The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-11
What Our
Lads Write
Captain Tours England.

| Captain Tours England.
| The A. H. Bank family at Donnell-
son, Iowa, has received a letter from
Captain G. c. Bank, Seventysixth
Field Artillery, containing graphic
description of some parts of Eng
land and the life there. Captain Bank
writes from Winchester, England. He
says:
This is Sunday evening and in
stead OF going anywhere will try to
write long letter home. It is so
difficult to write interesting letters
as most everything connected with
our work is tabooed by the censor OF
course we censor our own letters, but
that only makes it worse. for our
signature under the words censored
by" puts US on honor that the letter
contains nothing contrary to regula-
tons. It is quite difficult to tell Just
exactly what is forbidden as it is i'm
possible to make regulations to cover
all cases.
Undoubtedly you folks wonder
what my duties are. All that can
say Is that party of officers we're
sent over for duties Of preparatory
nature. These duties have been prac-
tically completed and while waiting
for our next move some of us have
improved our time by travelling over
a considerable portion OF England.
Sees Interesting Places.
eve saw most of the places of in
terest in London. such as st. Paul's
Cathedral, British museum, Westmin-
ster Abbey and the house of parlia-
ment. We visited Shakespeare's birth
place at Stratford-on-Avon and went
all through the house in which he was
born. We have also seen a number of
other towns, which while not noted
for any particular event, were never
theless, interesting.
Most of my time has been spent at
Winchester, one of the oldest towns
in England. 1t was the capital of
England for many hundred years. |
The cathedral was begun in 1893 and |
finished some ESQ years later. 1t is
very interesting. The stone carving !
is among the best in the world. The
grounds surrounding are very beauti- |
full. Great trees, eight to ten feet in /
diameter, with the finest blue grass
sod everywhere, all surrounded by an
old Norman wall, fifteen to eighteen
feet high.
Many Historical Places.
are OllloT
places of interest, including old Win
chester castle, where the kings of
England lived for 400 years. Here
also one can see the old Round
Table" supposed to be the one around
which King Arthur and his knights
used to sit. Portions of the old stone
wall surrounding the city are still in
good condition. Two of the four
gates that opened into the city are
still in a fine state of preservation.
Streets run through them now and the
old portcullis is never lowered. All
the streets of Winchester are very
narrow and all the houses are built ;!
right up against each other. There
are no yards except perhaps in the
center of the blocks in rear of the
houses. OF course all the houses are
brick or stone. A wooden dwelling
would be an object of curiosity in
England.
No Factories There.
winchester has probably 10000 I'm
habitants. but it covers less than I
one-fourth the area of Keokuk. 1t is
purely a residential town, there being
kindly disposed toward Americans T.
w Z nave USSH W MOSL VI =,
their social affairs and have been 7
made to feel at home.
Afternoon tea is the universal Gus {
ON here. From four to five O'Clock
every afternoon, almost everyone goes q
o tea, either at home or in one of i
he numerous tea rooms of the city u
t is quite pleasant custom for
hose who can afford the time PEG.
lie meet and talk over things while
ipping their tea. At the same time
hey get rest and relaxation from
heir work.