The Press., 1893-10-19
,ld church on the banks of the Avon. e

old church on the banks of the Avon. On the stone over his grave is the celebrated 
 aGood friend, for Jesus sake forbear To digg the dust enclosed here;
 Blest be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones. :"
 From Stratford- on Avon we went to Warwick, where we saw the celebrated Warwick castle. This ancient castle, dating from the 14th century, with it's high walls, battlements and towers, it's moat, drawbridge and portcullis, and it's large halls inside, took us back mentally to the old feudal times.
 Our next stopping place was Oxford, the seat of one of the two great universi- ties of England. Here we spent half 8 day in looking over the various colleges of this ancient university. Each college is built in the form of quadrangle, fac ing the open court inside. Most of the colleges have very ancient appearance. I was struck all the time that was in England with the fact that it is a very old country. When I visited Fanueil Hall, in Boston, and Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, thought they were very old; but in Oxford I saw the arch of a cathedral which we were told was built in the year 1O02! And we saw great many buildings which were erected before Amer l ica was discovered.
 The country in England is very beauti- l ful. Almost every foot of it is under cultivation. There is greenness to the fields which we do not have in America. The fields are divided by hawthorn hedges, which are usually kept well trimmed and look beautiful. I think it must have been a sacrifice indeed for our Pilgrim fathers to leave such beautiful country for the desolate shores of New England.
 From Oxford went to London, where we passed the remainder of our stay ill England. Our time was fully oc- cupied with business and sightseeing There are plenty of interesting things to see here in the metropolis of the world We visited St. Pauls cathedral, the British museum, the house of parliament where we saw the queens throne, West minister Abbey, with all it's impressive historical associations and monuments of interest, the London tower, besides several museums, art galleries, etc. Or Sunday we heard Archdeacon Farral preach in the morning, and in the evening we attended the Metropolitan tabernacle where Thomas H. Sturgeon preached tc an immense congregation.
 We left London on Friday, Aug. 18th embarking on the s. s. ''Parramatta'' o1 the Peninsular and Oriental line. Or Sunday we were sailing through the Bay of Biscay, which was very rough, and made us nearly all sea-sick. The water came up into great heaps and then sank down into deep hollows, making our yes sel pitch terribly. It grew calmer, how ever, as we approached the coast o Spain. We reached Gibraltar in the eve ming, and saw the immense rock by moon light as it lowered up against the sky On the morrow we found ourselves ol the historic Mediterranean.
 Our next port was Malta. This was ot chief interest to us, as being the place O. St. Paul's shipwreck. It is of no smal interest, however, in other ways. It is { very strongly fortified place, belonging tc Great Britain. We had about four hours on shore, and found every thing strange and peculiar.
 From thence we sailed to Brindisi where we took on the mail for the east Here we saw typical Italian city, witt it's stone houses and narrow streets. w reached Port Said, at the entrance af th' Suez canal, on fWSsneseey night, Aug 30. 1t took all the ~ rt1y to pass thre the canal, which IS S7 diiles long. It is dreary desert all the way (except througl the Bitter Lakes1, but it is made inter esting by the picturesque groups of cam els and Arabs which we saw occasional , ly. Then there came thoughts of Bibl times, when Abraham, Jacob and Josepl passed over these desert sands, and wher the child Jesus was brought by Josepl } and Mary. In the evening we sailed owe , the spot in the Gulf of Suez, where tn children of Israel passed through on dr. land. In the Red Sea it was very hot the thermometer registering 96o and 98 ) every day. On Sept. 3d preached ser mon with the thermometer at about goo We were kept comfortable, however, b the punkahs, or swingins fans.
 On Sept 4th we arrived at Alden, wher l we changed our steamer for the 'sSiam, as the "Parramatta" goes on to Australia We are now looking forward with kee anticipation to seeing Bombay on tn morrow, and are thankful to be brough , thus safely to the close of our long voyage Yours sincerely,
 HARVEY M. LAWSON.