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Date: April 6th 1917
To
Mother
From
Roy McKague
Letter

Mrs. John McKague, Baltimore, has received the following letter from her son, Roy A. McKague, who went overseas a few months ago with the Mechanical Transports from Toronto, which we feel sure will prove of interest to many readers of The World:

Am in London, simply glorious, two years ago I would never have conceive of such a thing. If I am to tell you anything about it, I shall have to go at it systematically. Now, sit to attention. At seven o'clock on the morning of the 19th, I got my four days' pass to London, arrived in due time and then took in Mde.Tussuaid's Wax Works. They are simply wonderful, so really lifelike. There I observed perfect reproductions in the most favorite pose of all the greatest poets, past and present, ministers, lawyers, statesmen, naval officers, criminals and so on, nearly indefinitely, also a good many reproductions of scenes such as an opium den, a counterfeit coinage den, etc. To take it all in properly would involve considerably more time than I have at my disposal. After that on the same day, that is to say in company with three tent comrades, I visited London Bridge and the Tower of London, which is another wonderful place. The things we saw there were grand, all the different kinds of armor and weapons of war practically from the Stone Age to the present, and believe me that involves some collection. We then went to all the different towers and got the history of them and last, but not least, we saw the Crown Jewels that are kept there - the most magnificent display of real gold in all shapes and forms, the Royal Crowns, etc. Their lies a large part of the wealth of England. To gaze on the scene seems to tell you that England cannot go financially wrong. In the evening we went to one of the most popular theatres and saw a gigantic revue called 'Razzle Dazzle.' Anything that I ever saw in Canada was a mere mouse beside an elephant to it. In the seeing of all these things we naturally saw Piccadilly, Strand and Leister Square. All that the first day. Stayed at the Maple Leaf Club Maple Leaf in the evening. Oh I forgot to mention that to-day noon I saw Kenneth Haig for a few minutes, I am to see him again to-morrow, He thinks that he has prospects of getting back to Canada next year, his nerves are getting better. He tells me Dave (Haig) has gone to France. He certainly did things up in a hurry.

A word or two about the city in general would not be out of place. There are no Street cars. In some parts there are double decker tramcars which run on tracks, electrically operated, but the streets are full of buses, two storey, which carry a large number of people and run as often or more often than street cars. They run by gasoline and are very much like a pleasure car and worm through traffic the same way. Then there are the underground railways, you can go allover the city in them. They run every few minutes and go like the wind. But of course there is nothing to be seen riding in them.
Ohl It is a wonderful place and I am having opportunities that neither you or father ever had, and I know that you are wonderfully glad that I am having them.

I will close now, but to be continued when I go back to camp. Your loving son,
ROY A. McKAGUE.