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EAIIADIANS ENJOY BlI.ITQ Featuring Blanche, Sweet, Henry B. Walthall, Lillian and 5 Dorothy Gish, Mabel Nor- mand, and Mae Marsh, (stars. of The Birth of a Nation). THE LITTLE TEASE 1st show 1.30 p.m. sharp 2nd show 9.00 p.m. sharp sum: Fitness: 3 AND 11% (:73. THE DIVING GIRL Special Holiday Matinee Dec. 25 and Z6 HENRY B; WAL'i.`HALI.. siufs In snrriuu 4 Parts 2 Parts Son ofhlllr. and Mrs. _Arthur Fletcher Tells of What he saw H m England and Scotland. ' t To most or the Cauuian sol; H iers who have `gone overseas, the experiences are altogether new and hundreds of newsy let- ters are coming to their homes in Canada telling of conditions in the Old Land and "what they are seeingthere. An exceedingly good letter was recently received by A. W. Fletcher, treasurer of Essa, from his son, W. A. Flet- cher. The writer is a graduate of Toronto University and is by profession a civil engineer. He was employed by the Government` on survey work in the West when he joined the ranks. He is now in France. His brother Tom, to whom reference,-is made in the ' letter, went over with the 82nd Bn- The letter is as " follows: x17- vv\ nut` n+` llno tnnlu 1 Part. at the Criterion Theatre that night, and next day visited three of the few places _of.interest which are open on` Sundays. They were the. Zoological Gardens `in ' Regent's Park, the Natural His- tory Museum and Albert Memor- ial Institute in South Kensington. The Museum has a- ne collec- tion, and what most impressed me was the marvellously natural appearance given by the taxider- mist. I have seen lots of stuffed animals, but never before have I seen such splendid work. . This ' /was especially noticeable in the cases containing domestic 'ani. mals. {There are three large Gas- es of dogs; all ofditferent breeds. A Scotch collie was so well done that I watched him for some min- [utes to see if he wouldn t move. There is one case with _a herd of cattle`, hull, cows ' and calves. Then there are horses, herds of sheep of different breeds. pigs, with little sucklings, hen.s and roosters, etc., etc. The Albert Memorial contains largely relics of English life for the past ve hundred years. There are rooms furnished with the furniture of those times, old walnut and oak chairs, tables, wardrobes, bureaus and clocks.. Also porchways from houses of Old London,` worm_eaten and weather.-beaten. Then there are old iclothing, dresses and uni- forms. I .rememher some silk dresses used in Queen Anne's time. Theseare of silk with plaits, frills and- furbelows, trim- med with old lace. They appear to have been worn considerably and, of course, seem almost ready to fall apart with age. They are draped on models to show them off--all in glass cases, of course. The old carriage of George I. is there, a gigantic affair, but with not much accommodation, being mostly wheel and springs, with an ordinary sized body in. the coach. _ ll n-ight we entrained for l Edinburgh, morning. After a good Scotch breakfast in a hotel duringa real Scotch mist, we set out for Edin- boro Castle. . points of interest are the great `banquetting hall, the little old chapel . of King Malcolm and Queen Margaret, and the old state prison where the famous Duke of.Argyl'e spent his last days be- fore execution. The walls of the great Hall are co_mpletely covered . with old Scotch arms, spears, lances, broadswords, claymores, pistols, hlunderbusses, ha-yonets, and shields. Then there are suits of armour for man and horse and at one end, `the eighteen pounder gun and carriage on which Queen ' Victoria and King Edward were borne to the tomb. Q-The chapel is noted for _its age and the fact that it is the smallest in Scot- land, fourteen by twenty-six feet Outside. It is only as large as our parlor at Mt. Pleasant inside on account of the thick walls. It has three small, stained glass windows., one foot by three; two in memory of Malcolm and his Queen, and one put in in modern times by Queen Victoria in com- memoration of some late occup- ant of the castle. ' arriving at 8, next There the chief, .Next we walked down through 1 the very oldest part of Edinburgh to Holyrood Palace; passing John Knox s old home on t.he way, also many old stone houses, still used by the poorer people. Some had dates 1525 and 1530 carved in the stone over the doors. -At Holyrood, we saw paintimers of all Scotland s Kings from the ninth centuryto the end of the Stuarts. We saw the supper room, bed-. room`, dressing_room and draw- ing-r00m of Mary, Queen of Scots. They still havemost. of the furniture in use then. The bed, a canopied four-poster, is as ` if all ready to use. The walls are covered with rare old Dutch and Flemish tapestries, depicting various scenes. _ A In the late afternoon, we went out about twelve miles westerly to where the_Forth brjdge crosses the Firth of Forth; This bridge is_ over a mile and a quarterin length, is of thegcantilever type and the largest of its kind in ex- istence, although _ the - Quebec Bridge, which is also a cantilev- or, will have a longer span, but has only two spans. There are three at the Forth. I understand the Zepps.-have been trying _for this bridge, but so far l1ave_n t got near it. `If n 11,. ,A` __.,l _`l___ _.A.. ,__..__._.|. lone to go as passengers. on A latter was very sorry later when Gun ~|L\4vuA our Most ofithe next day_was spent around Edinburgh, and we tool; train to Glasgow at 4 p.m., arriv- ing an hour later, and putting up at another hotel which has an Overseas Club in connection. On - Wednesday we took an hour s ride by train down the Clyde and half an hour by steamer which brought us to Dunoon. This is very lively in summer during the tourist season, but quiet now. We tried to get a sail down`sl.art- ing right from Glasgow docks so as to pass by the big naval and other shipyards, but found the authorities wouldn t allow any- freight steamers. The passen- ger boats had all stopped, and `we had arranged to `go down on a freighter with the shipping company superintendent. The he found he wouldn t be allowed to take us, so we went to see the Grlas"gow Cathedral and the Glas; . gow Gallery of Arts instead. Al- ' so we succeeded In being cons ducted through one ofthe bigger ushiphuilding. yards and saw des- troyers under all staS6_.S of con"- struction, also ine. rrn. .. .-.:.-ulnnyo me. The windows. in the Cathedral are very ne. They portray a.ll the best known Biblical passages. Above the altar twelve huge win- dows are given over, one each, to the twelve apostles. These- last are at least sixty feet in. height, over all, including the in- scription. below and designs above and below the figures; There are at least over one hundred win-` (lows, all beautifully worked in_ stained glass, many of them pre-| sented by noble families in mem. ory of some dead heroes of wars in India and Africa and the `Nap- p oleonie wars. `*`- '1.n,, -._ -\--Lt\`r\rvI.'\Y\ \Jl\.4\Jl.LA\J vvuaa--an We had wired `for an extensuim of leave on `Tuesday night, and the reply next day granted an ex-_ trab two days. ~ 1, _ .1. :_ `I ,-..,..-l.x.\ (\1\ DH .1111} ICULUL` ID u.-3 ILIIIUV We moved out of the tents yesterday and were all very glad of it because the tent lines have been a sea of mud and water for the past ten days. Very luckily, Tom and I were away on leave mostly all of this time and es- caped it. We are now quartered in wooden huts covered external- ly with corrugated iron. They are about twenty by fty feet, inside dimensions, with beds down eith- er side and tables in the middle. There are thirty of us. in each hut. Most of us have iron cots with palliases (biscuits) as mat- tresses. They are like large cushions, not quite so soft as mattresses and three laid length- wise make it long enough to lie on. We lay our blankets ontop: We have two little coal stoves in the hut, which do fairly well so far. There is a wash..room. near the door, so we don't have to go out In the mud and rain to wash now. In fact, we are now ` quite comfortable. D10` UVVU uuuguo `We arrived back in London onl Friday morning and again put up! at Charing Cross Road. That dayl we saw Madame Tussaud s Wax] Works and the Tower of London.| `-Madame Tussaud s,`- founded in] France about 1788 and in Eng- land about 1860,,has the most wonderful and life-1ikef`1gures in wax I have ever seen. The feat- ures and coloring. are nearly per- feet and each is clothed in gar- ments such as they would wear -'-- ----- "An.-- 1:4`.-. All `li`.na-I-;1n u. LIIIIB UI Ihuwuru 1. `an: IILIULU, '.l.l\41l- ry VIII. and all his wives; all the] great English statesmen of the past two hundred years and more, great scholars, writers and ar- tists are there, and mostly all eminent statesmen and soldiers of today. Taft, Roosevelt, Cleve- land and Lincoln from America, also Sir John A. Macdonald of Canada. and Lord ~Strathcona.l Notorious` criminals also have their place. The leaders of the . French Revolution and so on down to Roger Casement and D12; Crippen. ' ~ ` HIGIILS SUJJH 3:15 Lucy wuuxu vvUuIl in everyday life. All England's` Kings and `Queens back to the time of Edward I. are there; Hen- _.__ 17111 .....A nl] `Iain nri11'nq- all {ha are about six er'owns,King`s, `Queen's, Coronation Crown and; urippen. ' In the Tower of London we saw hundreds of old suits of mail and armour and arms. We were in the room where Sir Wal-i ter Raleigh carved his messages on the wall. These and those of other noted prisoners are -easily legible.` The room containing the Crown jewels is grand. They are! encased` in a round daisinside 21' big iron cage, some ten feet in` diameter, and are a mass of blaz- ing diamonds, rubies, emeralds`, sapphires, pearls and gold. Thereg one. for functions thereafter. ' The diamond in the State Grown is as big` as a hen s egg, and, say, doesn't it. sparkle and `flashl. one big submar- The Abbey was, of course, very inte1'esting. We saw the tombs of many of England s Kings up to the time of George II. All ail` ter the nast named are bu1~i<-:d at; Windsor. rnl..- -...--.. A.-.-. .-... nnttv Q1 `D.-unl`e WlIlU5Ul'. " The same day we saw St. Paul`s ,' Cathedral and parts of the lions. . es of Parliament. The best things in the latter are the ne paint- ings in the panels of the hall leading from the Lords to the `Commons Chamber. The two chambers are not so large as l |had expected and remind one lquite a lot of those in, Ottawa. -, I)--- ffI"'I._.._..- ,,_.,.1 St. Paul s was fine, There are many notables buried here, chief of whom are Nelson and Welling- ton. They have great big tombs raised up some ten feet. from the floor of the crypt. VVellington s funeral car is also there, a gig- lantic affair drawn by horses eight `abreast. We went up some two [hundred or three hundred feet in `the tower and had a view over `London. On the broad steps and lplatform in front, there are bun- dreds of pigeons all day long. They are very tame and will scrap for a place on your wrist to eat out of your hand. I cry IV A `ltvfi We called at the C.A.vM.'C. Headquarters to see Herman Ar_ , nold, who has been there for` `some eighteen months. A ' We took in -theatres on both Friday and Saturday nights and Istruck good shows each time. We left a call for 6 a.m. Sunday morning, but the guy never wak- ened us, and when we came alive it was 7.45. ` Our train left froml Gannon St. Station at 8.25, some` two miles away, this being the last which would get us back in rtimei. Maybe we didn t -hurry. .We dressed, washed, caught a taxi and were at our train in ex- 1 actly twenty minutes from the time we jumped out of bed. But !we missed breakfast. Our new quarters are less than half a mile from the old ones but this place is called Rishoro .Ba1-racks, so you can substitute [Risb0ro for Ross in the address `until further notice. ' Well, we got our leave Satur- urday, Oct. 21, and reached Lon- don about 3.45 in the afternoon. `We obtained beds at the Over- seas Club on Charing Cross Road and were'just in time as the place was lledto overowing an hour afterwards. This club is oper- ated for the benet of Canadians, `Australians and New Zealanders, soldiers on leave `in London. There. were mostly all Anzacs there at that time. We took in a show, A Little Bit of Fluff, my shirt. sleeves. It is pouring. rain and things are fairly quiet on `r the. line. vWe had a stiff after- 1 noon, being at it from 1 p.m. un_ 1 `til about 7.3_() p.m._ I was not very , `busy, but Lieut. Goudy had quite , [a scrap with the Huns and made j them shut, up. Our guns are good . ones. When we came in tonight, Donald (Goudy) said to me: Say Truman, let us take a walk and visit some of the boys. I` think there is a piano In a dug-out somewhere around here. Out we went and started for the place. It was at the doctor s `dressing station. The piano was left by the people. who fled when the Huns came along. Well wet song. Can you imagine us sit- ting around in a big deep hole in the ground, nearly all of us with our revolvers strapped on and equipped generally for instant ght, me playing the piano and . the rest of` the olliccrs singing`? l Outside, the Huns machine guns I were playing on our position snapping and cracking, our ; machine guns sending a stream .1 of lead back in return. I know had a ne evening of music and` you will not know what to think You will be surpfised to find how far your fnoney will go in Xmas purchases at this store. We can t be- gin to en1i1nerat.e;-- Here are a few suggestions: Xmas Papetries in Fancy Boxes . . . . . . . . 15c. to $1.50 Fine Range of Chi1d1`en s Toy Books . . . . 5c. to 50. Books for S`. S. Glasses, mostly at old prices. Big Range of Beautiful Xmas Cards and Book- ` ' lets, all prices Unb1'eakaBle Dolls, each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400. "SHEET MUSIC MUSIC ' ROLLS 1917 Diaries--suitah1e gift for Soldier or Business Man. v|oLms PIANOS smsou PI-IONOGRAPI-IS AND SUPPLIES J. G. Keenan s Book Store COME EARLY AND OFTEN` iof _it, but war is a funny game. This morning I was watching` the Hun trenches from the back of" my dug-0ut, they are only about 400 yards from where I am sit- ting. I often watch them from here when I am off duty. If the dug-out where the piano is had not been a good one, I am sure they would have heard us sing- i`ng----I mean the Huns. `I nu: IY1 II I` Dec. 19 Sevm'al of our citi- zens attended the dance in the hall at Grenfel on Friday evening last. . .- .Alex Dempster of Chica- lgo spent a. few holidays with his parents here last week . . . . ..D. 'McGann spent Sunday in Angus with his father who is conned to bed. . . .Miss E. Ellis returned on Wednesday after spending tlirr.c-- weeks at Alliston and other points While theI`e-she attended the Ir- vin--Mor1-ison wedding. . . .Mrs.. S. Marsh of Hamilton spent a few days last week with her brothers here. A - Rad the Adlet Column`. -'h ave all been .__- v--_--4- yuan;-V Tom s bunch, `the signallers, _put -in huts by themselves. HIS hut is just di.. agonally opposite ours in the next row, about twenty feet away. 117-11 __, I4_,,_ f`l-L,--- ____ ..-1_ _ 5c. AUTOPIA Truman Grand Opera House i Monday (Christmas Day) and Tuesday All-star Biograph Program` JUDITH 01-` BETHULA! In special Christmas Features