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Alma is on her way to India for a year, but she had lots to do in England first.
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S.S. Kaisar-i-Hind
Marseilles June 26th
Dear Eva:
I am so sleepy that I don’t know where to write the place and date. That comes from being up late Wed. eve - a party of 4 friends at Madeleine’s and then packing, and spending last night sitting up on the train, 7 of us in a 2nd class compartment from Calais (3PM) to Marseilles at 8:30 AM. (2 hours for dinner in Paris). There were 5 men (English, Canadian + Scotch), a S. African girl and myself. We had a very good time together. One man, a Canadian doctor, sat on his luggage in the corridor most of the night so that I could have more space to sleep. He also got me coffee (with sugar, alas, but I drank it!) and a roll at Avignon. I have seen 3 of them since I came aboard and I know the other two are on. I have a cabin with the 3 missionaries who were on the Aquitania. They looked like old friends when I came aboard. Miss Miskemon hopes to get moved - it is a small cabin for 4, no larger and with less space for clothes than the cabin for 2 which I had on the Aquitania. This is an old boat and badly planned so that I am not looking forward to the next two weeks. It will be better when we are out of port. If it had gone off as quietly as the Bibby Line boat did in 1929 you would not get a letter from Marseilles.
Such a good time as I had in England! It is always a delight to be with Madeleine. My schedule? It was full.
Thursday night - MM + I went to a very good Russian ballet. Friday, June 19th I spend on business - P. + O. (there was a mistake on my tickets and I got nearly $25.00 back, Cooks for the trip here, and information about return passage, and lunch with Mrs. Leith, who is the English secretary for the W.C.C. Saturday I went to Reading at 10:45, having missed the 9:45, so I went out and hunted a hairdresser, got my hair cut, singed (9d) and waved and then had plenty of time to get the train. It was a HOT day. Madeleine came in time for tea and we stayed until 8:35. Mrs. Prankard is very well + T is fairly well. Sunday we went to both brothers - dinner with the younger and supper with the older. Eliza asked about you and Lenette. We had tea at the Goodyear’s. Both the brothers and Miss Goodyear got out their cars to take us on our way. There was a storm with electricity and hail much like our last storm. We were caught in it going to Brother Alfred’s and when he took us to the Underground at 10 P.M. Their lovely woods is still lovely! Monday at 10 I left for Ripon and arrived at 8:35. I saw Mrs. Dodd of Madras when I changed at Harrogate and then came back and stayed with her Tuesday night. She gave me so many points on changes at W.C.C. that I feel in much better position to go and know what to do. But the visit with Professor Bower was one of the notable events of my life. I went because I was sure I would enjoy it, but I was very much pleased to see how happy he was to have me. He said he very seldom has such a chance to talk - there is no one in Ripon and he does not get away often in recent years, to talk Botany. His eyes are as bright and his mind as keen as ever, so far as I could see, and he is very vigorous for a man of 80. We had tea Monday and then spent 1 ½ hours in and around the Cathedral, sitting for only 15 minutes during a service. He had dinner with me at the hotel - his sister is ill with a nurse in attendance - I stayed until 9:30 talking. Tuesday at 10:30 we set off for Fountains Abbey in the old Rolls Royce and with the old veteran who is his Mr. Snow. It rained Monday but Tuesday was perfect. We spent 2 hours walking around and through the ruins and to Studley Royal. Then we had a picnic lunch in a meadow: chicken sandwiches, tomato, two kinds of cakes, a thermos of tea apiece, apples and oranges. Then he took me to see an old farm which had a chapel, a wall and big gate, and a moat with water in it. It is a farm still in action as indicated by the smell of manure and the washing on the line in the courtyard. Professor Bower was a delightful guide - an ideal guide. He has known the places all his life and loves them, and is full of their history. I took a few pictures but have had no chance to have the roll developed. The Cathedral is a queer mixture of periods, with a 7th century Saxon crypt and all sorts of later styles, but for the most part it makes a harmonious whole, even to the Gothic choir.
The Spa Hotel where I stayed is a nice English hotel where conservative English go. The Bower home is the main part with a large oblique ring [???] for a diningroom with rooms above. Professor Bower said he asked for a front room for me so that I could see the garden. He asked what room I had and when I told him the one at the head of the stairs he said “That is the room we were all born in.” It has been made into two rooms since the Bower regime.
Miss Pierce just came up to tell me I had mail. This morning I got a letter from Mrs. Sticklen and this eve yours, one from Clara, Ethel + Beatrice Cosmey. It is so good to get them - my first news from home.
With much love,
Alma.
Marseilles June 26th
Dear Eva:
I am so sleepy that I don’t know where to write the place and date. That comes from being up late Wed. eve - a party of 4 friends at Madeleine’s and then packing, and spending last night sitting up on the train, 7 of us in a 2nd class compartment from Calais (3PM) to Marseilles at 8:30 AM. (2 hours for dinner in Paris). There were 5 men (English, Canadian + Scotch), a S. African girl and myself. We had a very good time together. One man, a Canadian doctor, sat on his luggage in the corridor most of the night so that I could have more space to sleep. He also got me coffee (with sugar, alas, but I drank it!) and a roll at Avignon. I have seen 3 of them since I came aboard and I know the other two are on. I have a cabin with the 3 missionaries who were on the Aquitania. They looked like old friends when I came aboard. Miss Miskemon hopes to get moved - it is a small cabin for 4, no larger and with less space for clothes than the cabin for 2 which I had on the Aquitania. This is an old boat and badly planned so that I am not looking forward to the next two weeks. It will be better when we are out of port. If it had gone off as quietly as the Bibby Line boat did in 1929 you would not get a letter from Marseilles.
Such a good time as I had in England! It is always a delight to be with Madeleine. My schedule? It was full.
Thursday night - MM + I went to a very good Russian ballet. Friday, June 19th I spend on business - P. + O. (there was a mistake on my tickets and I got nearly $25.00 back, Cooks for the trip here, and information about return passage, and lunch with Mrs. Leith, who is the English secretary for the W.C.C. Saturday I went to Reading at 10:45, having missed the 9:45, so I went out and hunted a hairdresser, got my hair cut, singed (9d) and waved and then had plenty of time to get the train. It was a HOT day. Madeleine came in time for tea and we stayed until 8:35. Mrs. Prankard is very well + T is fairly well. Sunday we went to both brothers - dinner with the younger and supper with the older. Eliza asked about you and Lenette. We had tea at the Goodyear’s. Both the brothers and Miss Goodyear got out their cars to take us on our way. There was a storm with electricity and hail much like our last storm. We were caught in it going to Brother Alfred’s and when he took us to the Underground at 10 P.M. Their lovely woods is still lovely! Monday at 10 I left for Ripon and arrived at 8:35. I saw Mrs. Dodd of Madras when I changed at Harrogate and then came back and stayed with her Tuesday night. She gave me so many points on changes at W.C.C. that I feel in much better position to go and know what to do. But the visit with Professor Bower was one of the notable events of my life. I went because I was sure I would enjoy it, but I was very much pleased to see how happy he was to have me. He said he very seldom has such a chance to talk - there is no one in Ripon and he does not get away often in recent years, to talk Botany. His eyes are as bright and his mind as keen as ever, so far as I could see, and he is very vigorous for a man of 80. We had tea Monday and then spent 1 ½ hours in and around the Cathedral, sitting for only 15 minutes during a service. He had dinner with me at the hotel - his sister is ill with a nurse in attendance - I stayed until 9:30 talking. Tuesday at 10:30 we set off for Fountains Abbey in the old Rolls Royce and with the old veteran who is his Mr. Snow. It rained Monday but Tuesday was perfect. We spent 2 hours walking around and through the ruins and to Studley Royal. Then we had a picnic lunch in a meadow: chicken sandwiches, tomato, two kinds of cakes, a thermos of tea apiece, apples and oranges. Then he took me to see an old farm which had a chapel, a wall and big gate, and a moat with water in it. It is a farm still in action as indicated by the smell of manure and the washing on the line in the courtyard. Professor Bower was a delightful guide - an ideal guide. He has known the places all his life and loves them, and is full of their history. I took a few pictures but have had no chance to have the roll developed. The Cathedral is a queer mixture of periods, with a 7th century Saxon crypt and all sorts of later styles, but for the most part it makes a harmonious whole, even to the Gothic choir.
The Spa Hotel where I stayed is a nice English hotel where conservative English go. The Bower home is the main part with a large oblique ring [???] for a diningroom with rooms above. Professor Bower said he asked for a front room for me so that I could see the garden. He asked what room I had and when I told him the one at the head of the stairs he said “That is the room we were all born in.” It has been made into two rooms since the Bower regime.
Miss Pierce just came up to tell me I had mail. This morning I got a letter from Mrs. Sticklen and this eve yours, one from Clara, Ethel + Beatrice Cosmey. It is so good to get them - my first news from home.
With much love,
Alma.
audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Alma put some of what is in this letter in postcard to Eva that she got in Yorkshire:The letter and the postcard were sent to Eva in Philadelphia, but later in the summer Eva stayed for a few weeks at Alma's apartment in South Hadley:
2.
For "P.&.O.S.N.Co.", Wikipedia says:
P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) was a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century.
3.
S.S. Kaisar-i-Hind
Wikipedia says:
SS Kaisar-i-Hind was a P&O ocean liner that was launched in Scotland in 1914 and scrapped in England in 1938. Kaisar-i-Hind means "Empress of India". She was the second P&O ship to bear this name. The first was launched in 1878 and scrapped in 1898.
4.
a party of 4 friends at Madeleine’s
Madeleine is Madeleine Monro. I've put her in the Non-Family Woods Hole folks page, because I don't know where else to put her.
5.
I have a cabin with the 3 missionaries who were on the Aquitania.
Apparently Alma did the transatlantic crossing on the Aquitania. Wikipedia says:
RMS Aquitania was an ocean liner of the Cunard Line in service from 1914 to 1950.
6.
If it had gone off as quietly as the Bibby Line boat did in 1929 you would not get a letter from Marseilles.
It doesn't quite look like Bibby to me, but there is a Bibby line. Wikipedia says:
Bibby Line is a UK company concerned with shipping and marine operations.
Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to John Bibby who founded the company in 1807. The company along with the group is based in Liverpool.
7.
lunch with Mrs. Leith, who is the English secretary for the W.C.C.
W.C.C. is the Women's Christian College in Madras (now Chennai), where Alma taught in India. Alma picked up some useful information - see:
8.
Saturday I went to Reading at 10:45, having missed the 9:45, so I went out and hunted a hairdresser, got my hair cut, singed (9d) and waved and then had plenty of time to get the train.
I couldn't figure out what it was that cost 9d. It looked as though it could be "singed", but I didn't understand. So I asked a friend who I thought might know more about hairdressing than I do, and she said it was indeed singed, and gave me a Wikipedia link:
A singe is a treatment available at a barber's. A lit taper (candle) or other device is used to lightly burn and shrivel the hair. The practice of singeing was popular approximately a century ago; it was believed that hair had "fluid" in it and singeing would trap the fluid in. Singeing is supposed to have beneficial effects – sealing cut ends, closing up the follicles, preventing the hair from bleeding (a belief that has since been debunked) and encouraging it to grow. Singeing is still sometimes used to bond natural hair to hair extensions.
9.
Mrs. Prankard is very well + T is fairly well. Sunday we went to both brothers - dinner with the younger and supper with the older. Eliza asked about you and Lenette. We had tea at the Goodyear’s.
Maybe someday I'll know who Mrs. Prankard and the Goodyears are. Lenette is Lenette Atkinson, who is on the Non-Family South Hadley folks page of this website.
10.
I saw Mrs. Dodd of Madras when I changed at Harrogate and then came back and stayed with her Tuesday night. She gave me so many points on changes at W.C.C. that I feel in much better position to go and know what to do.
More information for Alma about what's happening at the Women's Christian College - see again:
11.
But the visit with Professor Bower was one of the notable events of my life.
Alma met Professor Bower when she was in England in 1910:And he sent her a Christmas card that year:Wikipedia says:
Frederick Orpen Bower FRSE FRS[1] (4 November 1855 – 11 April 1948) was an English botanist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1891. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society in 1909 and the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1938. He was president of the British Association in 1929–1930.
Here is photograph of him, labeled "1936Jun23 Professor Bower, Fountains Abbey", so apparently it was taken during Alma's visit with him.
Alma put some of what is in this letter in postcard to Eva that she got in Yorkshire:The letter and the postcard were sent to Eva in Philadelphia, but later in the summer Eva stayed for a few weeks at Alma's apartment in South Hadley:
2.
For "P.&.O.S.N.Co.", Wikipedia says:
P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) was a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century.
3.
S.S. Kaisar-i-Hind
Wikipedia says:
SS Kaisar-i-Hind was a P&O ocean liner that was launched in Scotland in 1914 and scrapped in England in 1938. Kaisar-i-Hind means "Empress of India". She was the second P&O ship to bear this name. The first was launched in 1878 and scrapped in 1898.
4.
a party of 4 friends at Madeleine’s
Madeleine is Madeleine Monro. I've put her in the Non-Family Woods Hole folks page, because I don't know where else to put her.
5.
I have a cabin with the 3 missionaries who were on the Aquitania.
Apparently Alma did the transatlantic crossing on the Aquitania. Wikipedia says:
RMS Aquitania was an ocean liner of the Cunard Line in service from 1914 to 1950.
6.
If it had gone off as quietly as the Bibby Line boat did in 1929 you would not get a letter from Marseilles.
It doesn't quite look like Bibby to me, but there is a Bibby line. Wikipedia says:
Bibby Line is a UK company concerned with shipping and marine operations.
Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to John Bibby who founded the company in 1807. The company along with the group is based in Liverpool.
7.
lunch with Mrs. Leith, who is the English secretary for the W.C.C.
W.C.C. is the Women's Christian College in Madras (now Chennai), where Alma taught in India. Alma picked up some useful information - see:
8.
Saturday I went to Reading at 10:45, having missed the 9:45, so I went out and hunted a hairdresser, got my hair cut, singed (9d) and waved and then had plenty of time to get the train.
I couldn't figure out what it was that cost 9d. It looked as though it could be "singed", but I didn't understand. So I asked a friend who I thought might know more about hairdressing than I do, and she said it was indeed singed, and gave me a Wikipedia link:
A singe is a treatment available at a barber's. A lit taper (candle) or other device is used to lightly burn and shrivel the hair. The practice of singeing was popular approximately a century ago; it was believed that hair had "fluid" in it and singeing would trap the fluid in. Singeing is supposed to have beneficial effects – sealing cut ends, closing up the follicles, preventing the hair from bleeding (a belief that has since been debunked) and encouraging it to grow. Singeing is still sometimes used to bond natural hair to hair extensions.
9.
Mrs. Prankard is very well + T is fairly well. Sunday we went to both brothers - dinner with the younger and supper with the older. Eliza asked about you and Lenette. We had tea at the Goodyear’s.
Maybe someday I'll know who Mrs. Prankard and the Goodyears are. Lenette is Lenette Atkinson, who is on the Non-Family South Hadley folks page of this website.
10.
I saw Mrs. Dodd of Madras when I changed at Harrogate and then came back and stayed with her Tuesday night. She gave me so many points on changes at W.C.C. that I feel in much better position to go and know what to do.
More information for Alma about what's happening at the Women's Christian College - see again:
11.
But the visit with Professor Bower was one of the notable events of my life.
Alma met Professor Bower when she was in England in 1910:And he sent her a Christmas card that year:Wikipedia says:
Frederick Orpen Bower FRSE FRS[1] (4 November 1855 – 11 April 1948) was an English botanist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1891. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society in 1909 and the Darwin Medal of the Royal Society in 1938. He was president of the British Association in 1929–1930.
Here is photograph of him, labeled "1936Jun23 Professor Bower, Fountains Abbey", so apparently it was taken during Alma's visit with him.
Professor Frederick Orpen Bower, looking very good for 80 years old.
12.
Tuesday at 10:30 we set off for Fountains Abbey in the old Rolls Royce and with the old veteran who is his Mr. Snow. It rained Monday but Tuesday was perfect. We spent 2 hours walking around and through the ruins and to Studley Royal.
I don't know what a Mr. Snow is. As for Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, Wikipedia says:
Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 407 years, becoming one of the wealthiest monasteries in England until its dissolution, by order of Henry VIII, in 1539.
In 1983, Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey was purchased by the National Trust. The abbey is maintained by English Heritage.
13.
The Spa Hotel where I stayed is a nice English hotel where conservative English go.
The Ripon Spa Hotel is apparently still in existence, but was acquired by a larger group.
14.
This morning I got a letter from Mrs. Sticklen and this eve yours, one from Clara, Ethel + Beatrice Cosmey. It is so good to get them - my first news from home.
I don't know who Mrs. Sticklen is. Clara is Clara Jones, who has her own page on this website, Ethel must be Ethel Jackson from Wakefield, Massachusetts, and I think Bea Cosmey was in India when Alma was there previously. I remember Bea from Woods Hole, but that doesn't seem quite right to put her in the Woods Hole folks page. So I'm still thinking.
Tuesday at 10:30 we set off for Fountains Abbey in the old Rolls Royce and with the old veteran who is his Mr. Snow. It rained Monday but Tuesday was perfect. We spent 2 hours walking around and through the ruins and to Studley Royal.
I don't know what a Mr. Snow is. As for Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, Wikipedia says:
Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 407 years, becoming one of the wealthiest monasteries in England until its dissolution, by order of Henry VIII, in 1539.
In 1983, Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey was purchased by the National Trust. The abbey is maintained by English Heritage.
13.
The Spa Hotel where I stayed is a nice English hotel where conservative English go.
The Ripon Spa Hotel is apparently still in existence, but was acquired by a larger group.
14.
This morning I got a letter from Mrs. Sticklen and this eve yours, one from Clara, Ethel + Beatrice Cosmey. It is so good to get them - my first news from home.
I don't know who Mrs. Sticklen is. Clara is Clara Jones, who has her own page on this website, Ethel must be Ethel Jackson from Wakefield, Massachusetts, and I think Bea Cosmey was in India when Alma was there previously. I remember Bea from Woods Hole, but that doesn't seem quite right to put her in the Woods Hole folks page. So I'm still thinking.
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- EVA: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
- NON-FAMILY: CLARA JONES ----- Related
- NON-FAMILY: SOUTH HADLEY FOLKS ----- Lenette Atkinson
- NON-FAMILY: WOODS HOLE FOLKS ----- Madeleine Monro and Bea Cosmey
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