Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-10-23
Irwin HalvOrsOn Writes Mother,
Tells of Meeting Arnold Burt
in France on Arriving There
DESCRIBES SCENES
IN ENGLAND
He Says it Seems Like a Dream to
Him When He Thinks of the
Thousands of Miles From
Home He Is


ing the ship on which we had sailed
on had safely landed and perhaps a
card which l sent from England.
l started letter to you while in
England, but never got chance to
finish it before l moved, so will now
try and tell you little something
of what l have seen since leaving
Iowa, of course | told you great
deal OF the short trip from Dodge, so
I'll not say any more of it.
First l must tell you that I'm feel
ing fine and haven't anything to kick
on so far, eat and sleep being about
all | have done for some time with an
occasional hike once in a while.
Over here it makes me think of my
school days when studying geography
and history of the "Old Country"
but never did | expect to ever get
over here and see any of it. l have
not been around a lot but will tell
you what l have seen and some old
history. / first landed in Liverpool
one of the largest navy yards in the
world, but / didn't get around there
SO can't give any details. Also at
Oxford where one of the greatest
colleges is. A great many of the
noted men attending this University,
Birmingham is also another great
city in England. The most known
of by me is Winchester, and believe
could write more than have paper
| to write 1t on. went through the
Winchester castle which was built
in the year 1885. If you look at
that date you'll readily see that its
rather old building and / dare sa '
it will stand up for good many more
years. Some parts of this building
is still in use. Queen Victoria's
statue Is inside the castle and is said
to be in the same place for over 400
years. It's awfully hard to describe
a building of this kind as we'll as any
of the other buildings, as one must
see them to have any idea of them at
all. think the oldest of them all is
the cathedral in Winchester, which
is in a whole lot better condition
than the castle. The foundations
were laid in the year 1893. The
building is in a lot better condition
than the castle and still in use. To
take a look at the inside you would
not think they could build anything
line II lLOSC Cdlly ouy AiSINC VII
this cathedral many noted people
were laid to rest and markers are
right on the floor. Along the walls
are copper and stone plates with
names of soldiers and noted people.
All around the town of Winchester
you will see all kinds of old buildings,
perhaps some of them just as old as
those l mentioned. Another old
building there was the old college,
which was built in 1902. It's an old
stone structure and looks more like
Ia Jail than a college.
When / first landed / sure was
surprised to see such nice country
as England and I'll have to hand it
to the farmers over here, for they
most certainly do take pride in their
farms. Everything is so nice and
clean around the place and you can
be sure they don't let any good land
grow up in weeds. Buildings all
around in the territory of England
which / have covered are made either
of brick or stone with brick states
as roofs or hay, like some farmers In
the States use for protection sheds
for their stock. In the towns all the
buildings run into one and the resi-
dence districts, the buildings look
like hotels or tenant houses, say
with Is or 20 families to house.
The towns are very close together
and all very thickly settled. | won't
have to tell you much about the
streets and street cars and trains as
YOU have read other letters from
here which were published in the
good old DEBORAH papers The streets
are very narrow with just room
enough for rigs to pass cash other.
The street cars are like a 1Oc hack
in DEBORAH and the railroad trains
are toys compared to some or them
IN the States. instead of going into
the car from the end, you nave 10
get in them like you would an
automobile or buggy. The cars are
about as long as a lumber wagon,
THAT is the box cars) and the pas
senger coaches are about hair the
size of ours and divided SO as TO
haul eight men In each compartment
and divided into five compartments.
Most of the cars have Just Iour
wheels and looks like a lumber
wagon on track.
The most noticeable tnins IN EhS
LAND is the great number OF children;
I never saw so many In my lire ana
everyone of them dirty. Every town
we went thru, would look out the
window and see groups on every
corner with 10 to IL in group. All
thew say is "Give me a penny OF
l"American coins" Button FOR souVi,
MR.. Before l forget 1t ] must ten
Won that have seen some or the
dirty HUNS already. We were
waiting for a transport ship. at a GER
tain place and they brought some
German prisoners off Of one OF the
boats. They were some old men Oh
about 40 to As and as young as 10 l
would say. Some of the Americans
we're lucky enough to cut a souvenir
off their coats as they went py US,
hut / wasn't close enough or ! may
have done the same. These eal pr aom !
ars were captured last week some
time and still their blue uniforms
were covered with trench mud fney
were all In good shape and none the
Il n In "a IL.