Letter from Alma to Mama Margaret: 7/8/1910
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A letter from Alma, who is seeing the sights of London, England, to her mother, Mama Margaret, who is staying with Alma's sister Laura in Alliance, Ohio.
1910-07-08: ~AUDIO~---images---comment---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
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1910-07-08: audio---images---~COMMENT~---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
It's fun, but quite honestly, it's not Alma's best letter, in my opinion. I daresay she was tired from all her sightseeing.
1910-07-08: audio---images---comment---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
London July 8th
Dear Mother:
I think I have done enough sight seeing for today, at least I can’t think of anything else I want to see. Today I went to the Kensington Museum, which is the Nat. History part of the British Museum. I am not particularly fond of Natural History, I wished it were Orestes instead of myself. Then I walked in Kensington Gardens, along Broad Walk (do you remember it in “The Little White Bird”?) to Kensington Palace. That is where Queen Victoria was born. The State Apartments are on exhibition on certain days. I was impressed chiefly with the size and height of the rooms, the great collection of portraits and the shabbiness of the furniture. The velvet or plush on the chairs was threadbare and ragged; it looked like decayed respectability. The woodwork was beautiful and beautifully carved. The gardens and grounds are beautiful. I am not much impressed with the abodes of royalty - everything I have seen is rather gloomy-looking, Buckingham Palace especially so. I am told that the best view is from the gardens. I certainly hope it is. Marlborough House, where the King is at present, looks a little better as the front is not so bare.
I am doing a good deal of walking. If I keep it up I ought to be very slender when I return. I walked through Hyde Park one day and saw the aristocracy riding in Rotten Row. It was a cold day so there were not so many people walking as usual, but I had a good chance to observe the effect of tight skirts on the gait. It is especially funny with French heels. It seems strange to see so many people wearing black; practically all the well-dressed women are in black and the men wear mourning bands on their silk hats. I have seen more silk hats in a day than one would see in a year in New York. I saw several men with monocles in Rotten Row, and was filled with wonder if not admiration.
Yesterday morning I went to Westminster Abbey to a service. The music was beautiful but I couldn’t understand the service, except the parts I knew. On Monday morning I was at a service in St. Paul’s. I was too far away to hear anything but the music. The organ was the most powerful I have ever heard.
After I went to Westminster yesterday I went to the Tate Gallery. It contains sculpture and paintings, mostly modern British. It is very interesting going to galleries here because one can see enough of an artist’s work to form an idea of it. I decided that I liked Watts, Millier, Collier, Leighton and Sargent, but that I do not like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His women look like Eva when she does the soul [???] kiss with Will. Will would probably like them. Wednesday I spent several hours in the National Portrait Gallery. I think that is the most interesting place of all, especially the modern picture part. Some of the Dutch portraits are interesting but I don’t care for the earlier English work. Either the artists were incompetent or the royalty and nobility were a wooden lot. I think it probably both but chiefly that the artists were incompetent.
On Monday I went to the Tower. That is one of the most interesting places in London. It is not at all like what I expected. I must have seen pictures of it but I don’t remember them. It is not one tower but a great many towers. The central tower the “White Tower” is the oldest I believe. It is now used as a museum of armour and weapons. There are two concentric sets of towers around that. I saw the one where the princes were murdered - “Bloody Tower” and others where various people were imprisoned. It was a “free day” and there were a great many school children were there being taught English history. Mrs. Prauherd [???] is helping it along by reading me Tigaro [??? ungooglable] in the evening - a burlesque on English history. I have it - history - seriously by day and humorously by night.
I went up in ‘the Monument” one day. I paid 3 pence to climb 300 steps and it is not worth it. It was a comparatively clear day and yet it was too smoky and cloudy to see far. It is a monument built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666.
I spend a good deal of time bus riding. There are very few lines of street-cars - “trams” - and transportation is chiefly by busses for short distances and the “underground” for long distances. The latter smells exactly like the subway. It is the most American thing in England.
I saw a few American flags on the Fourth but felt no special excitement as I see one every day when I go to the Am Exp office. I usually read the N.Y. Times when I am there. I was surprised at first to find that it was ten days old. I shall have to wait several days for the American version of the prize fight. The English papers seem to doubt if we are a civilized nation.
Monday afternoon Theodora took me to see some friends the Mays. We had tea at 5 and supper at 9:30. We reached home after midnight. I had a splendid time. Mr. May is English, Mrs. May Irish and they have a son who is an organist and a daughter who teaches. Mr. Waldron the vicar of Brixton was there for tea and came later in the evening. He is extremely interesting and has an inexhaustible fund of stories. He wanted some American ones from me and I could not think of a thing. We had a hot woman’s suffrage argument. He and Miss May were against it and Theodora is red hot for it. I helped her occasionally but could not talk fast enough to do much. Mr. Waldron is one of the few Anglicans that Theodora likes so he must be unusual. She says she thinks he will be thrown out of the church eventually as he is much too independent.
Theodora is going to have a party for me tomorrow night - she is to introduce “Dr. Stokey”. I am always called “Doctor”.
We usually leave the house at 9 oclock every morning and return at seven or eight. Theodora has a contract to make some slides for University College so she works all day and I go out to see the sights. I am feeling quite at home in London and can go about alone very well. The chief trouble I have is waiting at the wrong corner for busses. I always forget that they run on the left side of the street instead of the right as in the U.S. I think I shall leave here next Tuesday.
With much love,
Alma
Please save the cards.
Dear Mother:
I think I have done enough sight seeing for today, at least I can’t think of anything else I want to see. Today I went to the Kensington Museum, which is the Nat. History part of the British Museum. I am not particularly fond of Natural History, I wished it were Orestes instead of myself. Then I walked in Kensington Gardens, along Broad Walk (do you remember it in “The Little White Bird”?) to Kensington Palace. That is where Queen Victoria was born. The State Apartments are on exhibition on certain days. I was impressed chiefly with the size and height of the rooms, the great collection of portraits and the shabbiness of the furniture. The velvet or plush on the chairs was threadbare and ragged; it looked like decayed respectability. The woodwork was beautiful and beautifully carved. The gardens and grounds are beautiful. I am not much impressed with the abodes of royalty - everything I have seen is rather gloomy-looking, Buckingham Palace especially so. I am told that the best view is from the gardens. I certainly hope it is. Marlborough House, where the King is at present, looks a little better as the front is not so bare.
I am doing a good deal of walking. If I keep it up I ought to be very slender when I return. I walked through Hyde Park one day and saw the aristocracy riding in Rotten Row. It was a cold day so there were not so many people walking as usual, but I had a good chance to observe the effect of tight skirts on the gait. It is especially funny with French heels. It seems strange to see so many people wearing black; practically all the well-dressed women are in black and the men wear mourning bands on their silk hats. I have seen more silk hats in a day than one would see in a year in New York. I saw several men with monocles in Rotten Row, and was filled with wonder if not admiration.
Yesterday morning I went to Westminster Abbey to a service. The music was beautiful but I couldn’t understand the service, except the parts I knew. On Monday morning I was at a service in St. Paul’s. I was too far away to hear anything but the music. The organ was the most powerful I have ever heard.
After I went to Westminster yesterday I went to the Tate Gallery. It contains sculpture and paintings, mostly modern British. It is very interesting going to galleries here because one can see enough of an artist’s work to form an idea of it. I decided that I liked Watts, Millier, Collier, Leighton and Sargent, but that I do not like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His women look like Eva when she does the soul [???] kiss with Will. Will would probably like them. Wednesday I spent several hours in the National Portrait Gallery. I think that is the most interesting place of all, especially the modern picture part. Some of the Dutch portraits are interesting but I don’t care for the earlier English work. Either the artists were incompetent or the royalty and nobility were a wooden lot. I think it probably both but chiefly that the artists were incompetent.
On Monday I went to the Tower. That is one of the most interesting places in London. It is not at all like what I expected. I must have seen pictures of it but I don’t remember them. It is not one tower but a great many towers. The central tower the “White Tower” is the oldest I believe. It is now used as a museum of armour and weapons. There are two concentric sets of towers around that. I saw the one where the princes were murdered - “Bloody Tower” and others where various people were imprisoned. It was a “free day” and there were a great many school children were there being taught English history. Mrs. Prauherd [???] is helping it along by reading me Tigaro [??? ungooglable] in the evening - a burlesque on English history. I have it - history - seriously by day and humorously by night.
I went up in ‘the Monument” one day. I paid 3 pence to climb 300 steps and it is not worth it. It was a comparatively clear day and yet it was too smoky and cloudy to see far. It is a monument built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666.
I spend a good deal of time bus riding. There are very few lines of street-cars - “trams” - and transportation is chiefly by busses for short distances and the “underground” for long distances. The latter smells exactly like the subway. It is the most American thing in England.
I saw a few American flags on the Fourth but felt no special excitement as I see one every day when I go to the Am Exp office. I usually read the N.Y. Times when I am there. I was surprised at first to find that it was ten days old. I shall have to wait several days for the American version of the prize fight. The English papers seem to doubt if we are a civilized nation.
Monday afternoon Theodora took me to see some friends the Mays. We had tea at 5 and supper at 9:30. We reached home after midnight. I had a splendid time. Mr. May is English, Mrs. May Irish and they have a son who is an organist and a daughter who teaches. Mr. Waldron the vicar of Brixton was there for tea and came later in the evening. He is extremely interesting and has an inexhaustible fund of stories. He wanted some American ones from me and I could not think of a thing. We had a hot woman’s suffrage argument. He and Miss May were against it and Theodora is red hot for it. I helped her occasionally but could not talk fast enough to do much. Mr. Waldron is one of the few Anglicans that Theodora likes so he must be unusual. She says she thinks he will be thrown out of the church eventually as he is much too independent.
Theodora is going to have a party for me tomorrow night - she is to introduce “Dr. Stokey”. I am always called “Doctor”.
We usually leave the house at 9 oclock every morning and return at seven or eight. Theodora has a contract to make some slides for University College so she works all day and I go out to see the sights. I am feeling quite at home in London and can go about alone very well. The chief trouble I have is waiting at the wrong corner for busses. I always forget that they run on the left side of the street instead of the right as in the U.S. I think I shall leave here next Tuesday.
With much love,
Alma
Please save the cards.
1910-07-08: audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Then I walked in Kensington Gardens, along Broad Walk (do you remember it in “The Little White Bird”?) to Kensington Palace.
Wikipedia says:
The Little White Bird is a novel by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark, aggressive undertones. It was published in November 1902, by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Scribner's in the US (and the latter also published it serially in the monthly Scribner's Magazine from August to November)] The book attained prominence and longevity thanks to several chapters written in a softer tone than the rest of the book, which introduced the character and mythology of Peter Pan. In 1906, those chapters were published separately as a children's book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
2.
I am doing a good deal of walking. If I keep it up I ought to be very slender when I return.
I remember Aunt Alma as being tiny. But she mentions her weight several times in various letters.
3.
It seems strange to see so many people wearing black; practically all the well-dressed women are in black and the men wear mourning bands on their silk hats.
Mourning - King Edward VII died on May 6, 1910.
It’s also mentioned in letters to Kathleen from a UK friend of hers:
4.
I decided that I liked Watts, Millier, Collier, Leighton and Sargent, but that I do not like Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Watts - I hope I have the right one - Wikipedia says:
George Frederic Watts OM RA (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things."
Millais, from Wikipedia:
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA (UK: /ˈmɪleɪ/ MIL-ay, US: /mɪˈleɪ/ mil-AY; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Pre-Raphaelite? Now I’ve got Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience running through my head.
Collier, from Wikipedia:
John Maler Collier OBE RP ROI (/ˈkɒliər/; 27 January 1850 – 11 April 1934) was a British painter and writer. He painted in the Pre-Raphaelite style, and was one of the most prominent portrait painters of his generation.
So Aunt Alma liked pre-Raphaelite.
Leighton, from Wikipedia:
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, PRA (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter in an academic style.
Hmph, not pre-Raphaelite.
Sargent, from Wikipedia:
John Singer Sargent (/ˈsɑːrdʒənt/; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, from Wikipedia:
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (/rəˈzɛti/), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, and translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.
Co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but Aunt Alma didn’t like him.
5.
I do not like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His women look like Eva when she does the soul [???] kiss with Will.
What was the soul or whatever kiss that Will and Eva do?
6.
I went up in ‘the Monument” one day. I paid 3 pence to climb 300 steps and it is not worth it. It was a comparatively clear day and yet it was too smoky and cloudy to see far. It is a monument built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666.
Wikipedia says:
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known simply as the Monument, is a Doric column in London, England, situated near the northern end of London Bridge. Commemorating the Great Fire of London, it stands at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 202 feet (62 m) in height and 202 feet west of the spot in Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started on 2 September 1666.
311 steps.
7.
Please save the cards.
Rats, there's no sign of them.
Then I walked in Kensington Gardens, along Broad Walk (do you remember it in “The Little White Bird”?) to Kensington Palace.
Wikipedia says:
The Little White Bird is a novel by the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie, ranging in tone from fantasy and whimsy to social comedy with dark, aggressive undertones. It was published in November 1902, by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Scribner's in the US (and the latter also published it serially in the monthly Scribner's Magazine from August to November)] The book attained prominence and longevity thanks to several chapters written in a softer tone than the rest of the book, which introduced the character and mythology of Peter Pan. In 1906, those chapters were published separately as a children's book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
2.
I am doing a good deal of walking. If I keep it up I ought to be very slender when I return.
I remember Aunt Alma as being tiny. But she mentions her weight several times in various letters.
3.
It seems strange to see so many people wearing black; practically all the well-dressed women are in black and the men wear mourning bands on their silk hats.
Mourning - King Edward VII died on May 6, 1910.
It’s also mentioned in letters to Kathleen from a UK friend of hers:
4.
I decided that I liked Watts, Millier, Collier, Leighton and Sargent, but that I do not like Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Watts - I hope I have the right one - Wikipedia says:
George Frederic Watts OM RA (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things."
Millais, from Wikipedia:
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA (UK: /ˈmɪleɪ/ MIL-ay, US: /mɪˈleɪ/ mil-AY; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Pre-Raphaelite? Now I’ve got Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience running through my head.
Collier, from Wikipedia:
John Maler Collier OBE RP ROI (/ˈkɒliər/; 27 January 1850 – 11 April 1934) was a British painter and writer. He painted in the Pre-Raphaelite style, and was one of the most prominent portrait painters of his generation.
So Aunt Alma liked pre-Raphaelite.
Leighton, from Wikipedia:
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, PRA (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter in an academic style.
Hmph, not pre-Raphaelite.
Sargent, from Wikipedia:
John Singer Sargent (/ˈsɑːrdʒənt/; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, from Wikipedia:
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (/rəˈzɛti/), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, and translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.
Co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but Aunt Alma didn’t like him.
5.
I do not like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His women look like Eva when she does the soul [???] kiss with Will.
What was the soul or whatever kiss that Will and Eva do?
6.
I went up in ‘the Monument” one day. I paid 3 pence to climb 300 steps and it is not worth it. It was a comparatively clear day and yet it was too smoky and cloudy to see far. It is a monument built to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666.
Wikipedia says:
The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known simply as the Monument, is a Doric column in London, England, situated near the northern end of London Bridge. Commemorating the Great Fire of London, it stands at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 202 feet (62 m) in height and 202 feet west of the spot in Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started on 2 September 1666.
311 steps.
7.
Please save the cards.
Rats, there's no sign of them.
1910-07-08: audio---images---comment---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
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