After discussions with Cor and correspondence with her father I accepted the offer; my leave was shorted because of this, but the financial consequences were too favourable to refuse it. So we returned to Holland and took our route via Bergen op Zoom, to say goodbye there to the stepson of my brother, who was in garrison there and of whom I had received friendliness in the beginning of my leave.
At the hot lunch which Adrienne, the wife of Willem Veenink, put in front of us, we got beefsteak with friend potapoes; both Cor and I could not leave expressing our delight, that we could taste Dutch food again; especially the meat in Belgium we didn’t like.
From Amsterdam we then paid our further farewell visits to the several family members and friends and stayed with aunt Joh at the Elandskade in the Hague. The farewell at my mother’s was of course sad, knowing that I would not see the good soul again. I had taken precaution to pay my visit with her at such a time that my brother in law de Jongh wasn’t home; I didn’t want to see him.
On 26th April I left Amsterdam for Harderwijk to commence the command over the detachment; Cor stayed with her family, whilst aunt Joh went to Zutphen to pick up the children.
In the afternoon of the 28th April 1888 the whole family was gathered at the quarter deck of the Prins van Oranje, which was ready for departure. Saying goodbye to her sister, Charlotte remembered that Cor still owed her 4 cents to the indignation of aunt Joh and all present.
Aunt Joh went with us to IJmuiden and left us soon after.
Cor was very tired and her legs were badly swollen; this had also been the case in the last few days in Amsterdam, but Dr. Liernur had declared, that it was a very common symptom with pregnant women, which could be eliminated by bandaging; she didn’t have to get worried and could easily commence the journey to the Dutch East Indies.
When we arrived in Southampton her feet were so swollen, that she had to go into town on her slippers with me to buy a pair of very wide boots, with which she managed for the time being.
Due to the stormy weather we stayed another day anchored at Southampton. The next day we departed, although the weather wasn’t much calmer and in the Gulf of Biscaye we got the full grunt and the ship was swung in all directions; the children were not allowed on deck where hawsers were tied up to keep oneself standing and along which one could move forward. I stumbled just the same and hurt the back of my head; Cor stayed wisely down below and kept herself well.
At the height of the Spanish coast the storm calmed down and further we had a smooth journey to Marseille, where I hired a carriage upon arrival and drove to Chateau d’Eau with Cor and the children. Here we spent all day in the loveliest spring weather, quite a bit more pleasant than the Dutch climate, which hadn’t conjured one single leaf on the trees.
After the departure from Marseille Cor startet to feel sick and she got as it were coushions above her eyebrows and the ship’s doctor ordered her to take a rest in her bed, which she didn’t leave during the rest of the journey.
Another day the doctor, a young one, called me in his cabin and declaired in confidence that my wife had a serious attack of albuminism ( kidney disease ). To prove the strong discharge of protein he showed me a testtube, in which he had brought some urine to the boil and at the boiling point it solidified at once. According to him the periodical headaches and the diagnosed swellings were all the result of the kidney disease and it was irresponsible of the doctors not to test the urine.
For Cor the journey was one chain of misery; in the Red Sea she fainted and, although this relieved her slightly, she had to stay in bed in the scroching heat and got bad bedsores.
She received a lot of help from Louise Ruys and the widow v. Delden; the last one helped her with soft old sarongs so it was a lot softer to lie on. Not until at the height of Padang Cor could lie in a long bamboo chair again and like that be carried on deck.
Enough about all this misery. Let me now talk a bit about the passengers.
Before the departure of the Prins van Oranje in Amsterdam the old ltnt. col. of the Engineers Versteegh came on board and asked if Cor and I would be so kind to keep an eye on his foster daughter Louise Ruys. I didn’t want to refuse the old collegue this besides Louise was a happy and cheerful girl and could for the children and as mentioned above also for Cor be a big help.
During the journey however one of the co leaders of the detachement ltnt. v. Gelder fell in love with her and asked us if he could marry her. She was an adult and I didn’t know any better than not to resist, so that we also could celebrate an engagement on board, which however later on Java was broken off again.
In the hotel I rented three large rooms next to each other with a seperate veranda; the room coming out in Molenvliet was meant for our sitting room and it had a nice view; both the other rooms served as bedroom. Cor had to go to bed at once due to her tiredness, she had a beautiful rest in the roomy English bed, sothat she got up by herself the next morning. To provide her with as much rest as possible I took care that the 3 girls could go to the Large Klooster School, only Johan remained at home.
He had warned me that my wife had a very dangerous illness and so caution was recommended.One evening in the last days of Agust our children were invited with family Coops, where the son of my brother in law v. Dapperen was raised. I hired a large tent carriage and drove to the party with Cor. This was Cor’s last outing: coming home because of a violent headache, she had to go to bed, which she has not left since.
The kidney disease had taken a dangerous turn and according to Dr. Huismans could possibly have fatal consequences.
He called for consultation of his chief ltnt. col. Vechtman, who was greatly clumsy when telling Cor that she would be dying.
I was just outside the bedroom when he told her this, and when I came back Cor burst out into tears with the question: “Why do I have to die? We were so happy!” This was the only complaint, which came over her lips during her suffering.
Her deathbed lasted 6 full days and in my misery my brother in law van Dapperen kept me faithfully company and was a good help and support. He took care that the children, except Johan, were taken as boarders in the large cloister and that Johan would be lodged with the family Coops.
If the dying was quiet we sat chatting for hours and when we were comparing symptoms, we came to the conclusion, that his wife Jet would have died of the same disease as her younger sister, which after the death of Cor, I told her father. They had then blamed the death of Jet to an infection from the midwife, Mrs. Groeneveld, who therefore had been suspended for months. The warning had the consequence that the sisters who were still alive were examined and the youngest one Anna was found to be also suffering of kidney disease.
Cor’s funeral was very simpel and not costly either, as it came from the administrator of the hospital, who had taken care of everything; from the side of the collegues came a lot of interest and afterwards the chief of War col. v.d. Eb came to see me in the hotel and offered a banknote of F 1000, because I had been put on non activity and because of that would be in financial difficulties. Since I didn’t really needed that, I thanked him for the very friendly offer, to which he then invited me to stay a few days with him; this invitation was gratefully accepted by me.
The family v.d. Eb was full of attention for me and I stayed there more than 14 days. After my stay it was known, that I would be reinstated in activity and such did actually take place by Disp. nr. 4 dated 29 September, in which I was placed as senior engineer officer on Sumatra’s Westcoast in Padang.
In the company of my 5 year old son I departed for Padang on the 4th October 1888 and shifted there into a hotel for the time being. With my collegue Haver Droeze, whom I had to relieve I went searching for a suitable accommodation; we found this at the Wielik boarding house, attached to which was a glass shop; there I got 2 large rooms with complete board for not such a high price and all of it was tastefully furnished and it had a nice view to the Michielsplein, whilst the kindergarten for Johan was located almost next to it. With the hiring in Haver Droeze asked in passing if he wasn’t scared for damage to his glass articles in case of an earthquake; the answer was: “A match is quickly found; this gave me rise to take an insurance for fire risk on the same day.
The service takeover went quite speedy and soon enough my normal office life began; there were 2 large projects going on namely the building of a Military establishment in Loeboe-Sikaping and the start of a hospital in Oeloe-limau-manies; the first one was done by engineer captain Krol v.d. Hoek, the last one was under a superintendent, although every week it had to be visited by me. In view of this I had to buy a riding horse and bought this of my former housemate de Neve, nowadays captain chief of the Staff on the Sumatra Westcoast.
Opposite my boarding house on the Michielsplein lived the engineer’s captain Muller, chief of the coastal Triangulation brigade; his wife had fallen through the floor due to the bad materials which had been used to build houses with and she had hurt herself seriously by it, sothat she had to lie in a chair for weeks on end; they had a son the same age as Johan and had the little man visiting every day. Especially in the early evening for me it was a good thing, as I took my Ballon to pay some neccessary visits and knew that the boy was looked after well.Only Wednesdays were an exception; then there was a musical performance in the social club, to which children, provided under guidance, were also admitted. Johan showed during these occasions his drawing talent by drawing large ships with chalk on the wooden floors in the billiard rooms, his drawing fury even had to be bridled. Further more he was being fondled by Mrs. Kroesen, whose husband was the governor of Sumatra’s Westcoast and with whom I was now for the third time in the same location and with whom I always remained friends.
The Kroessens were in Padang very popular and were very hospitable, in contrary to the militairy commander in the West, at whose place only icewater was being served. It was col. Visser, to whom as adjutant 1st ltnt. Beunink had been added; with him, ltnt. Brand and ltnt. col. Brakel I had a regular play at omber once a week; the last one was really the ugliest man of the place and popularly had been given him the nickname of the lion on the Brabant cent; he had two ugly daughters, who both looked like Papuans.
Not long after my performance the 2nd engineer Ltnt E.J. de Rochemont passed through on his way to Loeboe-Sikaping and I invited him to one of those evening; the young man seemed to have learned very little about civilisation at the K.M.A., although the experessions he permitted himself towards me as chief were of those kind, that all present were annoyed about it.
footnote:
kahar ballon = kar ballon = a carriage with a balloon like roof over it
My righthand at the office was engineer capt. Ruempol. He was an able engineer officer, who worked hard, but also a born man about town who sometimes disappeared for a few days; because of the good work that he handed in, I overlooked this short coming and I restricted myself with a reprimand, convinced that punishment of officers hardly ever led to improvement.
One fine Sunday he actually seemed to have overdone it as I was called to col. Visser on Monday, who claimed to have seen R. without clothes and obviously in visible state in a dos a dos driving through Blantong; I could still rescue his image, because just that Sunday I had visited R. and that he then was very normal; the col. then must clearly have made a mistake, although the likelyhood was against R. and certainly not ungrounded. As later on will be clear I didn’t have to be sorry of my conduct.
As adjutant in my office I had Ltnt. of the Dutch Army J. Grootenhuis, who had the unfresh habit to smell of sweat strongly. I therefore had put an occasional table next to my chair at the writing desk sothat he wouldn’t come too close to me when handing over the service papers; he only used a few cuffs a week and used these as a small notebook, and then he often had forgotten the order in which he had written the notes. With his wife who in the hot climate dressed herself in a sarong and felt slippers, he only lived with the purpose of saving and he asked regularly at the end of the month to go to town for a minute; he then stayed away for hours because he was too stingy to pay for a dos a dos, to which I resisted in the end. He then brought his saved money to Mr. Diemont, agent of the Java Bank, who then adviced him which shares he had to buy.
At the last time Mr. Diemont adviced little John not to invest in shares, but in beefsteak; since then little John has not been to the Java Bank again.
When I gave him an order little John walked away at once, before I had finished talking to him and I had marked him as hasty; in the chief of arm’s end review was written: hasty is synonymous with careless and not accurate and of someone who is careless and not accurate cannot be expected much for the future. Later on in Holland they found that little John had gained much assurance and was promoted.
During my stay in Padang which laster nearly two years, I had to make several inspection trips, the right order of them I cannot remember and so I will just describe them each seperately and in the meantime what comes to mind here and there.
So to start with my journey to Nias and the Residency Tapanoeli. That trip was made by a governmental steamship, which was made available by the Governor to me and the clergy the Carpentier-Alting of whom I had a pleasant travel companion.
We steamed from Padang directly to Nias and admired the coral reefs South of the island; the water there is so clear, that one can distinguish the coral banks at a great depth, which in their great colour variety certainly looked like flowerbeds.
In Goenoeg-Sitoli, the capital of the island, the clercy stayed with the Controller and I with the Military Commander; he lived in a neat house within the fenced off redoubt, the controller and also the officer of Health, Lebbe lived on the outside. The inspection didn’t bring anything particular to light and so my stay was consequently short, sothat I got to know very little of the people and the land.
During my stay a murder was committed in the market, but that was nothing special amongst the inhabitants of the island, where in some parts headhunters still lived. As a politeness towards my travel companion I attended the service, which he held in the military canteen and I must say that this sermon didn’t turn out too bad as it was not hypocritical about duties.
From Goenong-Sitoli the trip went to Singkel, where ltnt. Lanzing was charged with the engineers; here the work took longer because a proper map of the Forbidden circle around the enforcement didn’t exist and I therefore had to make the neccessary measurements.
Here I also attended the service of the clercy but to my amazement I heard the same as in Nias; reason why I decided to refrain from attending any further sermons.
After a week we steamed from Singkel to Siboga via Baros; the surf at this place was so high that we had to abandon the visit and went on to the safe and beautiful street of Siboga.
Here the Governmental steamer left us and we had to await the arrival of the mailboat from Singapore for our return trip to Padang.
Alas! when our job was finished and we thought to be leaving, the mailboat didn’t arrive.There we sat like 2 prisoners in our cave in this unhealthy malaria land of Siboga; fortunately Ds. Carpentier was a pleasant talker and we sat chatting for hours about all kinds of things. He was a fierce freemason and was a maconnist, a very high rank; when speaking about these institutions he asked me how I thought about different things; when I had given my ideas he answered: “But then you are also a macon”, to which I replied, that I didn’t want to tie myself up nevertheless.
Our hourlong conversations we varied bt playing billiards now and then for an hour in the nearby society, where one could get a glass of icy cold water in the evening and the whole Sibogian public was present every day.
We also visited the elite under which also the Assistant Resident v.d. Waarden, who asked us once to dinner, and whose dear wife we met with pleasure; we didn’t like the man so much; he was a liver sufferer and an exceptionally grumpy kind; to every point of conversation he added: “Yes you see I really don’t know anything about that, but….” and then followed a sermon like where are you with all my moody objections and these were not few.
We were still waiting for the mailboat and I would easily have had the opportunity to make a tripl to Taroetong though I feared I then would miss the boat and so we stayed together in our cave and consequently I seemed to have been infected with malaria again, at least when the next mailboat had returned us to Padang, I got a fever of 42c and remained sick in my boarding house for quite some time.
Ds. Carpentier used to be an editor of the Dokkum newspaper and wrote an article in it about this trip, from which also was clear, that the mailboat which we were awaiting in the North of the island Nias had run on a cliff and was totally destroyed with all on board. He had not told me about it and only after a few years I received in Malang a copy of the newspaper, in which the description of our journey had been taken up.
Once he was caught cutting off the lace edges from his white pants; Mr. Wielink had teased him because he was wearing girls pants, which I had never noticed which was the result of not propeerly sorting the children’s clothes when the girls were going to live in the Cloister in Batavia.So Johan had grown up a bit and on 1st March 1889 he went to primary school, where the later Inspector for Education was head master. He, Mr. Broeder, liked the little man very much and Johan received very good reports; this changed completely when Mr. Broeder was succeeded by Mr. van Bommel, who clearly couldn’t stand the boy and degraded him from no 2 in his class to the last number.
I received very good reports from Mere Director of the Cloister about the girls; they made good progress and also in music and were allowed on Sundays after church to visit several families like ten Bosch, Coops and Wilemstein. The latter once send me a letter and warned me about the desire to make proselytes of them.
In those days Governor of the Coast Kroesen was promoted to member of the Court of the Dutch East Indies and replaced by governor de Munnick. This was a loss for Johan who always had a nice home at the Kroesens, which was largely made up by the arrival in the garrison of Captain Schnelle, who with his wife were a great friends of my brother in law v. Dapperen and the familt Coops. Mrs. Schnelle was most charming for Johan and John as well as I visited them with pleasure.