September 13, 1889

September 13th.

We dressed ourselves this afternoon and went out to call and take a drive on the “Champs Elysee.” We took the children dressed in white and we in our finest in an open Barouche, called on Mrs. Kilbourne, Mrs. Scoffy, at the Embassadors and also at the American Consul’s. Then drove out on the Elysee. It was perfectly magnificent. I cannot describe it. It is as wide as four of Euclid Avenue, bordered with trees, as smooth and white as marble and literally filled with the beauty and fashion of Paris.

We met the Newcombs who came over with us in the Gascogne. They are from Kentucky and know all the Easthams well. Miss. Newcomb is engaged to a French Baron much older than herself. She eighteen, he thirty or forty. Her father has tobacco plantations and immense warehouses in London.

This evening Mr. Scoffy called on Jennie. He evidently admires her very much; has invited us to go to no end of places, for there must be a Chaperone, you know. He is a Greek; his Uncle being for many years Mayor of Athens.

[As anyone with any familiarity at all with Paris likely knows, Avenue de Champs-Élysées is a famous avenue in Paris and has been used for many official celebrations. An English-language page on the basics is here.]

[According to the Oxford Dictionary, a “Barouche” was “a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with a collapsible hood over the rear half, a seat in front for the driver, and seats facing each other for the passengers, used especially in the 19th century.” The term is likely familiar to Jane Austen fans. Here is a blog post (off-site) on horse-drawn carriage transport, including a photo of a barouche. Barouches changed over time and as yet I have been unable to locate a photo of one online that definitively dates from 1889 France.]

[The referenced Euclid Avenue was one of the major avenues in Addie’s home city of Cleveland, Ohio, United States.]