Dear Papa and Mama:
My pen has given out and Arthur is using his and Harry has gone for a walk with Mr. Plimpton with his in his pocket so I must write in pencil this time. We sent letters and a car from the “Dorie” yesterday. This has been an eventful day. We were called at 6:30 for breakfast and it was to be at 7 instead of 7:30 for the first sitting. All yesterday afternoon people were packing, filling out applications for our “landing cards”, having trunks and cases carried out to the baggage rom, etc. Last evening we had a very fine concert on the shop and at about half past seven had our first glimpse of land, Ireland. As it was foggy it was only a hazy glimpse of the North coast but after the concert we saw the light houses of Scotland on the one side and Ireland on the other. People up very early this morning saw the Isle of Man but we saw only the Irish Sea. At 10:30 we had a hurried early lunch (after giving out all our tips) and then found ourselves entering the Measey River. We did see Wales in the distance too but hardly more plainly than Ireland last night. We all felt badly to leave the “Dorie” for she is a lovely trip and in spite of the storm -- the worst one at this season of the year for many years, and the worst the Dorie has weathered, she made record time. But it was quite exciting to approach the dock and to land. The landing place is really more attractive than in New York. After exhibiting our passports and landing permits, Americans in the Dining Salon and the British in the Lounge we stood on deck and watched the stewards march over the gangplank in a long line all with white goats and blue trousers carrying the cases etc. At length when all the baggage was off we were permitted to land. We then had out first good view of the Dorie from outside, for at the Montreal docks we could see no more than at a New York dock. She is a beauty. All our baggage was under “J” and the inspector soon came, opened one and passed the whole lot. A Temple man met us, seperated the three parties -- sending the one to London and us to the Exchange Station Hotel where we are to spend the night as there was no train to Fermance Abbey. It was about five minutes past two when we reached the hotel after a very short taxi ride from the pier. There is enough to fill several pages about the hotel. The corridors are long and winding. I don’t know how many turns one has to make before we reach our rooms. Harry has a single one and Arthur and I a large double one with four big windows in it. The elevator of course is a “lift” and the door instead of sliding swings outward. It is large and roomy with a seat in it but only six are allowed to ride it at a time (tho it is near than twice as large as the the ones in New York.) The elevator boy is I think no larger than Arthur. At the office we were given our keys and the attendants are most polite but after letting us off the “lift” we were all turned loose to find our own rooms as indicated by the number on our key. (This is a larger city hotel, not a second class affair). Signs are plentiful along the hall direction persons to rooms 60-70 or 80-90 so there is no difficulty. When we reached our door the first surprise came. The door knob twisted instead of being at the usual place is in the middle and does not turn. When you come out and shut the door, the only way to get in is with a key. Just where is a there is a knob at the usual place. There is a real fire place with a fancy set of coal bucket and shovel at one side (except at this season of the year. The windows are open + close by means of a cord like a window curtain. There are two sets of wash bowls + pitchers etc.) Soon our bags came after which we took an hours sight seeing ride around the city. It is much more beautiful place than I had supposed and we saw many interesting things -- the double decker tramways -- streets with the word “unadopted” under their name, some old Druid crosses -- a large Euglisto estate, a Church of England cathedral, etc. We got back in time for dinner, then took a short walk, intending to go to church but service are at 6:30 here. One was just ending its service so we stopped in to see the building and the first thing we heard was “those people came over on the Dorie with us”. It turned out to be the people whose deck chairs had been just behind ours. Two others joined our party here -- I didn’t catch their names.
Must stop,
With love,
Alice