The Memoirs of J.G. Kerlen – Part 32

The management in de Witte had laid up a large quantity of firewood, for which even a couple of warehouses on the Korte Vijverberg were rented; this did’t mean that they shouldn’t be economical with the supply and not start the central heating before November; when we had repeatedly freezing weather in October,  we couldn’t even play billiards then.

With that game in the morning I always had a regular partner; first I played with the retired col ( general major tit. ) of the Artilleries Knel whom I lost after 3 years at the beginning of the war; after that some time with the old Resident Boissevain, who after several weeks was admitted in Bronovo and as a result of a prostate operation had died.
My 3rd regular partner was one of the many people who had fled from Belgium to our country, named Baron Agie de Belsate; the Germans had occupied the Castle in Selsate in Vlaanderen and had done terrible damage, sothat f there was nothing else for him than to flee and to give his daughters shelter at a school in Vught, run by sisters.
Until the ceasefire he remained my partner; since then I never heard of him again.

For most of the household articles  so called distribution offices were set up, where coupons were issued upon showing your identity card at which everyone could receive their modest share; through circumstances by chance Carey as well as I were seen as head of the family and as a result of that we received a double portion from the coal distribution, to which we wisely did not draw the attention; even twice the amount was not sufficient and had to be supplemented with expensive firewood. We had our fireplace in the livingrooom exchanged  for a large old fashioned pot bellied stove, around which we could warm us all and the use of paper balls made from our newpapers, like many people burnt in their hearths or stoves had only once been neccessaryTo receive bread special cards were issued who were divided in several squares, which one could tear off according to the needed amount; however one had to be careful with this as when ordering a normal slice of bread in a club or cafe you had to hand in one of the squares; the bakers collected those squares and stuck them on a large piece of paper and so received fresh flour from the distribution. The quality of this bread issued by the government wasn’t very good either and for a while we’ve only been able to get nothing but dirty grey bread.

Bacon and pork soon belonged to the well to do; beef also became exhorbitantly expensive and scarce; sothat in most housholds one had to suffice with fish; small stalls established by the municipalities where one could get a decent meal of fish to prevent the forcing up of prices. Our Anna however sometimes had to stand in a queue for hours as the demand was high.

You couldn’t get rice nor oats any more; an exception was made for the sick and the elderly; I also belonged to this category and therefore I received a certificate from Dr. Bense, with which I then had to appear every month before the Medical commission and then, sometimes after hours wiating, gave me a voucher for the neccessary oats as well as for 1 liter of milk a day. Later on 100 grams of meat a day was added to it, which I could collect once a week at a butcher in the Wagenstraat and was shared brotherly in our household.

So our table displayed a meagre menu and existed mainly of potatoes, lots of fat could not be supplied though our Annna knew how to prepare a tasty sauce through which the large amount of potatoes easily could be swallowed.
However, in the evening we were nearly all hungry and therefore we had chocolate, which was still available in plenty of quantities.Besides cooked and baked fish we ate as replacement for meat so much smoked red herring that this food, which I used to love so much, began to dislike particularly.
We did have a dog in those days, named Pan wich I took for a walk after dinner and I must admit to my shame that I often bought a few applerolls or sponge cake to kill my hunger, they never knew that at home and neither that I sometimes shared my goodies with the dog.

You get used to everything in this world and life gradually went it’s usual way; like Henri Huygens, who after his marriage with Tonia was working at the H.S.M., from there in 1913 gone to the Indies and was placed there with the Semarang-Tjeribon railway company. However husband and wife were not suited for the Indian climate and they already returned within a year and were again taken in by the family in the Trompstraat; he got employed by the work inspection, where he stayed since then and gradually made promotion.

During the holidays of 1915 Carey had rented a wooden cottage for her and the children in Soestdijk close to the home of brother in law v. Rees. I then stayed behind by myself and had my meals in the Witte, only my breakfast was made ready by the nanny who came in the morning at 8 o’clock and after she had tidied my bedroom left again.
This went all right for some time until I got a large boil in my neck, which did look like a furuncle and regularly had to be treated. Aunt Marie offered me then to stay with her in the Trompstraat, where I was treated daily by Dr. Bense, first with poultice, though when this didn’t work with a surgical knife. For more than 3 weeks every morning I was hurt by Bense and when Carey with the children came back, I still wasn’t better and had to be transported home with a four wheeler. At that occasion I was going to be guided by Joopie; he had brought a couple of ducks in a basket from Soestdijk and these darling animals had to be taken along in the four wheeler, which they dirtied beautifully.At home a cage had to be built at once and the twosome became fat as a pig and when in the end they damaged the garden, they were, to Joopie’s regret nicely eaten, which was a treat in these crisis days.

In September Miel went to the H.B.S. at the Stadhouderslaan and Marietje went to the 2nd class of her school; she played the violin quite nicely and so was invited to become a member of the music company Amphion, which exsited from students of different H.B.S.’s under the direction of the English teacher van Milligen.
The rehearsals were held at the homes of the students’ parents and of course we also were considered; I did find the gatherings quite nice and I joined in regularly when practicing was at our home.
Under these youngsters some nice flirting went on and Marietje in no time had several fans, who had no success, since she soon enough was on good terms with a certain Frits Kist. This puppy love didn’t last too long since Kist became a naval cadet and later on was pushed aside by Herman-Thal-Larsen.

Once a year a public performance was given by Amphion in the Diligentia building, whilst the orchestra offered a helping hand with the H.B.S. balls; on the concerts each of the best students had to be examined by playing a solo on their instrument.
It was at one of those concerts that Mr. Thal-Larsen from Probolingo let his son know that he found Marietje, who performed a solo, such a nice girl, and this perhaps was the instignation that Herman already had set his eyes on her.

At the end of the year 1915 Johan, who couldn’t get enough raw materials for his fertilizer factory from Europe, had to make a long businesstrip to Japan and since he would be coming on leave in the course of 1916, let his wife and children leave ahead with the SS Koningin der Nederlanden; lateron he followed with the Goentoer; both ships took the route around the Cape of Good Hope and so made a long trip, sothat Johan only arrived on the 16th May in Rijswijk, where just 4 months earlier wife and children had been staying with mama v. Zanten-Jut.Before their arrival we had two touching deaths in our family.
The fist one was that of my brother in law Willem Naessens; with his wife driving in a car on the road between Woerden and Gouda the car suddenly slipped through the snow and hit a tree; the shock was so severe that Willem, who was driving himself, was thrown with his head through the thick windscreen and by which his aorta was cut; his wife couldn’t stop the bleeding and when finally a doctor came around he couldn’t do anything else that diagnose death; really a frightful situation for Marie, who saw her husband bleed to death without being able to do anything about it.
W. had worked hard, saved well and one estimated his inheritance of nearly half a million.

The second death concerned my daughter Milly. On the 11th of January 1917 we recieved a telegram from Piet announcing that his wife was gravely ill and had been operated on in hospital; there was no mention if the operation had been succesful and we considered this as a precurser of the deathnews; however it took still another week before our gloomy suspicions were confirmed; all that time we still had hoped to receive better tidings, though unfortunately in vain.
It was a heavy blow for us all, not the least for Renny who lost her loving mother from whom she faiithfully received a long letter every week, which letters certainly later on have had a lot of influence in Renny’s life.Renny namely was quite attractive to the youngsters in the Hague and the advices from her mother have seen many pretenders give up and I imagine to her luck.
In the summer of 1916 both Renny and Carey achieved their final diplomas from the H.B.S. and I still remember the happy faces of both girls when I picked them up from the Waldeck Pyrmontkade, where they were receiving the results. They were both enrolled  as students on the Technical Highschool in Delft, Renn for technological and Carey for engineering, where they started their studies in September.

On the 10th October Anton de Jongh married Mien Voorduyn; after having finished the Rotterdam Commercial school he got into quite a lucrative job at the ropeyard belonging to Mien’s uncle Mr. v.d. Lelie, reason why the young couple could move into a neat home in the Wilhelminalaan in Rijswijk.
Since Johan’s stay I often went to Rijswijk and visited them quite a bit, however didn’t find Anton at home a lot; according to what they said he went rowing too often and the relation with his chief at the factory slowly became quite tense, of which the results became evident.

This didn’t take away that he lived rather like a great master; Carey and I were once invited with the young couple and we were astonished by the exaggerated luxury in food and drinks; amongst others they served 2 different kinds of champaign.

Johan’s stay for me was particularly pleasant and since I was quite healthy I could play many billiard games with him in the Witte or cafe and on Saturdays he was often a partner in my bridge party.
He also visited us at home in the Laan van Meerdervoort and he brought with his wife and children the neccessary happiness. I can still remember clearly, that Carey just like previous years had put up a christmas tree and Johan had helped with that elaborately; it was lovely to watch his kids when the candles were lit ( for Carey’s kids it was nothing new ) and how sweet Marijke shared out the presents to the persons they were for.In the beginning of 1917 Johan returned to the Indies with the SS. Vondel, which had first been held up in the English harbours and received the order to travel on via America. They steamed on, first to New York and from there on through the Panama Canal, for which a long route, which then took 80 days but on the other side for him and Muis was highly interesting.

Shortly before their departure uncle de Jongh got a stroke, which first affected his eyes and further paralised him somewhat; the man who always was working had to be run around in a wheelchair and in the end he became bedridden and died on the 30th July. It was clearly that he hadn’t left his wife in the economical condition one would have thought, of which large sums which were spent on Anton’s education, but mainly the behaviour of the greedy Tjebbe the given cause was. Luckily aunt Marie received a state’s pension of 1500 guilders a year sothat she could still live decently. The finishing of the estate still took several months and during all that time she remained in the Trompstraat, after which she moved to a neat 2nd story floor on the corner of the Sweelinckstraat and Hertoginnelaan.

Not long after the death of uncle de Jongh also papa van Heel died. His illness started with jaundice and finally when he was admitted in the Roman Catholic Hospital it was clear he had many galstones, sothat an operation by professor Rotgans was considered neccessary; he found more that 70 stones during the operation, of which some were as large as marbles, however the patient couldn’t survive the operation and died on the 11th August of that year. He died under very good financial circumstances and his son in law Schenk de Jongh kept his house in the Theresiastraat going until Gerard came with his family on leave.Life is full of contradictions, here too, especially in these times Herman and Marietje had found each other and in all secrecy got engaged, but for both their mothers couldn’t be kept a secret for too long; these came to an agreement that in the next few years there would be no question of making this public, because both were in fact still school children.

Another contradiction was that Renny and Carey at the same time sat for the exams in geometry and both passed, however Carey 3 months later. Joopie on the contrary failed miserably for his promotion to the 4th class of the Gymnasium; his mother, who had been afraid of this, had lodged him for some months with the old teacher van Hoorn, who could keep an eye on his work; however it had been in vain. When I was waiting for him at the exit of the Gym. he came swearing outside and said:” Opa, that will never happen again!”. He has kept his word to this point. Miel who had failed his promotion to the next class in 1916 this year went over to the 2nd class H.B.S.

In January 1918 Renny was taking rehearsal lessons for Natural science with Daan de Neve; they then sat studying cosy together in the family room upstairs with the result that not only the knowledge for natural science had improved but also the flame of love been ignited, until Mrs. de Neve at a morning visit spoke to me  and asked me to call her by her name Stien since our families would get tied to each other; of course I didn’t mind that at all and we did organise that the engagement of Renny would be made public in August, as soon as the neccessary permission of her father could be received from the Indies.Before I continue I first have to memorise here the sad death of our so beloved and appreciated aunt Joh. Until the end of her life she was brave and cheerful and still made a trip in the beginning of the year to den Helder where she stayed with the daughter of her best friend Mikmak; half May a message came from the Columbusstraat, where she lived one floor above Mrs. Muzerie, that the nice old aunt was not well at all and Carey and I hurried there; after we first had to order a for us strange doctor ( aunt Joh didn’t want to to have anything to do with her G.P.; this was Dr. Bense ). The doctor whom we ordered gave her some encouragement and prescribed a morphine powder and told us in confindence, that this was the beginning of the approaching end; this end wasn’t far away and on the 25th of May 1918 the good soul exchanged the temporary with the eternal. An honour salute on behalf of the whole family is not allowed to be left out; she was no trouble to anyone and to most of us a support through her interference and advice. She was burried with all the honours and according to her whishes interred in my family grave at Oud Eik en Duinen R.I.P.!

The reception for Renny and Daan took place on the 18th August in my house and the attendence was very busy as a result of the extended family of both; there were more than 80 flower arrangements and our small house was nearly full. However that many meek sheep fit in a cage was proven the same evening when to 40 guests a ringing engagement party was offered, of which the Delft student corps certainly made up the largest contingent and under whom also several fans of Carey. It was a real happy party which lasted till late in the night and with all credit to mother Carey.At the end of 1918 and in the beginning of 1919 Johan and his friend Daan Toussaint made an exploration of the Assahan river, for which the fertiliser factory had obtained concession. They collected all kinds of information, which was neccessary for the setting up of a large factory to gather nitrogen from the air and Johan made a extensive report with nice explanatory pictures about this work, which lasted nearly three months.
He sent me a typed out copy accompanied by all kinds of optimistic views and to promote the business he had taken up contact with his brother in law Gerard, who went on leave in the middle of July and arrived in Amsterdam on the 9th August and had a complete authorisation of the fertilzer factory to make the neccessary propoganda and to collect capital in Europe.

Meanwhile young Carey got engaged; for as far as I knoww there were three admirers namely Karel Blijdenstein, George Gerst and Henri Dinger, all students in Delft. With the last one she often acted and so this one became the chosen one; Papa and Mama Dinger came officially to ask for Carey’s hand in marriage and the engagement was celebrted on the 13th March; the happy fiancee however continued her studies in Delft in contrary to Renny, who left the heavy Natural science exams to the advice of mother C. in connection with her health and her future marriage.

In the beginning of September Daan and Renny had their names registered for their marriage and had in our house a happy dinner for family and witnesses; this was followed by a smashing party, which Stien de Neve gave in hotel de Twee Steden, where we sat wite more than 40 guests at dinner and to which of course the neccessary speeches were given. By chance cheers were also given especially to my health, since it was just 50 years ago that I had been appointed to officer on the 11th September.

The party ended with acts and a dancing, at which occasion I still danced with the bride and Marietje spoke nicely; whilst Henri and his mates performed a masked skit; I believe I can comfortably say that the evening was a success for everyone.