The Lexington progress. (Lexington, Tenn.) 1884-current, 1922-12-01
NEWT WHITE WRITES
ABOUT HIS TRIP TO EUROPE.
AMERICAN EMBASSY
Office of the Naval Attache
London

NoNemDeT 10, IJ1N.
The Honorable w. v. Barry,
Lexington, Tenn.
Dear Barry
Mrs. White and / sailed from Que
bee on September 9Th, on the Empress
of France, a Canadian Pacific Steam
er, whose lines virtually encircle the
globe. Two days through the st. Law
renee river and the Straits of Belle
Isle, where icebergs were plentiful,
brought us to the Atlantic. We were
five days in crossing, with perfect con
ditions except one day of fog. On the
18th we landed in Southampton, a
quick and pleasant journey, where our
son Newton met us; thence to Lon
don by rail, my first experience in
first, second and third class travel and
closed apartments. With more exper-
fence, like this, and think we could
profit by it, but more of this later
In American slang, you expressedla
mouthful when you said London was
the largest city in the world. My son
and friend have an apartment near
Hyde Park, which is supposed to be
near the centre of London Starting
from this point, it will take forty min
utes by auto to reach the outskirts Of
the city, but beyond the outside of the
city everything is beautiful. Ovid, in
his Metamorphosis, said there were
three ages, the golden, the brazen and
the iron. You and know there was
stone age. It strikes me London Is
a combination of all When you see
its jewelry stores, the Crown plate and
jewels, you are reminded of the gold
en- period. When you see the wonder
full iron fences you think of the iron
age; when you see every railing and
taxicab ornamented with brass, you
think Of the brazen age. Their stone
walls make you think of the stone
age.
From London we drove to Canter-
bury. This is beautiful town, and
there you see a very old Cathedral,
which would interest you very much
more than myself. Back to London,
for a day or two, then by auto to Paris
a distance of 230 milese as we would
call it. In crossing the channel we
were unfortunately detained sixsor
seven hours by fog. Instead 81
reaching Paris the first night out, we
had to stop at Rouen, a beautiful
French town and one that impressed
me more than any other city of France
except Paris itself. This entire trip
was through beautiful country.
miles of the trip from London to
Paris was through English territory
or possessions. Iron and stone fences
seem to say to you; keep Out; this
is private property" but its beautiful
parks and splendid roads equally say,
You are welcome; have a good time"
Their pastures and forests are beau
tiful, but saw very little livestock or
cultivation on either of my trips to
Canterbury or Southampton. Veg
etables and sugar beets seem the prin-
cipal production. After crossing the
channel, the life and customs of the
people seem entireiy different. No
fencing along the highways; much
more land titled; their flocks are eth
er herded or staked out; sugar beet,
vegetable and grain, wheat or oats,
their principal production. The wo-
men seemingly do the cultivation. You
see very little machinery at work; it
is all done by hand. Their plots of
ground are so small that machinery
can not be used successfully. Even
the mower, which is necessary to ev-
cry farm with us, is not used, and il
is wonderful how smooth they keep
their meadows with hand blades and
wooden rakes. There are few farm
houses to be seen. The tillers of the
soil over all the country | have been,
except in Switzerland, live in villeges
and go out to work. The last few
years | have advocated this mode of
living for my own country, thinking
that being centralized, there would be
better churches, schools, light and wa
ter systems. But when | see these
villages, with the stable and houses
combined, with manure heaps at ev-
cry door, giving off offensive odours,
and the insanitary conditions that ex-
ist, ! go back to my first love of good
roads and country homes and autos.
While sanitary conditions are not the
best with us, / am willing to say they
are eighty per cent better than where
| have been here.
Newton having been ordered TO
Prague for an aviation meeting we
slowed the car in Paris and took train
to Prague. This travel was new ex-
perience to me. You can buy first,
second, third or fourth class tickets,
but there is no checking of baggage
as with US. You 90 early to the sta
ton, get porter, turn over your bag
gabe to him, and risk him to get you
a seat in whatever class you have pur-
chased tickets for. He takes YOU to
your apartment and deposits your
baggage. II seems confusing at first
but after few days you get used to
II and do not mind as much as Won
may think. From Paris to Prague is
day and night run, as we call il. We
left Paris at night. BY day we were
IN Bavaria, the most beautifully kept
country ! ever saw. The pastures
look lawn-mown. The grass
looked lawn mowered. The grass
grows TO the waters edge mot a weed
TO be seen; not Il fence to spoil the
scene; all stock herded or staked out.
a goose or goat has someone look
ing after It. The forests are in per-
feet condition. No zigzag lines, only
squares and parallelograns. Eng
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