[letter has only one page and a partial page; the rest is missing. The full page is marked #5.][...] and Kenneth (11). Neil is impatiently waiting to be 17 to drive a car. He says "Mother, why didn't you have me 17 years ago?" Brother Bert took us to Finchley to have tea with Miss Goodyear (of University College) and Mrs. Goodyear (who is close to her 90th year). We sat in the garden until it began to threaten rain and then Miss Goodyear [...]
[...] completed the plans for staying a night with her on the return trip. I arrived at ... at 3:35 in a gentle rain and found Professor Bower at the station waiting for me. We went to the Spa Hotel, deported [?] my bag, had tea, and then went to the Cathedral. One of Professor Bower's first remarks was "How is Professor Turner?" I can't begin to tell how much I enjoyed my visit there. Of course his is 10 years older, but his eyes have the same sparkle, his mind is keen and he is very vigorous. As he said in his letter, the Spa Hotel is their old family residence, with the addition of a wing for the dining room with extra sleeping rooms over it. He had asked for a front room for me and then he wanted to know what room I had. When I said it was the room at the head of the stairs he said "That is the same one we were all born in." It has been divided into two rooms since the Bower regime.
He is very keen on the cathedral and Fountains Abbey and knows them thoroughly. I wish I could always have a Botanist of 80 when I visit cathedrals and abbeys to be my guide.
Tuesday we started off at 10:30 with the same old Rolls-Royce and old veteran who acts as Mr. Suno or Mr Baer to him. Tuesday was an ideal day, clear and pleasantly warm but not hot. We spent 2 hours walking and Fountains Abby [sic] (not bad for an 80 year guide), went to Studley Royal where he let the regular guide show me everything except the museum. Then we drove off, selected a pleasant meadow and ate the picnic lunch which he had brought from home: chicken sandwiches, tomatoes, two kinds of cake, a thermos of tea apiece, and apples.
After lunch we went to see a farm surrounded by a moat with water in it - a real farm which smells of manure, and where the washing was hanging on the line in the court-yard. I hope my picture shows the water but doesn't smell of the farm. Then we went back to tea at the hotel and to the train. I knew I should enjoy the visit but I was surprised at how much Professor Bower seemed to enjoy it. He said he did not have many opportunities to talk Botany now. He is going to Edinburgh next week to give an anniversary talk on Botany during the last century.
A night in Harrogate with Mrs Dodd - very pleasant - and then back to London Wed. P.M. and a small party at MM's that night. Too sleepy for more.