Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Title
Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family
Creator
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958
Identifier
WWP23159
Date
1927 December 20
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
Dec. 20, 1927
My dear daughter Mary,
I went to see our friend Niemann this morning at the Educational Institute which seems to be a very go-ahead place, but met his secretary (somebody like Betty Bartels) who took me to his home in the Bach strasse. He had been on a tour of inspection in Finland and had been badly colded, and as it is freezing 20 degrees today (but bright sunshine) he thought he’d better not come out.
The Schulrat is a middle aged man, a sort of Mr. Palmer (you will now from Bill what he was like) and he is very keen on having an English girl. It was during his absence that his wife engaged a German girl, much against his preference, he said, and “she would not have done it if he had been there”. From which I concluded that he ruled the roost – the opposite of our roost! – He said his wife had always understood that English girls had so much difficulty in adapting themselves to German ways, that she funked the idea of taking one into her home. To which I replied that I thought you would be quite adaptable, and he agreed. For the present time nothing can be done, because the situation is taken, but as I said before, he is anxious to have an English girl. I did not see his wife or family, but what I saw of his home made quite a good impression on me, and we agreed to keep the question open, and we are to meet again. He is quite an “education hound”, eager to educate us all, mother and me included. Now something else may come from Miss Hirsch about whom I wrote the other day. She mentioned one place on an estate near Berlin which she could thoroughly recommend from personal knowledge, but that was some months old, and the people probably suited. But I think you had better be in the city if poss. We’ll see what offers in the next few weeks. Have you had your photo taken? Get that done, because people like to see what applicant is like. Frihjahr, as I thought, doesn’t mean necessarily immediately after the New Year, but any time, say March or so.
My love to Mother, Betty and Bill and not least to yourself,
Jac
My dear daughter Mary,
I went to see our friend Niemann this morning at the Educational Institute which seems to be a very go-ahead place, but met his secretary (somebody like Betty Bartels) who took me to his home in the Bach strasse. He had been on a tour of inspection in Finland and had been badly colded, and as it is freezing 20 degrees today (but bright sunshine) he thought he’d better not come out.
The Schulrat is a middle aged man, a sort of Mr. Palmer (you will now from Bill what he was like) and he is very keen on having an English girl. It was during his absence that his wife engaged a German girl, much against his preference, he said, and “she would not have done it if he had been there”. From which I concluded that he ruled the roost – the opposite of our roost! – He said his wife had always understood that English girls had so much difficulty in adapting themselves to German ways, that she funked the idea of taking one into her home. To which I replied that I thought you would be quite adaptable, and he agreed. For the present time nothing can be done, because the situation is taken, but as I said before, he is anxious to have an English girl. I did not see his wife or family, but what I saw of his home made quite a good impression on me, and we agreed to keep the question open, and we are to meet again. He is quite an “education hound”, eager to educate us all, mother and me included. Now something else may come from Miss Hirsch about whom I wrote the other day. She mentioned one place on an estate near Berlin which she could thoroughly recommend from personal knowledge, but that was some months old, and the people probably suited. But I think you had better be in the city if poss. We’ll see what offers in the next few weeks. Have you had your photo taken? Get that done, because people like to see what applicant is like. Frihjahr, as I thought, doesn’t mean necessarily immediately after the New Year, but any time, say March or so.
My love to Mother, Betty and Bill and not least to yourself,
Jac
Original Format
Letter
To
Bouman Family
Files
Collection
Citation
Bouman, Jon Anthony, 1873-1958, “Jon Bouman to the Bouman Family,” 1927 December 20, WWP23159, Jon Anthony Bouman Collection, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.