The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1944-04-13
Gives Interesting
Account of Visits
In English Cities

A
toned in England, has written an in
tercsting letter to his parents, Mr..
and Mrs. George A. White, of near
Mt. Lake Park, describing some of the
sights he has seen while on furloughs
Sgt. White was formerly employed
in the office of A. G. Ross, clerk of
the Circuit Court, prior to entering
the armed forces. His letter follows:
The following is a summary of some
of the trips that have taken since
coming to England. We were here six
weeks before VIC were given passes to
go anywhere, but when the first pass
came around | went to London and
have been there several times since to
/ sec the historical and interesting
/ places. The one thing that | wanted
to sec most of all was the Big Ben
! Clock which We have all heard strk-
! ing over the radio.
/ Upon arriving at Paddington Rail
road Station by train | caught the
! Tube as it is called here. 1t is similar
to the subways in New York City and
some of our other large cities. 1t
travels very fast-in fact it far sur
passes the speed of the buses and
other outside travel However, it took
me to the American Red Cross Club
and signed for room and asked at
the Information Desk where to find
some of the things of interest in Lon
don. | was given map and was di-
rected how to reach some of them and
here is where started out on my own.
/ | hired Lorry, which VIC call a Taxi,
! and asked to be driven to Big Ben.
Upon arriving there | paid my fare
and was standing gazing up at the
clock when Bobby-same as our
/ Pollceman-camc over and asked if
! he could be of any help to me. | asked
| him several questions regarding the
clock and told him that | was a little
disappointed in it because was under
J the impression that it was much
! larger. He told me that the Clock was
$50 feet high and the dial was 26 feet
/ long and the minute hand is II feet
long. During the great blitz in 1910,
piece of shrapnel damaged one of
the columns but did not affect the
clock in any way. Due to the great
height of the clock, one can't appreci-
ate the huge size of it.
Now find that | am right at the
House of Commons, House of Parlia-
ment and the House of Lords. was
fortunate to get guide to take me
through and explain the different
rooms and just what each was used
! for, and some of the things that had
taken place in them.
Less than block away is the West
minister Abbey went there and
spent quite a long time looking at the
statues and reading the inscriptions
both on the walls and floors. All the
most famous men and their wives are
buried under the church floor and
have a marble slab covering the grave
that makes up the floor with the
Epitaph engraved on each There are
some right spooky places in some of
these old Cathcdrals
By this time it was getting dark
so | returned to the Red Cross Club
and saw a nice movie The following
morning after had breakfast. | went
to see st. PauPs Cathedral, which
stands practically all alone now as the
buildings around it have been demol-
lShed by bombs. entered the building
and was shown over the first floor
and then went down in the crypt. One
bomb had hit the side of the Cathedral
and did considerable damage, but re-
Inducements have been erected to
make it safe for people to enter. |
found this one pretty much the same
as Westminster Abbey, but the most
interesting was the whispering gal
lcry | climbed 629 steps to get to it,
which is built along the inside of the
dome and is about four to five hun
drcd feet in circumference. The guide
told nc to walk around the circle till
| reached the other side and that he
would whisper to me. When ! reached
the other side, he began to whisper
and his voice could not have been
more clear had it been coming through
loud speaker. Then VIC climbed 1856
more steps to get to the rock gallery
which is very interesting place. Now
the next move was to 20 on the out
side of the Dome which had a narrow
walk around it. From here could sec
all over London. 1t was nice to stand
there and look out over the Thames
River and sec the boats going up and
down loaded with various cargo and
the people down on the street looked
very small. If YOU have been up in
the Washington Monument in Wash
ington. ID. G.. YOU will have some idea
the size of the people. While was
here. the siren sounded for an air
raid. but this being nothing unusual
in London, | paid very little attcn-
ton to the warning.
Now the next place to soc was the
Tower of London. This place probably
has more history connected with it
than any other place in England. To
start with there was only one tower
built and this was for the King and
the Royal Family to seek safety dur
ing any war or disturbance. Most
people today think of it as lust being
one Tower. but there are % of them
and each one carries different name
Most of them were named after some
famous King or Princess Part of it
was also used as d Jail for any of the
Royal Family that had TO be punished
One of the Towers is called the Tower
of BLOOD due to many executions that
took place there. Many of the people
who were serving time there have
been poisoned by their enemy.
could have spent a full day here and
not have gotten half the history of the
place. The Tower of London is about
half way between London Bridge and
the Tower Bridge. When | left there
walked up the Thames River and
across Tower Bridge. down the other
side and back across the London
Bridge. had never dreamed of hav.