St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1919-01-08
DESCRIBES TRIP
TO SCOTLAND
Letter Received by Mr.. and Mrs. I.
G. Marshall From Their Daughter
A Nurse in England
Portsmouth,
December ., 1915

Portsmouth,
December ., 1915
Dear Folks;
It's quite q long time since / wrote
YOU because | have been having my
seven days leave, and as we have two
days in which to travel it means I've
been away from the hospital for nine
days.
Two of the girls here went with
me. We went to London and stayed.
Overnight and Mrs. Lippman joined
us there. Then We went up to Edin-
burgh. We stayed there until We'd
nesday, came back to London and
stayed until Friday, then back tc
the hospital. We really had a very
nice trip, chiefly because everybody
was congenial. 1t was the wrong time
Of the year to go to Scotland, how
ever, because the weather was mis-
cradle and VIC didn't SC c as much a.
we might have otherwise.
The first day we were in Edinburgh
we went out to see the famous Forth
Bridge, over the Firth of Forth. It's
q mile and quarter long, hut VIC
could only see one span Of it because
Of the heavy fog. That is where tho
English AMI American fleets are, bu'
lagain on account of the fog, VIZ
could see nothing but the dim out
lines Of two or three ships. At tha'
line the German feet was II III lie"
from there, but Of course we couldn't
have seen that even if it had bcol
clear. We had thot We might pos
sibly see il and were awfully dis
appointed not to,
=, We stayed at the Nurses Club i
! Edinburg. and ore other day VIZ
were invited to 20 aboard the U. s
Is. Arkansas but the day We were
! supposed to go it raincd hard and &c
We had to give up going.
On Sunday morning we went to s.
Giics Cathedral, where all the sold.
ier3 fron, the garrison co., and thu
was one Of the most interesting
things Of al. There we're four o.
five hundred "kiltieS" there in full
lvGalin. After the selvi:. they march
ct:t Of the church, form in The street
in front and narcl, !'aci to the gol'
rison. They played the bagpipes and
lit was great We tagged along witt
; them up To Edlnhurg Castle, which j.
now used as the garrison. The,
went through some more manoeuvrcs
in the esplaruta outside the Castle.
IN awfulIy amusing thing happen
ed in church. Most of the "Kilties"
had colds and they kept up choru'
Of sneezing and coughing, so that thr
."Donlinie" could hardly make him
self heard There was an CID Col
orel sat opposite us, evidently in
command, and every time anybody
coughcd he would glare around at tho
men as though he intended discipline
ing every last one of them as soon u
he got them outside. Finally the dom
inic could stand it no longer, and &c
he made little speech. He said, "
do not propose to carry on this due
between your voices and mine.
know you have colds, but about sc
per cent of you can restrain your
selvc3.' And a good many Of Their
dill subsde. After the dominic haf
spoken his mind the old colonel set
tied back ir, his seat in II satisfied
way as though, the culprits having
been i'ebuked, he could now appreci-
ate the church service.
Sunday afternoon we went through
the Castle. AS | said it is now use,
for a garrison and so inside it is Il
little Disappointing. But from be
low in the city it is very imposing
1t is bailt up so high that it over.
looks tn c whole city. 1t must have
been almost impregnablc in the ole
days because on three sides Of i
there is a sheer precipcc ever $;
many feet high. On the fourth sid,
there is a steep road that leads W
to lit is now called High street.
When VIC were walking III TO The
Castle two little boys came along ant
started TO tell us about the things te
be seen. fter minute VIC realized
that they we're both saying exactl,
.ho same things at exactly the SAM
t'mn. When one would pause TO
breath the other would too. 1t wa
awfuily funny especially us the,
both kept such straight faces. Wher
we asked them how they did it, they
said they had to learn it in schoo
from the Guide Book. Rather gooI
idea think, because they know al
about the history Of the city. VIZ
gave them some pennies which, q
course, vas the object Of the littl
spiel.
One day we went down TO AYR tc
see the "Bohbie" Burns cottagc, We
had to 20 to Glasgow by train ant
then down to Ayr from there--it takes
about three hours and Il half. We
were awfully glad we went. For one
thing We ran into the first fine day
we had had in Scotland--in fact, the
only one VIC had while there.
good deal of the trip down from
GLASGOW was right along the Firth
OF Clyde and it was so clear W,
could sec u long way out. They tole
ua in Ayr that at this time of yea
they usually have snow, but it was
almost like early spring. The gras-
was as green as could be and i
wasn't cold at all. We saw thr
Robbie Burns' cottage, the "a,