Letter number 8.

[postmarked Chicago Oct ?18 6.30pm. incl. 2 snaps, one 3 adults next to car, other 6 standing adults. Hotel Campbell, Rochester]

15th Oct 1924

My dear Mother,

We do not know when the mails go out to Aussie since arriving here so we are forced to take pot luck and write at intervals. Since my last letter I have receive yours telling of the Artists Ball. It must have been some show. I was very pleased to hear that you were all well and that your cold had completely gone. I have a bit of a one at present be nothing to worry about, still I am doping it so as to be quite O.K. then I leave for Chicago tomorrow night. Bill is showing a big improvement and will be nearly right again I think when we leave this place where everyone spends their time talking of their ailments. We expect to be in New York in about 10 days time after having seen Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and Niagara and from there we go on to England so from now on our address will be c/o Bank NSW 29 Threadneedle St, London EC but you will have a wire from the Treloar's saying we have left America.

Well for news I am a bit stuck as nothing much happens in this town of cripples so this letter needs must be short I think.

We have made good friends with the hotel [arrow to letter-head] keeper and his wife here and they have given us a great time during the last week. On Sunday last they were taking their daughter (18) back to college about 75 miles from here and asked us to come along with them in their care, a big 6 Nash closed in coach. It was the best corking bus I have yet had the pleasure to ride in. We left Rochester about midday and went to their summer home on Lake Zambro for lunch and what a lunch it was. Cold chicken, duck, dressings, salads, cakes, scones, etc and then we continued our drive up towards Minneapolis and St Paul. We reached the college at 4 o'clock and attended an organ recital in the college chapel at 5 o'clock and then started back for home about 5.45pm and arrived about 8.10. It was great trip we both thoroughly enjoyed as the leaves are now falling from the trees and the colours in the woods beggar description. On Monday we were taken back to the summer cottage to clean up the remnants of the feast of the previous day and we went fishing but as soon as we got the launch going a fishing rod fell overboard and we spent the rest of the day in a fruitless dragging operation for it. Yesterday however, we went out with some long poles and your xx truly was the lucky man xx find it in a very few minutes so we then went for a lake ride in the launch and returned to fish off shore without success however.

Well I think that is all the news but the next time I will be able to give you something more definite and interesting as we will have seen Chicago etc and so will have something to write about

I am so pleased you like Mollie Gillies She is not a bad kid at all and easily the best of the family in the girl dept I mean.

We have met a very nice girl (married) in hospital here. She is the Icon of Cork and we have great times with her. She is only 25 and treats life as a big joke and her sayings and slang are worth recording. She has been married five years and when I asked why she married so young she said well everyone else does it so I said yes to a girl of 25 here is an old maid.

Well I guess that is all so will close hoping all well.

Love to all

Gordon.

Letter number 9.

[Hotel Martinique, Broadway and 32nd St, New York City.]

26th Oct 1924

Dear Mother,

I can write faster with the old pencil and so as I had a lot of news and lots of correspondence to get through I hope you will excuse it.

I posted my last letter from Chicago as I waited for some snaps to be developed and then enclosed one or two but since then lots has happened.

We left Rochester on the Thursday night and got into Chicago the next morning - spent the day in looking around the city. It is some place and quite easy to find one's way around in. In the morning we visited Marshall Field & Co retail store which is the largest in the world so you can imagine what it is like in size. They employ 9,000 hands, the building is 13 stories high with 3 basements and occupies an entire block in the busiest part of Chicago. They have 9 refreshment rooms continually in operation and 3 cost price cafes for the employees. They have their own schoolroom in the building a nursery for patrons kids and music room, rest rooms of great size and in fact are a complete world in themselves.

On Saturday we took a rubber neck wagon around the city but it proved to be a dud as the guide had no voice for this job and we could not hear half he said but the drive was good. On the Sunday we went to church in the morning and I am enclosing a folder we received there. She is some church. In the afternoon we did a vaudo show and at night a theatre. On Monday we visited the Camerons stock yard and saw that. It is the largest plant in the world. They kill 1200 pigs an hour. 350 cattle and 1000 sheep and we saw right through the whole of the processes but will tell you more of this on my return. We left that night for Detroit but while in Chicago we saw four theatres in the four nights and they were all good. The ones we saw in order of my preference were: Zeigfeld Follies (opening night), Topsy and Eva (Duncan Sisters), No, No, Nanette and Abies's Irish Rose. The first two were especially good.

Detroit is a dirty city and very cold the two days we were there. It is hard to find ones way about as the streets go in semi-circles but we saw Dodge Bros plant where they employ 19000 hands and put a car out every 50 seconds. The next day we saw Fords plant where they employ 70,000 and put a lizzie in the freight cars every 15 seconds. They are both marvellous plants with wonderful systems. Later that afternoon we sailed from the car city on the "Greater Detroit III" down the lake for Buffalo. It was a great trip and a great boat and arrived at 8.30 next morning. A chap we had previously met on the train and who lived at Buffalo met us at the hotel and took us in his car to see Niagara 23 miles away. We went over the border into Canada and saw the falls from there and here words fail me. It is a sight of wonderful grandeur to see the tons and tons of water tearing over the top of the falls to fall hundreds of feet below and throw up a spray that hangs continually over the surroundings. We came back to Buffalo and were treated to lunch at the Buffalo Athletic Club. We spent the afternoon around the town missed seeing Jack Demsey by half an hour at night and raced for the train to New York and arrived here at 7.50 next morning and this is the city of cities to date for us. Broadway is 14½ miles long and the avenues branch out from it in this fashion [Z-diagram] so for a start it is a bit hard to find ones way around. However so far we have been in their taxis street cars, elevated and subways or tubes as they call them and have only got out of our way in the tube system and that was because we could not see where we were going. On Friday night we saw Tex Austin's Rodeo (the one that was at Wembley) is it at present a Madison Square Gardens and it is a good show as the broncos and steers can buck like fury and the boys and girls can ride and so we spent a good night. Last night we went to the world largest theatre to see Berne or Vaufo rather the theatre was good the show was woeful.

Yesterday we spent in making a few purchases and also preliminary arrangement for our passage to England on Saturday next. Tomorrow we will finish all our business and then start to see things in this berg.

I called into Cooks yesterday to see if Jack Sulman had gone through yet and apparently he has not as there is mail waiting for him there so I may see him before we leave.

I received a letter from you in my arrival here but methinks some of your letters must be going astray as I have only received 4 letters in 8 weeks!

Kath Broome is my best correspondent and I got two from her to your one which to me does not seem right as you are a good correspondent and not likely to miss a mail. However I was glad to hear you were all well even to Mack but sorry to learn Miss Benson has rather a fancy to Fred. She is likely to prove expensive unless closely watched but pleased to hear he is still playing good tennis and I hope he beat Skvenson. I sent him (Fred) a card but am still waiting for hear from him and also Chas to whom I also sent a card and a letter.

Bill is still improving and I think can go fairly well now although he still has to keep to the vegetarian diet. He does not think he is coming home with me but will stay in England for 3 or four months and then come home.

I forgot to say out of Chicago we went to a Closed Motor Car show and it was good as all the American cars were there and I saw the Ford Lincoln for the first time. It is good looking but I still prefer the RR for looks.

Last night was Saturday and we saw Broadway at its best. It is a wonderful sight I'll tell the cockeyed world. It is ablaze with electricity and the advertising stunts are marvellous. As far as one can see is nothing but electric lamps of every colour and not here and there but in the millions on both sides of Broadway.

I never dreamt it could be as dazzling although I had often heard of the bright lights on Broadway.

This is a big city full of Jews and dark skinned races from Southern Europe. Nearly every second person is a foreigner as we understand Americans although I suppose they are naturalised subjects or born here and therefore a dinkum bit of Uncle Sam and no wonder they are chary about picking a brawl with other nations as no matter who they picked on there would be a million or more of that nationality resident in the States that could cause a lot of internal trouble.

We went to see a chap yesterday who came over with us on the boat and it was quite good to hear a bit of real English spoken again. We are going out with him again tomorrow.

There is no class distinction in this place as far as we can see. They all mix up together and the only thing that counts is the $. The more of these one has the higher he rises in society no matter what his real social standing would be in our country.

Well this is the result of an hour and three quarters effort I think that is quite sufficient for once and so will close as I will be writing

again before we leave for London on Saturday next. I hope you are all still keeping well. I am as fit as can be and still putting on weight I think although we have seen no scales to try ourselves out on since leaving Rochester when I tipped the beam of 9-11.

Love to all

Gordon

Bill joins me in his kind regards and well wishes to the family.

Letter number 10.

[First 4 pages on single folded White Star note paper, continued on 'Homeric' postcard and thence continued further on 9/11 on Regent Palace Hotel stationery single octavo sheet written on both sides.]

postmarked London W1 Nov 10th 1924 7.15pm

White Star Line SS Homeric

3rd November 1924

Dear Mother,

On an ocean liner again on our way to London this time and we hope to reach there on Saturday next 8th if lucky but this trip has been rough crossing for quite a while now I am told and the big ship "Berengaria" was a day late coming into New York on Saturday last as we were leaving instead of Friday as scheduled.

This is a big lump of a boat as you will see from the card I will enclose. It is only a week across so we are going second and it is not too bad in fact nearly as good as the Tahiti's first.

I am sorry I have to revert the old pencil again but the pen was beyond me. The vibration of the boat combined with the roll and pitch is too much for a median penman like myself. Well since last writing we have received no more mail from you so suppose there are no more boats in from Aussie so have left word at the Express Co to send in all on to the Wales in London for us and by this time you will have had word from Mrs Treloar to the effect that we have left America and will be sending your mail on to London.

Well to get back to figures again I spent the whole of last Sunday writing letters at the hotel in NY on Monday we spent the morning in booking our passages to England and all the lot with the Customs and Tax people and at night we saw a show called "Scandal of 1924" a scene in which the scenery and dressing was very good but beyond that it was not anything to write home about. On Tuesday we spent the morning shopping in the afternoon had tea with a woman we met off the "Tahiti" and at night we took the trip to New York Chinatown down in the slums of the city. We saw the renowned Bowery and then on to Pell St where the underworld of N.Y. have their headquarters. The place was alive with police in consequence of the Tong riots and murders that were in progress there at the time. It is very interesting as we saw the breadline and all the poor devils down and out coming in for shelter in the missions for the night and from that we visited the Doss house and a cafe run Chop Suey fashion.

Next we returned to civilization via the Bowery and Broadway seeing all the wonderful lights of the latter. Saw the largest electric sign in the world advertising Chico and Ginger Ale composed of 28,000 bulbs a wonderful affair. Thence on to see New Yorks night life at a cabaret but as it was not as good a place as our Palais I was disappointed and returned home at about midnight.

Wednesday we spent sightseeing around the city. We went up 5th Avenue to 114th St and then through Columbia University to Riverside Drive and Grants Tomb back to the City again and down town seeing all the large buildings and having them described to us. We saw the aquarium, ?Songer Building, Woolworth, City and Metropolitan Life Buildings and thence over to Brooklyn via the Manhattan Bridge across the Hudson thence back home via the Jewish Italian and Negro sections of the city and being a bit tired went to bed early as were to have a big day on Thursday. In the morning we took ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and inspected that, came back and saw through the Aquarium and in the afternoon took a tube to Coney Island which is about an hours ride from N.Y. All the amusement places are closed now for the winter but it must be a great place when in full swing as it is an enormous place entirely devoted to amusing the young and old. On our ride to the island we went underneath the Husdon River so on our return we took an elevated and crossed Brooklyn Bridge. At night we met a chap who came across with us on the Tahiti and took two Australian ladies and a Yank to the theatre "Passing Show of 1924" which was very ordinary.

Friday was a busy day packing and saying goodbye to our acquaintances and at night we saw a nigger show [continued on postcard p5] which was not too bad. They called it "from Dixie to Broadway". We quite enjoyed it. Saturday we came aboard this tub at 9.30am and have been here ever since. It is not much chop but alright for the 8 days we have to spend aboard her. We have the ugliest woman in the world aboard. The poor thing has been to Coney Island trying to earn a living by her misfortune. She is awful to look at. Well must close it is too rough to write longer. [to the top] Hope you are all well. We are Bill not quite so well as he was but that is ship life I suppose.

Letter number 11.

[Regent Palace Hotel stationary]

9/11/24

This is a continuation I am able to write since landing as the mail does not close until tomorrow.

Well we landed at Southampton yesterday afternoon at about 4pm and were up at this is hotel by 7pm and we stay here until we go on to Paris in about 3 or 4 weeks time. We intend staying there about 8 or 9 days then back to London and down to Cornwall for Xmas. After that back to London and at the beginning of the year I start back for home. Bill may stay longer for a while and come on about May or June.

Today we visited the Palace at Hampton Court and saw quite lot of quite different scenery. It is great to see all those old fashioned buildings with the moss and ivy of centuries all over them and we quite enjoyed the change. The weather of course is bleak and cold but all the people say it was a great day so we are wondering what a bad day is to be like. Tomorrow we start buying our suits and clothes generally getting things squared up. I think we are going to like London best of all the cities as to date we are more than pleased with our reception.

The London police are all they have said about them and more. They are wonderful and most courteous but Oh boy, the women are an awful lot. The beer the ladies in this hamlet consume in a day would keep the whole of Aussie going for a month and they are "ugs" after their American sisters.

Well no more so will close,

Love again

Gordon.