Paris 22 November 1917
My very dear Mr. Louis.
You have given me such an indulgent judgment about my English letter, that it gives me courage to try afresh my abilities – or perhaps my unabilities!! – at your tongue –the more so as I do feel that it pleases you.
Both your last letters afforded me great satisfaction and I was so very glad to see out of them, not only that you are keeping well & fit under the present trying conditions, but also that all your dear ones – specially Mr. Rosenheim – are looking and feeling well. I can’t say how deeply it pleases me to hear that your brother-in-law seems to be now on the right way to recovery, and I feel so happy for you all about this much better state of things. I do hope that your next letter will confirm this improvement and bring me good news about all your dear ones, also about your father whom* I hope to be quite free again from the gout.
It was very good of you to write me a french letter, specially as it is very difficult for you just now to find time, leasure and to be in the right disposition, to do so; many, many thanks for this kind attention which is greatly appreciated by one who finds always pleasure in anything – be it ever so small – who was intended to please her.
You know that I always speak very frankly to you and you may believe me that even if it looks like a compliment, it is only the full truth, when I assure you that your French writing is simply excellent. You express yourself in the right way and your sentences are “built up” very correctly; and your mistakes who are only few, consist mostly in the wrong use of the masculine or the feminine. So you see, whilst I have no merit at all if I manage to write an English letter which is ‘not bad’, you have, on the contrary, to be complimented on the way you express yourself in French, as you never had here the real practise which is mostly necessary if one want’s to possess the language, as you have to put up with a grammar very difficult in comparison to yours, with the embarrassing use of feminine or masculine, with our “accents” – in short with lots of things which I have not to consider when writing in English.
It was very, very good of you to draw my attention on some of my numerous mistakes; I may add that I express myself with no hesitation whatsoever and that I think in English, whilst writing, but that I always feel uncertain about the spelling. I was, when I wrote last to you, on the point of looking up several words in Cassell, and then again, I thought it was wrong to use this artificial help, as I really wanted to show you exactly how a letter of mine would turn up; so I preferred to make the mistakes in the spelling and to give you an exact idea about my small knowledge, feeling sure that if you would smile of laugh at my English, it would only be very gently with indulgence.
Entre parentheses I feel that to-day, I express myself very badly, but never mind, I go on, knowing that my reader is not hard on my mistakes!!
Shall I explain you in what your few mistakes consist, or is your spare time to limited to allow you to listen to my explanations? I rather give them to you and if they make you nervous!! don’t pay any attention to them. – Avec l’intention de vous l’envoyer plutôt que je l’ai fait; you ought to spell plus tôt; you see, earlier is plus tôt.
If you write plutôt it means rather.
For instance, vous vous lever plus tôt qu’ á Londres, but, je préfère plutôt le printemps á l’été.
Instead of un faim, you must say une faim (féminin)
“Invigorant” is a word which for the circumstance you made anglo-français, but you can’t use it in French; you wanted to say fortifiant.
Then, say:
la mer grise, instead of le mer gris
on ne voit que des soldats, instead of de soldats comme vous venez de me le dire, instead of de me dire dans d’autres conditions, instead of autres cond…
pour faire de la correspondence instead of faire la corr…
la fin de cette semaine, instead of le fin.
I appreciate that little “picture-book” which was at the back of your letter, but I must confess that when I look at views of Folkestone, and specially at the Castle Hill Avenue, it impells always over me a certain sadness; you see, when we left London and had some difficulties to get our passeports, we went to Folkestone, two days before undertaking the journey, in order to get the allowance of returning to France; and now, when I think of your sea-side place, it reminds me so vividly of the sense of sadness with which I went there, that it always is mingled in my mind with the regret I then felt.
Nevertheless, whenever you will spend an afternoon at Folkestone, do not hesitate to give me all details about this little “trip”, for I like to follow you, from here, in your doings & thoughts – you know it.
I was pleased to hear that you were able to spend some hours at home, and I do hope that you will soon get the leave you are claiming for, & which, to my mind, is due to you. I am not astonished to hear from you about the jalousy in the army; this terrible war has made people so hateful, so hard toward one another, that even here, in civilian life, I often see the results of terrible jalousy. You do not know how hard some mothers are toward boys who are in less danger than their own sons!!
When is this terrible nightmare to be ended? Better days still seem to me so far off and I have quite lost hope for an early settlement of things. We heard a few days ago, that my youngest uncle is still in great danger and I can’t tell you through which anxieties we go; he is such a wonderfull fellow; straight, kind-hearted, full of feeling, much like uncle Adolf and I am so very very fond of him; so you can realize how worried I am for him!
I had a long long letter from Hilda and I just want to give you copy of some of her lines, just to show you how sweet this dear little girl is, and how deeply she feels things. She had just told me about the first day’s programme at school and went on saying: “then we said a prayer, sang a hymn and last of all we sang a war prayer which was most beautiful and lovely; during the prayer my mind quite disapeared from the crowds of girls and Mrs. Wilson (c’est le nom de la directrice) for it travelled far away to darling uncle Joseph and how he is fighting away from home and his comforts, and I hoped and prayed that he might again return to us all once more safe and well”. Is not the dear child full of feeling?
You asked me whether I received the Limit’s issue No-7, and I remember having told you that it came to-hand to me, that I found it more interesting than the previous issues and that your “We won’t be happy when we get it” was really clever, amusing and quite to my taste.
I am now trying to constitute a “bibliothè civile”; you see, our books with the yellow cover cost now 4 Frs. and it is expensive to read much of them; on the other hand, my parents do not want me to hire books at a library for they always fear - with right - that I could catch an illness.
So I try now to find about ten to twelve friends to assist me in my combination; if I succeed, everyone will have to pay, say two books, and then those twenty books will circulate between us, until we have all read them; everyone will have then the right to keep his two books. So, with an expense of 8 Frs., each of us will read books for a value of 80 Frs.
I hope I shall be able to institute this little arrangement, but do not know whether I shall succeed; you see, some people are so heavy in taking a decision, and whilst there are two friends who promised me their help, four of them have to object and two grumble!!!
I am just starting now L’invasion, de Louis Bertrand, which seems to me, cleverly written. Otherwise, nothing newish to tell you; days pass by but don’t vary much in those times, when pleasures are rare, the more so as I don’t want any, and prefer just now a quiet life.
I hope your next letter will bring me the best news about your health and the way you get accostumed to your trying mode of living.
Be indulgent, will you, toward my english letter, full of “beastly” faults to use an expression which I learnt from you!!!
Many, many kind thoughts, in sincerest friendship, from the, same little thing Margot J.B.
*You see, I have carefully!!! avoided to say “which” instead of whom, after your kind advise. [Return to transcript]