Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Title
Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Creator
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958
Identifier
WWP23103
Date
1920 July 11
Description
Letter from Jon Bouman to his family.
Source
Gift of William C. and Evelina Suhler
Subject
Germany--History--1918-1933
Correspondence
Berlin, Germany
Contributor
Rachel Dark
Denise Montgomery
Language
English
Requires
PROOFREADING
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
Sunday afternoon
From office, July 11, 1920
Dearest,
Yours dated the 1st arrived in due course as I think I told you by postcard. There is no further news about my homecoming: I hear Collins has gone away on a holiday and I hear also he is troubled with his eyesight. Moreover Moyston has heard from Denny that Easterling has got a touch of influenza so everything seems to conspire to keep us apart. Which is extremely annoying although every day brings us nearer to our joyful reunion. The children will be almost home for the holidays; I wonder if you have decided anything about getting away, and where; also if you have been able to get any information from the office – possibly not, the circumstances being what they are.
It will be pleasant for you to have Mrs. Bosman’s daughter to stay with you a few days; I sent Mrs. Mosman a postcard the other day.
I have now been on day work again for some weeks; as it was felt I could be more useful then, as Moyston doesn’t know German, but possibly I shall have to take it up again before I quit. I don’t mind if I do, so in the day time I don’t get off work much.
Roberts, I hear, has gone to Spa to report the conference there and Frank Grundy wrote me another letter while suffering from a “champion headache” (so he said) owing to not being able to balance his accounts. Poor Frank!
I will bring his letters along with me. Perhaps they can fix up a similar job for me at the London office. He catches a 4.55 train every afternoon, which would suit us very well eh?
Here is something that will interest the children: I often go to a restaurant for meals where there is a garden and you can have lunch or dinner under the trees. They have just got a pet little deer, six weeks old, not bigger than a little dog. It walks about quite fearless, and comes to you and licks your hand, and likes to stroked along its dappled little back. They feed it milk from a feeding bottle and it runs after the landlady because it knows she has the bottle. I know Mary would squeeze and hug the little thing, if she could get at it. It is a pity we cannot keep pets where we are. Sometime, I hope, we will get into a place where we can have cats, dogs, rabbit &c.
It has been so hot recently that I was simply forced to buy some summer underwear, and of course the next day there was a big drop in the temperature. But as my suits are substantial, the thin undervests are just right.
I hope to get a letter from you tomorrow – they often come on Mondays. Frank Grundy is now sending me Canards direct here. Our joint household insurance policy falls due this month from Herd &Co. (I think that is the name) I imagine its 25 shillings, so you can pay that of course. Most of the fellows here have gone to Spa, so the hotel is more quiet than it has been. They get rampageous when they can be kept out of mischief by hard work!
Love to all,
from,
Jack.
From office, July 11, 1920
Dearest,
Yours dated the 1st arrived in due course as I think I told you by postcard. There is no further news about my homecoming: I hear Collins has gone away on a holiday and I hear also he is troubled with his eyesight. Moreover Moyston has heard from Denny that Easterling has got a touch of influenza so everything seems to conspire to keep us apart. Which is extremely annoying although every day brings us nearer to our joyful reunion. The children will be almost home for the holidays; I wonder if you have decided anything about getting away, and where; also if you have been able to get any information from the office – possibly not, the circumstances being what they are.
It will be pleasant for you to have Mrs. Bosman’s daughter to stay with you a few days; I sent Mrs. Mosman a postcard the other day.
I have now been on day work again for some weeks; as it was felt I could be more useful then, as Moyston doesn’t know German, but possibly I shall have to take it up again before I quit. I don’t mind if I do, so in the day time I don’t get off work much.
Roberts, I hear, has gone to Spa to report the conference there and Frank Grundy wrote me another letter while suffering from a “champion headache” (so he said) owing to not being able to balance his accounts. Poor Frank!
I will bring his letters along with me. Perhaps they can fix up a similar job for me at the London office. He catches a 4.55 train every afternoon, which would suit us very well eh?
Here is something that will interest the children: I often go to a restaurant for meals where there is a garden and you can have lunch or dinner under the trees. They have just got a pet little deer, six weeks old, not bigger than a little dog. It walks about quite fearless, and comes to you and licks your hand, and likes to stroked along its dappled little back. They feed it milk from a feeding bottle and it runs after the landlady because it knows she has the bottle. I know Mary would squeeze and hug the little thing, if she could get at it. It is a pity we cannot keep pets where we are. Sometime, I hope, we will get into a place where we can have cats, dogs, rabbit &c.
It has been so hot recently that I was simply forced to buy some summer underwear, and of course the next day there was a big drop in the temperature. But as my suits are substantial, the thin undervests are just right.
I hope to get a letter from you tomorrow – they often come on Mondays. Frank Grundy is now sending me Canards direct here. Our joint household insurance policy falls due this month from Herd &Co. (I think that is the name) I imagine its 25 shillings, so you can pay that of course. Most of the fellows here have gone to Spa, so the hotel is more quiet than it has been. They get rampageous when they can be kept out of mischief by hard work!
Love to all,
from,
Jack.
Original Format
Letter
To
Bouman Family
Files
Collection
Citation
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958, “Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family,” 1920 July 11, WWP23103, Jon Anthony Bouman Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.