hour is never earlier
than nine o'clock. However, we had breakfast at 7:30 and found one other
guest in the room--undoubtedly an American. He requested a newspaper and
was informed that the morning papers were not received at the hotel
until half past ten o'clock, although Cambridge is just fifty miles from
London, or about an hour by train. The curiosity which the average
American manifests to know what happened on the day previous is almost
wanting in the staid and less excitable Britisher.

We were away from Cambridge by nine o'clock and soon found ourselves in
a country quite different in appearance from any we had yet passed
through. Our route led through Essex to Colchester on the coast. We
passed through several ancient towns, the first of them being Haverhill,
which contributed a goodly number of the Pilgrim Fathers and gave its
name to the town of Haverhill in Massachusetts. It is an old, straggling
place that seems to be little in harmony with the progress of the
Twentieth Century.

Our route on leaving Haverhill led through narrow byways, which wind
among the hills with turns so sharp that a close lookout had to be
maintained. We paused at Heddingham, where there is a great church and a
partly ruined Norman castle. The town is made up largely of cottages
with thatched roofs, surrounded by the bright English flower gardens. It
was typical of several other places which we passed on our way. I think
that in no section of England did we find a greater number of
picturesque churches than in Essex, and a collection of photographs of
these, which was secured at Earl's Colne, we prize very highly.

Colchester is an interesting town, deserving of much longer time than we
were able to stay. It derived its name from King Cole, the "merry old
soul" of the familiar nursery rhyme. It is one of the oldest towns in
England and was of great importance in Roman times. One of the largest
collections of Roman relics in Britain is to be found in the museum of
the castle. There are hundreds of specimens of coin, pottery, jewelry,
statuary, etc., all of which were found in excavations within the city.
The castle is one of the gloomiest and rudest in the Kingdom, and was
largely built of Roman bricks. It is quadrangular in shape, with high
walls from twenty to thirty feet thick surrounding a small court. About
a hundred years ago it was sold to a contractor who planned to tear it
down for the material, but after half completing h