lunch and there was no place to eat so I pushed on another half hour to another village called Bougival of which I sent you a postcard. This is a charming riverside village and I made at once for a restaurant. The lady was just doing her ironing as lunch time was long past, but she at once made me a very good lunch which I had out of doors in the front garden overlooking the river. The restaurant lady kept a lot of chickens and cats and dogs and they came all around me. It was a round table with four chairs around it. I sat on one and three great fat hens on the other three and one hen on the edge of the table trying to steal my bread. And the dog and a cat on each side. The lady called in a neighbor to look at the sight. She laughed and said “No, but, Monsieur! Did you ever see the like? Chase the beasts away, Monsieur!” But I said: “I shall do no such thing; they are my friends and they shall dine with me.” So they all got their bits and the chickens ate the grapeskins and I made them race for whole grapes rolling along the ground. What larks! The dog didn’t care for those, he wanted meat, and so did the cat.
This doesn’t look quite so funny as it was in reality; the hens haven’t come out quite properly!
[Drawing of Jon Bouman eating at the round table and chairs, with the chickens seated in the chairs and the dog and cat on the ground.]
Afterwards, walking along the river I was caught in a fierce rainstorm but sheltered under a clump of four huge chestnut trees; very lucky they were there or else I would have been soaked! But I also had my umbrella.
I am just called away, so must stop. By the way, that drawing of Betty in the bath was good! She looks like a young giantess. I shall have to write to Bill separately later about him being “cross and stubborn” because of the heat. I never heard of such a thing!! Don’t forget to HUG mother, and many kisses allround from
Dad
Original Format
Letter
To
Bouman Family
Files
Collection
Citation
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958, “Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family,” 1919 September 1, WWP23062, Jon Anthony Bouman Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.