Gertrude Herdle Letter 6-28-21

              "The Old George"
Salisbury, England
June 28, 1921

Oh, dear Family!

This day has been too full and big for the confines of a sleepy letter!  It is now 10:15, English time for us and only 3:15 for you; so that I shall have some chance to catch up in my recounting to you.  Do you know what has happened this day?  We stepped forth upon a new world and felt England at last under our feet instead of a page in a geography.  And now at the end of it my eyes are so full of new images and my mind is trying so hard to retain them, that I am writing to pour them out fresh to you for keeping.  

It was only last night, of course, that we still plied the Atlantic, but that is now behind so many things that it seems days ago.  At 6:20 we sighted the Scilly Isles, then the Lizard, Eddlestone Light, and finally, at 2:00 AM Tuesday, Plymouth Harbor.  It was a night of intensive hilarity, the occasion for many good-byes and plans for future meetings.  We were up at five to see the harbor, not as a silhouette of gray as everything has been at sea, but a glorious extent of color- green heights, white buildings, blue-green water, and gleaming gulls.  At dawn I had had a private-view of England from my port-hole, and it was a real moment.  It seems so queer to connect the name with something actual!  After 5:30 breakfast, we had our passport visaes stamped by His