Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Title
Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Creator
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958
Identifier
WWP23075
Date
1919 November 4
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 Nov. 4, 1919
Dearest,
Yours of the 2nd just come in, with enclosure from Betty. I see the bonnets have been a success; I forgot to say they would probably need blowing out a bit, as they must have been rather flattened in the post.
We are expecting Mr. Roberts now about Friday or Saturday, if the weather is propitious; it has been and still is, very cold. I did go out however on Friday and lunched at St. Cloud after a walk through the park; the trees are magnificent, and no one to look at them! I have now put on warmer clothing and am wearing my heavy blue winter coat. Saturday morning I went to various churches, it being All Saints Day. They were crowded and the services were very impressive; the side chapels being decorated with black velvet trappings and lit with innumerable candles before the holy images, in front of which groups of women and girls in deep mourning knelt in silent prayer. In one of the churches I heard Handel’s Largo rendered on the organ; at another, funeral music by J. S. Bach showing that even in France they don’t ban German music, although in England I notice certain people make a great fuss about banning it.
I am glad that you are able to keep warm; both office and hotel are also comfortably heated, even the corridors and stairs; all central heating of course.
Strange how every newspaper office has impecunious hangers-on. I have renewed acquaintance with John Parslow whom I used to know well as Paris and Berlin correspondent of the United Press. Drink again has brought about his downfall. In 1895 we went to Versailles together, he then wore a top hat and called me “John”; now he is permanently out of a job and calls me “Sir”. The poor devil had no overcoat so Frank Grundy gave him an old one of his, and when I tell you Parslow is pretty slim of stature you can imagine how Frank’s coat fitted him! However, anything to keep warm these days!
Frank and I have just finished shoving through stacks of Clemenceau’s speech at Strasburg, and I am off to the hotel after a good day’s work. Every day is one nearer home!
Love to all, from
Thine,
Jack.
Paris Nov. 4, 1919
Dearest,
Yours of the 2nd just come in, with enclosure from Betty. I see the bonnets have been a success; I forgot to say they would probably need blowing out a bit, as they must have been rather flattened in the post.
We are expecting Mr. Roberts now about Friday or Saturday, if the weather is propitious; it has been and still is, very cold. I did go out however on Friday and lunched at St. Cloud after a walk through the park; the trees are magnificent, and no one to look at them! I have now put on warmer clothing and am wearing my heavy blue winter coat. Saturday morning I went to various churches, it being All Saints Day. They were crowded and the services were very impressive; the side chapels being decorated with black velvet trappings and lit with innumerable candles before the holy images, in front of which groups of women and girls in deep mourning knelt in silent prayer. In one of the churches I heard Handel’s Largo rendered on the organ; at another, funeral music by J. S. Bach showing that even in France they don’t ban German music, although in England I notice certain people make a great fuss about banning it.
I am glad that you are able to keep warm; both office and hotel are also comfortably heated, even the corridors and stairs; all central heating of course.
Strange how every newspaper office has impecunious hangers-on. I have renewed acquaintance with John Parslow whom I used to know well as Paris and Berlin correspondent of the United Press. Drink again has brought about his downfall. In 1895 we went to Versailles together, he then wore a top hat and called me “John”; now he is permanently out of a job and calls me “Sir”. The poor devil had no overcoat so Frank Grundy gave him an old one of his, and when I tell you Parslow is pretty slim of stature you can imagine how Frank’s coat fitted him! However, anything to keep warm these days!
Frank and I have just finished shoving through stacks of Clemenceau’s speech at Strasburg, and I am off to the hotel after a good day’s work. Every day is one nearer home!
Love to all, from
Thine,
Jack.
Original Format
Letter
To
Bouman Family
Files
Collection
Citation
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958, “Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family,” 1919 November 4, WWP23075, Jon Anthony Bouman Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.