Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1955-05-27
i OUR
"a Town


PARIS First / want to tell
you of a pleasant and thought
full thing that happened in
Amsterdam. Upon our arrival
there a beautiful bouquet of
flowers adorned our room at
the hotel also a letter. Turn
ed out that the donor and the
author were one and the same.
A very kind lady, Paula van
der Linden, who takes the Mad
iSon Press at her home in st.
Oedenrode, Holland, had sent
them to Sam and me after
reading of our trip in the pa
per! We tried to meet her per-
sonally but our schedule was
such that this was impossible.
However, we talked to her on
the telephone the next best
thing. Her letter to us follows:
Dear American Friends,
Learning from the Madison
Press sent to me by Margar-
ct Converse of your Euro
pean trip. I wanted to send
you a floral welcome on your
arrival in Holland. Hope you'll
enjoy your stay in our country.
$50 sorry to know that your
time is SO short. / should have
loved to have been your guide
in our part of the country.
"Mr. Conway, your charm
ing column, Our Town, has a
regular reader over here and
Mr.. Robison's name sounds
familiar because l am contact
ing Mrs. Fl. Robson, one of
the London Bridgettes.
We'll, dear Friends, / hope
that you can find our country
has well spent the help SO gen.
erously given by your dear
country.
May Holland find a place
in your heart. Sincerely, Paula
v. d. Linden"
Perhaps we have presumed
In making this kind persons
letter public but we do so with
the intention of thanking her
for her genuine thoughtful
ness to a couple of jaybirds
a long way from home. Her
gesture will ne'er be forgot
=. and Holland has a reserved
place in our hearts!
Many things to see on the
way through Belgium. We
were hosted at the Belgian
Embassy and had a good, old
fashioned, question and ans
Wer interview there although
/ must admit the answers to
our questions were, shall we
say, very diplomatic?
One thing struck us as
rather odd, however. We hap
pened to be in Brussels on
May Day and the Belgian Soc
ialiSts put on great red-flag
parade and sang the Commun-
ist hit tune 1.-The Information
ale. 1t would appear that the
Socialists of Belgium are Com
munists, wouldn't it? Well,
such is not the case at all. A
United States Embassy man
explained that the red flags,
May Day and "The Internat-
ionale" were originally Social
ist gimmicks and that the
Reds simply borrowed" them
for their own purposes. This
made us feel a little better
about the whole affair.
The thing that struck me
about Belgium is an odd one
some of the finest houses
here have thatched roofs. The
thatching is a thing of beauty
and adds greatly to the ap-
pearances of the houses. I
suppose the irregular manner
in which the straw is cut is
what does it. At any rate, the
houses with thatched roofs ap-
pealed to us greatly.
Through customs at the
French border without any
bag-opening or other difficult
ty and on through the French
countryside. 1t is a reverend
ing source of wonderment to
me that customs, architecture,
Il clothing, language and outlook
n can change so rapidly as one
moves from place to place.
Il The Belgians speak French
but are not like the French.
The Hollander does not speak
u German and does not like the
# German. 'Tis a puZzlement.
The French countryside is
simply beautiful and all of the
flowers and fruit trees are in
full bloom. It has not rained a
single day on the whole trip
from Spain, through Italy,
Switzerland, Germany, Hol-
land and Belgium and we have
followed Spring and her mag
ic all the way northward. 1t
Is an unusual thing to say the
very least
"All roads lead to Paris" is
the customary st a tenn n {
heard all along the way and
from the looks of traffic NOV
ing toward Paree, this is an
understatement everything,
roads, people, thoughts and
tourists. seems to be drawn as