Alma record., 1913-10-23

went to Shottery to Ann Hathaway's
cottage 1t has straw matched roof
and beautiful flower gardens sur
rounding IT. 1t is furnished by the
Hathaway furniture largely and kept
up by the government Next we
visited the Shakespeare house which
likewise is maintained by the govern
ment. We visited the church in
which he is buried. the chapel where
he was married. and the school he at
tended. John Harvards house, the
founder of Harvard University, was
pointed out to us in Stratford. From
here we went to bennington and got
train for London
London is a great city and we en-
joyed our visit there immensely; the
splendid galleries, cathedrals, thea
ters, museums and gardens kept us
busy every minute. Among the
places that we enjoyed most and in
which we spent several hours or even
whole day were: National Gallery,
which contains paintings from all the
great schools arranged each in rooms
SO that the comparison and chance
for study is excellent Paintings, too,
by nearly all if not all the worlds
famous artists. British Museum; en-
joyed especially the Elgin marbles
and manuscript rooms. Tate Gallery,
fine collection of modern English
art. South Kensington Museum, a
great building with over hundred
large rooms and halls filled with
splendid things of interest; many of
paintings, stone and wood carving,
metal work, tapestry, models OF ar
chitecture from different ages and the
like. National Portrait Gallery.
Natural History museum, magni
ficent collection and said to be the
best in the world. geological Gar
dens, likewise great collection,bu but
of the living instead of the dead.
Westminster Abbey, and not until
we spent several hours here was |
able to appreciate fully the splendid
talk that DR.. Clizbe gave us last year
on this historic place, which is the
resting place of so many of the great
great leaders of the past. Towers
where the Crown jewels are kept
and guarded, visitors are permitted
to view them through iron bars and
they surely do look rich. At the top
of the display is the Imperial Crown
worn by George V at his corona
ton two years ago. 1t contains
over three thousands diamonds, and
pearls, among which is the largest
diamond in the world. These of
course are we'll guarded SO that there
is no danger of robbery. The site
of the scaffold is paved with granite
where Anne Boleyn, Catharine How
ard, Lady Jane Grey and others
were beheaded. One of the most in
teresting portions of the fortress is
Beauchamp Tower, which was long
place of confinement for prisoners
of rank, and some of the most inter-
esting things here are the inscrip-
tions left by those unhappy mortals
on the inner walls. Many of them
were held here until the time of
their execution. The Bloody Tower
in this fortress is also interesting
with the murder of the young prin-
cess.
St. Paul's cathedral differs from
the other cathedrals of England in
that it is of Roman architecture and
its decorations are of glittering
sort. 1t is a great church, however,
and we enjoyed our visit to it. Par
| lament is one of the most beautiful
buildings in the city. The Hous es
of Lords and Commons surprised us
because of the plainness and simplic-
ity of the rooms.
The Royal residential district was
interesting but we did not have the
privilege of seeing the inside of those
residences. When we would get tired
in the galleries and museums we
would take the top of motor bus
and ride full length of some princi-
pal streets, thus getting a change and
enjoying it. Some of the evenings
we spent in the theatres. Saw Har-
bert Tree and Maxine Elliott in so
seph and His Brethren" at His Ma
jesty's theatre. This play is causing
quite a sensation in the city and it
was with difficulty that we were able
to secure seats any time during the
two weeks that we were there.
From London we returned to Edin-
burgh and then made an eight day
trip through Ireland. In some re-
spects this was the most interesting
part of our journey. The extreme
spirit of unrest that exists in that
country is now and has been for
some time the leading topics in the
British newspapers. We spent three
days in Dublin, when the big strike
was at it's height, thousands of
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