The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-19
AIss HARALsON WRITES OF ETIROpEAN TRTp

OF EUROPEAN TRIP
 The following letter has been re- ceived by friends from Miss Carolyn Haralson, formerly of this city, who with pr. and Mrs. L. ai Livingston Staveley and Miss Elizabeth Dent of Washington, D. C., is touring Europe; and will prove of special interest to her many Ala bama friends:
 eSo this Is London. England, I stand on thy imperial ground, not all stranger. My admiration IS so great, my appreciation is so un- limited, that 'tis sweet to feel a com- mon heritage-a real kinship. The things I have heard and read, in no way prepared me for what I was to find and since the moment l put feet on English soil, I have felt that ] was a part of their soft toned old prints I have wanted to write but the days have been too full and the evenings too weary. We have slept little. Fog horns, answering bells, together with the natural excitement of reaching the journeys end, was not conducive to sleep. We reached port at 8 a. m, but it was 5 before we went on deck. The sky was rose with early morning light-the fog was lifting In the far distance England was before us, hills green clad with the slopes covered with small farms, matched cottages, gray rocks and grim Qualifications, Ply mouth, in the shelter of two hills, were the impressions that stand out as most distlnctively. We were for tunate to have this for our landing port, for here we gain the most de- 1ightful impressions of England. Everything is so quaint so foreign, so unspeakably beautiful. The wind ing, curving streets, queer houses. gray roofs and sides and skies and ofg ha fe1,i dens and brilliant window boxes these and everything were an un- failing delight to us.
 We remained over Sunday, for we felt very tired. and there was much to interest us We saw the spot from which the Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower. watched men bowl on the village green, where Sir Francis Drake was bowling when the ap proach of the Spanish Armada was announced. Many of England's great men were born here. Here on the wonderful promenade we watched the sun set, listened to wonderful music and enjoyed the foreign look ing people. To our utter amazement we found that we were being watched even as we look at Chinese and West Indians. We could discover nothing queer about ourselves, but we caught amused glances, saw peo- pie laugh behind their hands and heard the whispers, Here they come" We motored through Dart mouth to Budr. where we spent the night and where we walked over the moors, purple with heather, climbed a hill and watched a glorious sunset over the Cornish sea. Strange it seemed to us to watch an o'clock sunset, and come home in the twilight at Ii, too light as yet for stars. From Budr, we motored to sr~Ta ty yfg-.a county through EXmoor and straight to London. I am going back to Lynton some day and stay as long as I wish. There is the most glorious walk there, the valley of rocks, along the cliffs for many miles, past Castle Rock, familiar to those of us who loved Lorna Doone. We stood at the foot of Castle Rock in the twi- light, 10 o'clock or later, heard the cries of the night birds and the sea breaking at the foot of the cliffs. In such a spot did Tennyson write his Break, Break, Break Through all the trip Jean Ingeton and other of the poets have been on our minds, for they felt the charm of the moors and the wild flowers, and ate of the dear magic things of nature.
 Reaching London knew the best part of the trip was over, and was homesick for things of such unspeakable beauty and charm, but London breaks upon one, too, and far surpasses our preconceived ideas. It is something mighty, this bleak and blackened city; it is so huge that it makes me feel that New York is small. So staid and dignified that our own cities seem crude and new. looking in the background that many centuries of history give this place. On Sunday we attended services at St. Pauls ard had lunch at the Cheshire Cheese and yesterday we had the day divided between Her Garden and Hampton Courts. These two I enjoyed above all other things of London. The gardens at Hampton Court look as I imagine the other world will look; the roses are in bloom, clematis and every flower have ever heard of and hundreds l never saw before, all in the highest perfection of beauty.
 After we have seen more of Lon- don we are going up Into Scotland. We have tried to change our steamer reservation so that we might sail from Italy, but the situation is hope less. To save my life l cannot under stand the peoples talk. believe orig inal Greek would be more familiar. imagine the best people must speak the English language, but as yet we have not met those."
 Other news in the letter was only personal, interesting only to those to whom 1t was written.